How To Fix a Jump Title or Skip Title

All right, here we go again with this jumping title or skipping title problem. People buy cars and sell cars on Facebook, OfferUp, Craigslist all the time and get a title.

Understanding the Title
You might get a legal title, right? But you got to remember the title isn’t just about the vehicle. It has somebody’s name on the front and somebody’s name on the back. The front is the current owner; the back is who it’s signed over to. If the vehicle is already signed over on the back to somebody else, they can’t sell it until they get a new title certificate in their name. If they just flip it to somebody else, that’s called jumping title or skipping title.

Legal Implications
In most states, it’s illegal to jump title or skip title. It’s like a form of tax evasion and it makes it almost impossible for you to get an easy title in your name. Just because you have that certificate doesn’t mean it’s usable unless you are the person who’s listed on the back signed over to you. You can’t do anything with that title; it doesn’t mean anything to you now. Don’t try to white it out or cross it out because that’ll just void the whole thing.

Solutions
There are methods you can use to fix it. You can see our website below. You can do a bonded title, you can do a court order title, and those are solutions. But if you’re buying a vehicle on Craigslist, on Facebook, anywhere online, make sure that before you give anybody any money that you’re getting handed to you a valid title signed directly from the owner directly to you. Nobody in between. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, get it exactly to you.

Verification and Precautions
Make sure the person on the front of the title verifies their ID to make sure the person you’re dealing with is that person. They’re not scamming somebody else or forging a signature.

If You Face Issues
If you have found yourself in a position where you did a jump title or skip title, definitely visit our website. We have full instructions for how to fix that problem. You can do it yourself for free. We also have Title Service; we could do it for you and even title consulting to give you more specific instructions. But the most important thing is don’t buy a car without a valid title if you can all avoid it. Make the seller get a new title in their name before they transfer it over to you.

Florida Bonded Titles & Court Ordered Titles

Title Solutions in Florida
So if you are in the state of Florida and you have a vehicle that has a title problem what do you do? Fortunately for you in the State of Florida you have two very specific processes that are provided for you by the Florida DMV and/or your local County to be able to get a title for a vehicle—a legal title certificate—without having the old title, which is very, very crucial.

Importance of a Title
Many times people buy cars on Craigslist or Facebook or auctions and they don’t get a title. And you go to DMV and you say hey I want to get a title for my car and they basically tell you you can’t get one without the old title. Now remember, a title is a legal government document issued only by a government agency.

Title Acquisition Options
What happens if you don’t have the right paperwork? Well, fortunately, Florida provides you with two different options. One is what’s called a shity bond title and you can see on the screen right now that’s what this process is.

Shity Bond Title Process
It’s a system where you sign some affidavits, you swear that you bought the vehicle fair and square, you have to purchase a shity bond from a Bonding Company. It’s normally going to cost you about 100 bucks for a shity bond. If you want to get an exact quote you can go to a website called prob bonds.com. You can select what state, you can select vehicle title shity or vehicle title in the search box and it’ll tell you how much your bond is going to cost.

Bonded Title Considerations
Once you get that, you submit it to the DMV and they issue a title. Now that title’s going to say bonded on it which may or may not be an issue for you if you’re looking to sell it, if you’re looking to trade it in, if you’re looking to finance it. A bonded title also in Florida they do not process bonded titles unless the last title was from Florida. So if you bought a car from Georgia or New York or somewhere else you cannot do a bonded title plus there are year limitations, can’t be too old, can’t be too new so double check all that before you start the Florida bonded process.

Declaratory Judgment Process
What if you can’t do the bonded process or if you don’t want to do the bonded process you have another option in Florida, you can also do what’s called a declaratory judgment and what that entails is you file a petition looks like this in the county court where you reside that says this is an action requesting a declaratory judgment involving the acquisition of a clear title for and then you put in your information.

