So how do you get in contact with a prior owner of a vehicle to help you get a title?
Get the name and identityYou need to do three steps. First, you need to get the name and identity of that person.
Find their current location.The next thing you need to do is find out their current location because, in some cases, the title record for that person might be an old address where they’ve moved from, and now that they live somewhere else, you have to find out where they are now.
Contact Them and What to SayThe third thing you need to do is know how to contact them and what to say. If you want to ask somebody about a car they may have owned years ago to help you out with paperwork and that’s not approached correctly, it may backfire, and they may not help you at all.
Federal Law: The DPPASo how do you get the information? Well, there is a federal law called the DPP that prevents the release of some of that information except for very specific scenarios, and your scenario may qualify for that, but you have to apply for it correctly.
Alternative MethodsAnother way to look for it is to look for old papers inside the car, maybe oil change receipts, maybe underneath the car, maybe an old purchase order, buyers order, even a plate frame, oil change receipts from an oil change company, or the tag on the windshield might help you find the owner.
Need Help? Contact UsIf you have difficulty finding a prior owner, you can call us up or reach us through cartitles.com, and we can find some solutions that might help you get in contact with that prior owner.
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So what’s the process for getting a new car title?
Scenario AssessmentWell, you have to look at the scenario to see which of the processes you have to go through.
True Duplicate TitleIf it’s a true duplicate, meaning that you are the title owner and it was in your name, you just need to get another copy. That’s an easy process. You go to the DMV, bring your driver’s license to the VIN number, and they’ll take care of that for you.
Changing the Owner NameIf you’re changing the owner’s name on the vehicle, you may need other documentation. You might have to remove a lien holder if there’s an old lien holder on the car. Look first at what documents you have: a bill of sale, a receipt, or any other documentation showing the vehicle’s transfer to you.
Locating the Prior OwnerYou may have to locate the prior owner to get some of these things signed, which may be part of the process of getting a new title.
Recent Purchase ConsiderationsIf you bought the car recently, you want to take a look to see if you bought it from a dealer or private seller, and even though somebody may have seemed like a dealer, sometimes there’s people who sell cars out of the blue that aren’t really legitimate licensed dealers; they’re just individuals who flip cars from the driveway or from some car lot somewhere.
Paper Trail and Chain of TitleSo check to see if it was a dealer or a private seller, and if there is, what’s the paper trail and what’s the chain of title that you have putting the car in your name?
So I didn’t get a title for a car if the owner is deceased.
Possible ScenariosMaybe you bought a car from the family of somebody who died. Maybe you bought a car from somebody you didn’t get the paperwork from, and maybe they died later.
Main IssueIn any case, if the owner of the vehicle is deceased and you need to get some paperwork signed, it creates some difficulties because if they’re dead, they can’t sign any paperwork.
SolutionsYou may be able to apply for an airship title where the heirs to the vehicle are listed as relatives by the court. You may have to go through a will or probate process if the person has died and has left their assets to some other party. If there’s an executor of the estate, that can happen.
Lien ConsiderationsWell, what if there’s a lien on the car? Well, then you might have to have the lien holder sign a lien release letter.
Helpful PaperworkA bill of sale from the executor of the estate may be a helpful piece of paperwork to use for some processes, like a bonded title or Vermont title, depending on the scenario.
Worst-Case ScenarioIn the worst-case scenario, you may have to go through a court order title process, which takes a long time, but it’s not as hard as it sounds. Every municipal court and county court has a process for having you declared the legal owner of the vehicle by affidavit.
DocumentationIf you are the heir to that person and have a death certificate and a will or probate, you can go directly to DMV, and they’ll process your title application. Make sure, though, that you have a copy of that death certificate to go along with the aircraft.
DIY ProcessAgain, these are all things you can do yourself. Sometimes they seem complicated because you’ve not done them before, but there is a do-it-yourself process that costs very little money. You’ll have to pay some title agent a ton of money to get a title for you if it’s just a deceased owner.
Scenario Number One: True DuplicateSo if you need to get a title for your car, we’re going to look at scenario number one, which is what we call a true duplicate. What that means is that the vehicle is currently legally titled in your name, and all that happened is that you lost that document. I mean, the title was already printed with your name on the front, your address on the front, and it was issued to you. You just lost it. It’s not that it was signed over to you. It’s not that somebody gave you a title application. It means you issued to you. You just lost it. It’s not that it was signed over to you. It’s not that somebody gave you a title application. It means you already have the title in your name. If that’s the case, then here we go.
Steps to Get a Duplicate TitleAll you need to do is go to the DMV office the title office their license office whenever they call in your state sometimes it’s Department of Transportation sometimes its Secretary of State if that’s the case you go to that office you bring your photo ID and you bring your VIN number your vehicle identification number with those two things you present it to the clerk they’ll look up in their system to make sure that you are the legal title donor that vehicle they will check your ID to make sure you are that person because they don’t want to be handing out legal documents to the wrong person right so once they verify that you can order duplicate title right on the spot and it’s exactly what it sounds like it is a duplicate replacement title there’s no changes they don’t put it in somebody else’s name they don’t change anything about it.
