Lost Vehicle Title Options in Michigan

In the state of Michigan, you have some options for replacing a vehicle title that are specific to that state.

Court Order Process
Michigan has, like some states do, a court order process. If you have a vehicle that has insufficient documents, you can get a court order from your municipal county court.

Bonded Title Option
You can also do a bonded title, where you approach an insurance company and get a bond to bring it to the DMV.

Self-Certified Title Process
In the OSU title, Michigan has a very unique process for self-certified title. If you have a vehicle that’s 10 years old or older and it’s less than twenty-five hundred dollars in value, you can sign an affidavit and self-certify that the vehicle is yours, and they will issue a title accordingly. It has to be accompanied by an appraisal to verify the amount. But be aware that that’s a unique scenario in Michigan that you have to self-certify your ownership so you can get a title in your name.

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Transferring a Vehicle Title

Obtaining the Correct Title Document
So what are the steps involved with transferring a vehicle title if you’re transferring a title to someone else or somebody is transferring it to you you have to start with the correct title document you have to have that legal title document that’s issued and printed with the name of the person who’s in front of you or us the seller correctly identified.

Ensuring Proper Signatures and Information
The next thing you have to do is make sure that it’s signed properly that the seller listed on the front of the title signs it over transferring ownership to the new buyer you also want to fill it in correctly you want to fill in the name of the buyer you want to fill in the date any other information before you print in that space look very carefully to make sure that it’s the correct information for that space.

Importance of Accuracy
Here’s the reason why if you make a mistake and cross it out or write it out or change it that title becomes void so to transfer that title make sure you have the right information on the right line before you fill it in especially with dates and also mileage make sure if there’s a space for odometer readings you put that correctly.

Notarization and Additional Documents
Find out if the document needs to be notarized some states require notarization for some types of title documents some don’t it needs to be notarized make sure you don’t sign it until you in front of that notary because they have to witness that signature being made they don’t notarized it later other documents may be involved you might also need a bill of sale you may also need a power of attorney you may need a mileage statement a separate document you may also need to pay taxes or registration fees.

Understanding State-Specific Processes
Make sure you understand all the processes involved with that particular title transfer it varies by state it also varies by the year of the vehicle make sure that if there’s a lien or lien holder listed on the title that that lien is released and properly endorsed before the title is transferred.

Seller’s Responsibility
If you are the seller be sure to file and notice that the title is transferred what you don’t want to have happen is sell a car to somebody who sign it over give them the title if they don’t present that title to the DMV on a normal basis that title legally is in your name until they do and the DMV is not going to know that you sold it until that person brings it to them.

Buyer’s Responsibility
So if they let it sit in a driveway maybe fix it up it’s still in your name which means you have all the liability if something happened to that vehicle parking it gets towed even if it’s involved as accident the first person that kind of come see is you because legally on their records you’re the legal owner so you want to make sure you file a notice whether the buyer does or not you file a notice if you are the buyer transfer it quickly because in the meantime if you lose that document then you’re gonna have to go back in to the seller and get another one they might not want to do that for you if for some reason that seller has a legal problem they go through bankruptcy they get divorce if they die that asset of the vehicle is still going to show up in their name so any creditors or beneficiaries of that sellers estate are going to be looking for that vehicle and you’re gonna have to prove that you bought it from them if you don’t have your title that vehicle is subject to being seized so buyer and seller both have responsibilities transfer that paperwork correctly be sure and double-check all the lines before you’re right in them so the title doesn’t become void.

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How much does it cost to get a Lost Car Title Replaced?

So, how much does it cost to get a lost vehicle title replaced? A couple of different scenarios have different costs.

True Duplicate Title Method
First of all, the lost car title prices depend on the method. If it’s a true duplicate title, meaning that you held a title to the vehicle in your hands with your name printed on the front, you can simply go to the DMV. You request a duplicate. The range of costs for that type of scenario in some states is five dollars; it can go up to 60 or 70 dollars in some states. Most of the averages are about twenty bucks. That’s only going to work if you had the last legal title ownership in your name on that vehicle.