Legal Procedures and Considerations
It’s a process of filling out some documents every county has a different set of forms this one has happens to be for Palm Beach you have to do an inspection of the VIN number you have to do the complaint for the declaratory judgment and as you can see there’s some Steps step one step two step three and the core is also going to require that you go through this process diligent search for the owner bill of sale you have to pay sales tax you would normally have to do that anyway but at least it gives you a way to get a title without doing this or the bonded you’re not going to have a title bill a sale by itself does not get you a title also don’t fall for any of these fake mechanics leans or out ofate loopholes they’re all going to get um enforced by the state if you try to pull any of these back door fast ones the state is going to shut you down they already uh the State of Florida already did shut down the Vermont loophole that existed for a while as did all the other states so you want to do it the right way these are the ways that the government provides for you to get a title when you don’t have the right paperwork it’s not that hard of a process it’ll probably only take you a couple hours of filling out forms.

Additional Assistance
We have a title service if you want assistance with doing that you can check out our website cartitles.com also we have consultation so if you’re not sure if you want to do it yourself or you want to get some advice you can actually talk live oneon-one with a certified title agent you’ll see a link on our website for that you can even ask um personal private questions uh oneon-one conversation questions they can be answered by email answered by video recording or be answered live on a video call.

Conclusion and Confidence
Getting a title is a little bit tricky only because you’re dealing with a government bureaucracy it’s not like dealing with a company that’s trying to help you out and because there’s only one company that does it the Department of Motor Vehicles one agency that does it I should say you can’t go to somebody else if you don’t like the way they do business if you go to the DMV in Florida and want to get a title and it’s too hard you can’t say I’m going to shop around and go to your competitor there are no competitors for the DMV they are the only game in town so you can get some help with that but at the end of the day the title’s going to come from that government agency so you have a couple options you could do the bonded process you could do the declaratory judgment process it’s not as hard as it seems when you hear declaratory judgment in court you might be thinking Jack McCoy Law and Order big court case that’s not what it is it’s an administrative process either way as long as you have a legitimate vehicle it’s not stolen not a salvage not a parts car not a car with a bunch of leans on it you can get a title for it you probably have to jump through a few Hoops you can get help with that if you want but be confident that if you have a legitimate vehicle there’s a way for you to get a title and be able to drive that car or sell it or whatever you’re going to do with it if you have questions reach us on our website cartitles.com.

Lienholder Non-Perfected Title Liens: Solutions

Issue of Non-Perfected Liens on Vehicles
So what happens if you are a lender on vehicles and your dealer did not get the title listed you as a lien holder? This happens a lot with indirect lenders or direct lenders when you have a car dealership that’s arranging loans on your behalf.

Responsibilities of the Car Dealership
As you know, the car dealership is supposed to take the title, transfer the ownership to the buyer (the borrower), and list you as a lien holder. But what if they didn’t? What if they transferred the property to the buyer but never put you as a lien holder? What if they never even transferred it to the buyer?

Definition of a Non-Perfected Lien
That’s what’s called a non-perfected lien or a lien not being perfected on a vehicle. What that means is your lending position has a collateral that’s defective, meaning that you might not be able to repossess the vehicle or, if you do, you might not be able to sell it.

Steps to Fix the Issue
How do you get that fixed? Well, if you still have access to the dealer, obviously you get them to fix it. If the dealer’s out of business, or if they’re out of trust on their floor plan, or there’s some other problem, you may have to take some steps like a bonded title, a court order title, a civil lien. You’ll see the link below give you more information.

Auditing Your Portfolio
If you are a lender, we work with a lot of lenders that have this problem. You want to do an audit on your portfolio on a regular basis to make sure all your liens are perfected against title. If they’re not, you want to take action as soon as you can to get that fixed. The sooner you do it, the better.

Risks of Delaying Action
If you drag it out longer, sometimes the borrowers can sell the car, sometimes you may not have jurisdiction, you may not have a claim. If the borrower stops making payments, you might not be able to repossess it, so getting that process started early is a good thing.

