§ 395. Certain private service bureaus to be licensed. Except as
otherwise provided herein, no person, firm, association or corporation
shall, engage in the business of assisting for hire in securing licenses
to drive motor vehicles or registrations or titles of motor vehicles,
nor shall any person, firm, association or corporation for compensation
give instructions as to procuring licenses to drive motor vehicles or
registrations or titles of motor vehicles, without being the holder of a
license for such purpose issued by the commissioner of motor vehicles.
An applicant for a license shall furnish the commissioner with such
information and such references as to moral character as he may
reasonably require. Every application shall be accompanied by a fee of
twenty-five dollars, which shall be regarded as an application fee and
shall in no event be refunded. If an application be approved by the
commissioner, the applicant upon the payment of an additional fee of
twenty-five dollars shall be granted a license which shall expire on the
thirtieth day of June following the date of its issuance. The
commissioner shall issue a license certificate to each licensee which
certificate shall be conspicuously displayed in the place of business of
the licensee, or, if the licensee has no place of business, such
certificates shall be exhibited at the request of any person. In case of
the loss, mutilation or destruction of a certificate, the commissioner
shall issue a duplicate upon proof of the facts and the payment of a fee
of one dollar. The refusal to issue a license may be reviewed by a
proceeding under article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and
rules. Such license shall be renewed annually upon the payment of a fee
of twenty-five dollars, such renewal to take effect on the first day of
July in each year. Upon renewal, the commissioner may, in his
discretion, issue a license which shall be valid for a two year period.
The fee for any such two year renewal shall be fifty dollars.

No license shall be issued under this section nor shall any renewal of
a license issued under this section be made for conducting business in a
city having a population of fifty thousand or more, according to the
latest federal census if the place of business of the licensee, or
branch thereof, is within fifteen hundred feet of a building, owned or
leased by the state, a county or a city, in which motor vehicle
registrations or licenses to drive motor vehicles are issued to the
public. The said distance of fifteen hundred feet shall be measured
along the public streets by the nearest route from such place of
business, or branch thereof, to such building. The provisions of this
paragraph shall not apply to a holder of a certificate of registration
issued pursuant to section four hundred fifteen of this chapter.

A licensee shall be subject to such reasonable regulations concerning
the business conducted under his license as the commissioner may
prescribe and he shall permit the commissioner, or his representatives,
to inspect his place of business on any business day and shall furnish
to the commissioner, or his representative, such information concerning
the conduct of the business as may be reasonably required.

The provisions of subdivisions five and six of section three hundred
ninety-four of this chapter shall be applicable with respect to this
section.

The holder of a license issued pursuant to section three hundred
ninety-four of this chapter or the holder of a certificate of
registration issued pursuant to section four hundred fifteen of this
chapter shall not be required to secure a license under this section in
order to conduct a business for which a license is required by this
section but any such licensee, or registrant, who shall conduct such
business, shall be subject to the same visitation and regulation by the
commissioner with reference to such business as provided in this section
with respect to a licensee under this section.

As used in this section the phrase "licenses to drive motor vehicles"
includes the term "learners' permits".

A violation of any of the provisions of this section shall constitute
a misdemeanor.