Alternate Title Method
The second is an alternate title method, meaning that you never had the vehicle title in your name. You bought it; maybe you’ve got the title signed over from the prior owner, maybe you never got a title, only a bill of sale. If you have a vehicle that’s 15 years old or older, you can simply go to the Vermont DMV, doesn’t matter what state you’re in, and use your bill of sale to get a Vermont registration title and then exchange that into your state. That will cost 48 dollars and up depending on what type of vehicle it is, and then you might have to pay a title fee in your state. Very inexpensive; you can do it yourself, no need to pay any outside title agents.

Contacting Prior Owner
The third scenario is if you have to contact a prior owner of the vehicle to get them to do a duplicate title. In that case, the cost will be the same as a duplicate title, five or twenty or sixty dollars. However, you’re going to have to get that prior owner to sign paperwork to do that. The cost there could be finding the person, getting them to sign something, maybe giving them some financial compensation to sign that power of attorney document to you.

Bonded Title Method
The next method to get a title is a bonded title. If you have some documentation showing you’ve acquired that vehicle legally, you can go to a bonding company in your state. They’ll issue a bond for the vehicle, which you’ll have to pay for. It could be a couple of hundred bucks. You take that down to the DMV, pay a fifty or sixty dollar title fee. Now you have a title that will only work if you have sufficient documentation to show the bonding company that you are the legal owner of the vehicle. They won’t issue a bond otherwise.

Court Order
The last example is a court order. If you have no paperwork, no documentation, you can go to the court, usually the probate court in your county, pending or state you’re in, and they’ll issue a court order title. The problem areas can cost a few hundred dollars in court fees, and that can take up to six months. So, the range of getting a title should be no more than a few hundred dollars to do it yourself if you go through all the process. In most cases, it should be fifty or sixty dollars. There’s almost no scenarios of getting a title that you cannot do yourself. You don’t have to pay somebody to do this. If you’d like to pay somebody for the convenience of doing it, usually you should be able to do that for fifty or sixty dollars additional over the cost. It shouldn’t cost you hundreds.

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This Week’s Car Title Arrests

Car Title Scams Unveiled: Stories of Victims
Every week we’re going to feature a few articles and news stories about car title scams and people that have been damaged by illegal operations with car titles.

Georgia: Forgery Unveiled
Now there’s a couple this week from Georgia Texas Kansas and Indiana the first one is somebody who forged documents for people using out-of-state processes to get titles one of the quotes was an investigators believed that they were assisting out-of-state customers in submitting the forged document so these are customers who were trying to get titles and that the the title agent was forging their name and forging documents to get them titles.

Texas: Title Manipulation
In another case a person failed to send titles to people who paid for them and so they had cars they couldn’t legally drive in Texas there was a man that was charged for changing information on title applications so they would go through DMV illegally so that application normally wouldn’t go through but they changed information so the DMV would accept it and that made the titles illegal in invalid.

Indiana: Theft Charges
Now the last one that guy was charged with six counts of theft and eleven counts of failing to deliver titles when you’re looking at getting a title for a vehicle the bureaucracy with the DMV and what the process might make it tempting to seem like the loopholes are an easy way to go especially when it cost more money but in reality if you have a vehicle that’s your car you deserve to get a title and there’s a legal way to do it to avoid some of these illegal corrupt business practices and people not sending titles.

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Virginia Business Raided Over Car Title Fraud

Title Fraud Bust in Virginia
In this week’s car title fraud news, we came across a story where in Virginia the DMV executed a search warrant and arrested a bunch of people on violations of the criminal and motor vehicle codes related to title fraud.

Investigation Unveils Money Laundering Scheme
They’re looking into how money and vehicles are being transferred. It seems like this company or these people were using vehicle titles of other people and processing the titles as a way to launder money and to move money around.

Vehicle Title Processing Linked to Money Movement
The link is below the video in the comments, but you’ll see that these organizations, these companies were using vehicle title processing in the process of getting titles at the DMV to move money around and to shift the ownership of vehicles to people who may not actually have been the owners.

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