Getting Help and Further Information
If you do need more information, you can reach us on our website. We even have title consultation about specific scenarios if you’d like to avail yourself of that. But make sure as a lender you get your lien perfected on that vehicle as soon as possible and verify your portfolios to make sure that you’re in title on the cars that you have a security interest in.

What is The New Loophole For Car Titles?

The Quest for a Title Loophole: Past and Present
So if you have a vehicle with no title and you’ve been getting the runaround from the DMV or whatever title agency in your state issues legal title documents you’re probably looking for what the loophole is to get a title and that’s what everybody wants is a loophole and in the past there’s been the Vermont loophole and the mechanics lean loophole and all these Loop polles have been shut down why have they been shut down well first of all because they weren’t the the proper way that the government wanted you to do it anytime you find a loophole that’s not the proper way eventually it’s going to go away right so what is the new loophole what is the loophole that you can use now well first let’s talk about the old ones the Vermont loophole that existed for you know 15 some odd years was a way that you could apply by mail to the state of Vermont to get a registration and then you get that registration then you bring it to your state and exchange for a title it’s kind of like a backdoor um secret thing that that you could do it took a lot of work you have to apply out of state get a license plate then transfer that to a title then transfer it to your state it was a long involved process plus you had to pay a lot of sales tax to the state of Vermont and then to your state so it was very expensive and took a long time but people like to do it because they like the loophole mostly because they didn’t know any other way to do it.

The Fake Mechanics Lean Loophole: A Risky Endeavor
The other method that was around for a while was the fake mechanics lean loophole where you found some local garage or repair shop that would put through a fake mechanics Lane and sign in in affidavit saying hey somebody brought this car into my shop to get fixed they didn’t pay their bill so we’re going to auction it off so we can get our money back for the bill and then they would just fake auction it to you and give you the title the problem with that is it’s illegal and the the licensing boards for the different states they know that PE that these garages are selling this service for five six 700 bucks and they’re cracking down and they’re arresting people and they’re revoking titles and for the most part it’s pretty much gone way you may be able to find somebody who’s still desperate enough to make payroll for their body shop that they’re willing to take money from you to do it but you’re at risk of the title getting revoked and that’s pretty much going away you can look up fake mechanics lean titles all over the Internet and it’ll tell you about it so what’s left.

Loopholes vs. Legitimate Methods: A Costly Comparison
Well loopholes by definition are things that are not the proper way to do it and many times the loopholes cost more money and take more time than just doing it the way that the that they offer you anything that’s legitimate to do there’s a way to do it properly you don’t have to go out of state you don’t have to jump around through hoops you know doing all kind of um remote things a lot of times people think other states are going to be easier because they know their state is hard and one of the things our sales staff hears on the phone all the time is oh my state is so hard to get a title it’s the hardest state to get a title well when you don’t have anything to compare to it seems hard every state is the same you know your state is hard but you don’t know the other states are about the same or sometimes harder many times people say oh my State’s the hardest state to get a title we know because we deal with all of 50 states that their state is actually one of the easier ones just because you can’t magically ask for a title and get it doesn’t mean that it’s going to work anywhere else

The Court Order Title Process: A Hidden Solution
So what is the loophole well it’s not really a loophole it’s a process that’s been around for decades that every state has available to get a title here’s an example from Ohio Montgomery County Ohio it says greetings if you have received this packet we have not been able to issue a title through the standard procedures auto title does that sound like you haven’t been able to get title through standard procedures what does it say next it says there is a process established to obtain a title when this happens make it a little bit bigger when the clerk of court is unable to issue a title based on the information provided the Common Pleas Court has the ability to issue a court order title that’s what it says now people hear the word court and a lot of times they say I don’t want to go to court it’s too hard here’s the thing your perception of court is watching Law and Order watching Jack McCoy in a big court case with hearings and juries and evidence and attorneys that’s not what this is this is an administrative process it’s done behind the scenes in the office it’s not done in a big courtroom case.