In-Person Process and Possible Mail DeliveryNow, that’s easy to do in many cases; they may be able to hand it to you on the spot. In some DMVs, now we’re going to have a vault printing system where they don’t keep blank titles on location because people were stealing the blanks and typing them up with any car they wanted, and it was a security problem. Sometimes, a state will have a vault where they print all the titles. You can order it at the branch location, but they may have to mail it to you in a few days.
Handling Liens on the VehicleOne other curveball that may come up is if you had a lien on the vehicle, even if it’s paid off, the DMV may not be aware that that lien is cleared. Here’s why, when you paid the last payment on that car loan, the bank simply pulled that title out of their file cabinet, signed it, stamped it paid, and mailed it to you. They never really notified the DMV that you paid off your loan, so now it could be ten years later and the DMV’s records still show that loan that was originally issued on that title, so you might have to get a lien clearance letter or a lien release letter to bring with you so the DMV will issue that title.
Cost and DIY ProcessA true duplicate it’s very inexpensive some states as low as two dollars most states are between 10 and 15 sometimes 20 dollars there’s a few notable exceptions the state of Florida has a 70 or 80 dollar fee the state of Illinois has a 70 or $80 fee most states are relatively inexpensive and you can do this yourself you don’t have to pay anybody to do this you don’t have to hire a title agent to do it you can do it all yourself you probably cannot do it online you probably need to maybe download the form from the website print it out sign it in most cases the DMV is going to want to have good identification of you as the owner so that way it protects you from having somebody just type in your VIN number online and get your title you want to have your title protected so that only you are able to get it and that is policed by having a legal form with a signature sometimes it has to be notarized if you’re not going to be in person at the DMV office but every state runs a little bit different so a true duplicate with no name changes is a very straightforward process it’s a little bit of bureaucracy because you are dealing with a government agency but it’s something you can do yourself usually inexpensive make sure if there was a lien that you have a lien release letter and it should be in good shape without too much hassle look for that form on their DMV website you can download it print it and handle it that way.
Contacting the Prior Owner for Title AssistanceSo if you have a vehicle that you’re missing paperwork on to get a title one of the options you have is a prior owner contact you may have already thought of this of going back to the last owner who had a title and having them help you get a new title in your name if you purchased the car from the individual who had the legal title in their name that person can help you by getting a duplicate title and then signing it over to you be aware that only the current legal title owner can get a duplicate you can’t get a duplicate nobody else can the only person is the last title owner whose name was printed on the front of the title.
Making the Process Easy for the Prior OwnerSo if you know who that person is you can contact them and ask them for their help to get you a title sometimes a person might be reluctant to help you because they think they have to go to DMV they have to wait in line they have to do all this stuff in fact you can actually make it easy form in many cases you offering to do most of the legwork will be the thing that gets that person to call you back if you’ve been trying to text the owner or call them or email and we’re Facebook them and they’re not calling you back make it clear that you don’t want them to have to go down a weighted line all you need him to do is sign a form and if you get the form that’s needed to get a duplicate title from the DMV and you fill it out for me make it really easy and all you do is say hey look I got to do is put your autograph on this in many cases that will help you get that process done sometimes it has to be notarized but in many cases it doesn’t.
Handling Unknown Prior OwnersWell what if you don’t know who that owner is well we’ll talk about that momentarily how you can maybe get that information but if you do get the form signed look on that form in your state to see if you can do in duplicate and simultaneous transfer if you can get a simultaneous transfer this state will print a duplicate and at the same time put into your name without having to have the title sent to that person and then wait for them to get it and then have them signed it over to you if you can do duplicate and simultaneous transfer it saves you a step gets a title right in your name remember only the legal title owner can do this now what if you don’t know who the owner is how do you handle that.
Privacy Laws and Alternative SolutionsWell unfortunately the ownership records for a vehicle are protected under a federal privacy law called the DPP a the driver’s Privacy Protection Act and it prevents and prohibits any entity government entity company anybody from releasing ownership records for a person without their permission so you can’t just say I want to know who the owner of that car is because it’s against the law for anybody to tell you we have access to the records the DMV does but we can’t release it to a third party however we can use those records to try to contact a prior owner on your behalf as a licensed private investigative agency we can look up those records and take it the next step because in many cases the records will have an old address for that person they may have moved from there since that title is issued five or ten years ago find out where they live now and contact them about getting you your title and in many cases we do just exactly what we mentioned before we make it very easy for them we make it a simple process we have a kind of tried-and-true send a letter or certified letter with a four minute that we do with a very particular wording to make it in their best interest to help you out getting a title we do without revealing their identity to you but with your permission we would let them know if they had any questions about what they’re doing they could call you up but they’re gonna have the form to fill out the form to sign everything’s gonna be right in that envelope along with a return envelope with a stamp on it with your address on it so all they have to do is open it up sign it glue the envelope and send it to you and they’re all set so that’s one option you may have about contacting prior owners if before doing that you use some effort with that vehicle to try to find out if you can locate their information in the vehicle maybe there’s an old oil change receipt under the backseat maybe in the trunk there’s you know a business card something that might help you locate that person maybe even the dealership plate frame might help you go to that dealership and find out who bought the car do everything you can first to locate that person try to contact them but if you run out of avenues you want a back-up plan you can call us up but we can see how we can help you book contacting prior owner in many cases is your only option if that legal title is still in somebody else’s name technically they still own a car and you want to get it to your name as soon as you can.
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