Page 193

SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 4000 7B4800 Vehicles 42B4810 Ownership of Vehicles 4800 Vehicles SNAP Manual 07/01/01 All vehicles, licensed and unlicensed, must be evaluated to determine how much, if any resource value will be counted in the SNAP budget. The term vehicle includes cars, trucks, vans, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, golf carts, go-carts, mopeds, campers, and boats/boat motors/boat trailers. “Junked” cars must be evaluated as well. A licensed vehicle is a vehicle currently licensed by a state to operate on public roads and highways. Vehicles that bear a temporary dealer’s permit are considered licensed. An unlicensed vehicle is one that is not currently licensed by a state to operate on public roads and highways. This includes expired licenses. Unlicensed vehicles will be evaluated even if they are not running. Resource value is determined for each vehicle individually. 4810 Ownership of Vehicles SNAP Manual 07/01/01 Questions about the ownership of a vehicle arise when: • The title to a vehicle is held jointly in the name of two people but only one person has possession of the vehicle; OR • The title is held solely by one person, but the vehicle is considered to belong to someone else because that person is paying for the vehicle and drives and maintains the vehicle. EXAMPLE: A parent allows his child to purchase a vehicle in his name because the child cannot get the necessary credit approval. Under Arkansas law, when one person buys property using the money or assets of another person, that property actually belongs to the person who furnished the money or assets to purchase the property. Therefore, when the title to an automobile is held by a member of a SNAP household, yet he or she verifies that he or she has no access to the vehicle and is not paying for the vehicle, the vehicle should not be counted as a resource to his or her household. (The vehicle will be considered a resource to the household of the person who furnished the money to purchase the vehicle and who drives and maintains the vehicle.)