The Process Unveiled: Document Preparation
Now what’s the tricky part the tricky part is there are no blank forms to fill in to apply for this there are no way you can walk in and say Hey I want a court order title the County’s not going to know about it now this example from Montgomery County is an exception in Montgomery County Ohio they have just what they said right here they have a blank Petition of court order title they have it it’s one of four counties in the whole country that have blank forms what’s the form look like well here it is right here it’s fill in the blanks right my name is blank I’m in possession of this um I want to get a title right it’s a set of documents I hereby petition the court to give me a title basically what it says now there are three statement of fact that’s another form you need we’ll talk about these there are 3,611 counties in the country four of them have blank forms the other 367 counties don’t have blank forms in fact they probably even never heard about a court order title position uh petition so what do you do well you can’t walk in and say Hey how do I do a court order title they’re not allowed to help you right they have to have properly prepared documents even Montgomery County they can’t help you you either come in with these documents filled out or they can’t help you so what you can do is you can use this format and cut and paste it for your county you have to get four documents prepared you have to have this petition which is what this document is you have to have an statement of facts Affidavit of facts you have to have a DEC ation of Interest now that’s not included here in Montgomery County but you have to have a declaration of interest that basically says I’m not aware of anybody else putting a claim on this vehicle you file those with the court they’re going to do some background check on the vehicle they’re going to make sure it’s not stolen there’s going to make sure there’s no open leans on it going to make sure it’s not a salvage or parts only or junk title they’re also going to check you out a little bit to make sure you’re not like a Serial you know car thief or anything like that if everything checks out they’ll give you that Judgment of ownership and sometimes they’ll even file it for you with the DMV to get a title issue that’s why we always.

What States Are Easier To Get A Title?

The Myth of Easy State Titles
So is it better to get a title from your home state or go out of state to get a title? Many times, people who have title problems think, “Well, I’m going to go; what’s the easiest state to get a title from?” It’s a question we get all the time from our sales staff.

No Easy Way Out
In reality, there are no easy states. All the states are the same in terms of what their title requirements are because the title requirements come from the federal government. They’re executed by the state, but the federal government states what the requirements are. The only reason you think your state is hard is because that’s the only state you’ve really dealt with. All states are going to be about the same.

Risks of Going Out of State
Going out of state to get a title is going to be a big red flag because if you try to switch it back to your state, just like happened with that whole Vermont fiasco back a few years ago, states are scrutinizing and auditing these out-of-state flipping it around processes because they know you’re trying to avoid something in your state, either inspections, sales tax, or proper documentation.

More Trouble Than It’s Worth
And by the time you’re all done, you probably end up spending more money and more time doing out-of-state activities anyway. Sometimes it feels good to kind of feel like you’re getting over the man in your state, but in the long run, it’ll take you more time, more money, more aggravation, and more runaround than just going through your state.

Stick to Your State’s Process
Your state has a process to solve your problem, guaranteed. You just have to be diligent about it. If you’re always looking for some kind of backdoor loophole, you’ll end up spending more time, money, and effort than you did in the first place.

Red flags and investigations
Plus, it is going to raise a red flag because when your state sees you with a title you just got in the last few months in another state and now you’re trying to switch it back to your state, they’re going to wonder why you did that, and they’re going to open up an internal investigation and see if you avoided inspection, avoided sales tax, or avoided any other type of requirement for that vehicle, and if you did, that could create more problems than it’s worth.

Lessons from Vermont
And a lot of times these out-of-state processes are flagged even by that state because they want to know if somebody is trying to do something. That’s what happened with Vermont. The Vermont process was being used for nefarious purposes, and a lot of those titles got revoked. A lot of those people got into trouble.

Conclusion: Stick to Your State
So be aware that your state probably has something; no state’s going to be any easier than yours, and if it is easier, it’s only easier because you’ll be evading something that you’re supposed to do in your state. So if you want more information on how to get a title easily in your state, just click the link below at cartitles.com. We have all the instructions you need to easily get a title in your state. We have title service if you want us to do it for you. We also have title consulting. If you want to speak live one-on-one with undivided attention from a certified title agent, you can do that as well at the website cartitles.com.