Unauthorized use of a vehicle in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 165.08 Unauthorized use of a vehicle in the first degree.
A person is guilty of unauthorized use of a vehicle in the first degree when knowing that he does not have the consent of the owner, he takes, operates, exercises control over, rides in or otherwise uses a vehicle with the intent to use the same in the course of or the commission of a class A, class B, class C or class D felony or in the immediate flight therefrom. A person who engages in any such conduct without the consent of the owner is presumed to know he does not have such consent.
Unauthorized use of a vehicle in the first degree is a class D felony.
A person commits first-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle by taking, operating, controlling, riding in, or otherwise using a vehicle without the owner’s consent, knowing consent is absent and intending to use it during—or in immediate flight from—a class A, B, C, or D felony. ★ Unauthorized use creates a presumption of knowledge that consent was absent. The offense is a class D felony.
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.