What the codes mean

The Department’s record shows a three-letter code and nothing else. Here is what each one permits.

The codes as the Department defines them
Code	Licensed as	Current	What it permits
`RS`	Repair Shop	13,539	the general licence to repair motor vehicles for the public. New York requires it: under the Motor Vehicle Repair Shop Registration Act, a shop may not even display the sign of an official repair shop without a currently valid registration.
`ISP`	Public Inspection Station	8,021	the one that matters to a driver. This is the licence that lets a station carry out the annual New York State safety and emissions inspection on a vehicle you bring in.
`DLU`	Used Car Dealer	7,661	a dealership selling used vehicles to the public — the commonest dealer licence in the state.
`ATV`	ATV only dealership	2,627	a dealership limited to all-terrain vehicles.
`RSB`	Repair Shop Body	2,503	a repair shop registration for collision and body work. It is the same Act and the same obligation, recorded under its own code.
`TRS`	Transporter	1,354	a licence to move vehicles, including towing, without repairing or selling them.
`DLN`	New Car Dealer	1,035	a franchised new-vehicle dealership. The count also includes fewer than 20 Qualified Car Dealers, who may sell new cars without a manufacturer franchise because they pre-dated the Franchised Motor Vehicle Dealer Act and were grandfathered in.
`DLW`	Wholesale Dealer	1,001	a dealer selling to other dealers rather than to the public.
`DLB`	Boat Dealer	674	a dealership selling boats.
`DIS`	Dismantler	400	a facility taking vehicles apart for parts — the licence behind what most people call a salvage yard.
`IVC`	Itinerant Vehicle	342	a licence for vehicle sales without a fixed lot.
`ABK`	Automobile Broker	276	a broker arranging vehicle sales rather than holding stock.
`ISD`	Dealer Inspection Station	222	an inspection licence limited to the dealer’s own business. It is not the licence that lets someone inspect a car you drive in — that is the Public Inspection Station.
`SCP`	Scrap Processor	191	a processor of vehicle scrap.
`ISF`	Fleet Inspection Station	181	an inspection licence for an operator inspecting its own fleet. Again, not a station open to the public.
`YTB`	Yacht Broker	155	a broker arranging yacht sales.
`DLS`	Snowmobile Dealer	138	a dealership selling snowmobiles.
`SCC`	Scrap Collector	94	a collector of vehicle scrap.
`DIA`	Drive-in Appraiser	54	a facility appraising vehicle damage, typically for insurance.
`SLP`	Salvage Pool	26	a facility holding salvage vehicles for auction.
`MCC`	Mobile Car Crusher	20	a crusher operating on site rather than at a yard.

The wording of each code is the Department’s own, taken from the published field definition; what each permits is described from that definition and from what the register shows. Where a code carries a consequence for a driver — the three inspection stations — that consequence is set out on its own page.