Inquiry about Titles for Abandoned VehiclesOne of the most common questions that our sales staff gets on phone calls has to do with people inquiring about how to get a title for an abandoned vehicle. I have an abandoned vehicle I need to get a title for. Now many of these calls the vehicle is really not abandoned. It’s something that they bought on Craigslist or Facebook and they’re just thinking that if they call it abandoned they can get a title for it.
Definition of Abandoned VehiclesIt’s very important to understand what the word abandoned means. An abandoned vehicle is a vehicle that literally has been abandoned and has been not claimed and discarded by the owner. The problem with that is in most states that does not allow the person who finds it to keep it. It’s not like Finders Keepers.
Oregon State Law on Abandoned VehiclesWe’re going to take a look at a particular set of laws. This happens to be from the state of Oregon, but most states have exactly the same law, so it’s very important to look at the wording of how abandon works. Be aware that even though an abandoned vehicle is not a way to get a title, there are many other great ways to get a title. But first, we’re going to look at abandon to see what it means for your scenario. So let’s dive in deep and look in detail at how this works.
Packet Information on Abandoned VehiclesSo this is the packet. It says right here the packet contains information about some situations where ownership of a vehicle may be transferable through a possessory lien. Separate from that, a separate bullet point says information on abandoned vehicles. So let’s jump down to the abandoned vehicle part first and then we’ll look at the other parts second.
Legal Interest in Abandoned VehiclesHere is very specific language: titling a previously abandoned vehicle. To obtain a title, a person must have acquired a legal interest in the vehicle. In most cases, people do this through some sort of purchase or financial agreement like you bought it from a dealership and they gave you a contract, or you need to go through some form of legal process. It says right here legal process, and you see on our website, court order title is a legal process that you can use to get a title for an abandoned vehicle.
Process for Abandoned Vehicles on Private PropertyKey sentence right here: if you don’t see anything else, one cannot simply attain title because the vehicle was left on one’s property. That right there tells you all you need to know. You can’t simply just magically say I want a title because it was left on my property. You have to go through some form of legal process that’s outside the scope of the DMV and has to go through some other legal authority. We’ll talk about that, but that’s a good starting point to know what you can and can’t do.
Disposal of Abandoned Vehicles by AuthoritiesSo here are the provisions for disposal of abandoned vehicles. For vehicles abandoned on highway public or private property, the law allows for an appropriate authority to remove the vehicle. Authority meaning state, county, or city, so the government removes the vehicle. So that means if you call it abandoned, you have to call the government and tell them to come get it, and they auction it off.
Towing Abandoned Vehicles from Private PropertyYou can also, if a person is the owner of a private property on which a vehicle has been abandoned, you may have a tower tow the vehicle. First, you have to put a note on the vehicle saying if it’s not removed within 72 hours, the vehicle may be removed. Then you have to fill out a form that has the description of the vehicle, location of the property, and you have to submit that to the DMV. Also, the DMV does not provide you with a form. The information needed can be written on a piece of paper. Right, so they don’t give you any blank forms for this.
After the Vehicle is TowedSo what happens after it’s towed away? Well, after it’s towed away, in cases of abandoned vehicles, the DMV must receive satisfactory evidence of the facts applying for the title for an abandoned vehicle sold by an authority. Remember where we talked about the authority will come get the vehicle: state, county, or city.
Applying for a TitleThe purchaser of that from the auction may apply for a title, and the bill of sale must describe the vehicle, identify the statutes under which the sale was held. So you can’t just get a bill of sale from the police and say, “Hey, I bought it, I want a title.” They have to describe under what legal authority that was done. Then to apply for a title, the purchaser must submit an application for title and a certificate of possessory lien forms, the one that covers your situation. Sounds kind of complicated, fully completed, signed by the authorized representative of the business claiming the lien.
Importance of Proper DocumentationApplication will be rejected if you submit one more than one form certifying foreclosure. So this is not a simple matter. You also need to keep records: signed copy of the original tow notification, repair order signed and dated copy of the claim of lien signed, and copy of the DMV certificate of possessory lien.
Misconceptions and Legal RequirementsRemember this doesn’t apply just for any old abandoned vehicle. You have to jump through a bunch of hoops. Here’s some questions that a lot of people ask that the DMV has taken upon themselves to put on this form. Am I required to contact the vehicle owner of the vehicle I’m getting a title for? Depends on the type of lien that’s being foreclosed. If you’re not sure, you may want to get legal advice from an attorney. That’s how complicated it is.
Legal Obligations and PenaltiesYou have to follow all the rules. You have to state under penalty of perjury, “I foreclose the lien in accordance with provisions of ORS 8712 and ORS 176, etc.” If you notice, it says buyer’s name and date of auction required. You can’t just assign it to anybody you want. You have to hold it out for people to bid on it so that the proper amount of money is obtained for the vehicle.
Possessory Lien ProcessRemember this possessory lien is the result of an abandoned vehicle being removed from private property at the request of the owner. It’s not just the owner does this, it’s the towing company or the state does this. In addition, the seller, if you’re not a manufacturer, licensed dealer, or registered tower, you have to get a surety bond of $220,000 in order to file with the DMV for this auction. So it’s not just an automatic thing.
Compliance and PenaltiesYou also have to abide by all the rules. It’s a Class A misdemeanor to misrepresent anything, punishable by jail up to a year or a $6,000 fine. On the last page, it reminds you that foreclosure of a lien is a result of a vehicle being towed at the request of an authority: state police, sheriff, department of transportation. It talks about that it has to be done under a regulatory authority.
Alternative Processes for Obtaining TitlesSo the short answer is, if you call something abandoned, it triggers a whole set of requirements. If you go through another process like a court order title or a bonded title, it’s much simpler. You don’t want to automatically claim abandoned unless literally the car dropped out of nowhere and you don’t know where it came from. Then maybe it might be abandoned, but it also limits your chances of becoming the owner of the vehicle.
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Electronic Vehicle TitlesWell, it’s finally really happening. Electronic vehicle titles are almost here. We’ve been working in collaboration with many vendors, including DocuSign, CarMax, and many other major automotive professions, to get electronic titles working. And now, dealers are starting to get ready for this. Many of our dealer clients are looking forward to this tremendously because dealing with papers and documents and, you know, having to have paper titles all over the place is a pain in the neck for a dealership that might process hundreds of vehicles a month. So having these electronic titles is going to really be a load off the shoulders. And even if you’re a consumer, it’s going to eliminate a lot of paperwork.
Benefits of Electronic TitlesWe have a package of paperwork that, you know, has a folder with two sides on it. This is going to eliminate a lot of bureaucracy and red tape for you as a consumer to have an electronic title.
Implementation Timeline and ResourcesSo, depending on what state you’re in, it may be a while—maybe a few months, maybe a few years—and it may only start with dealers and then auctions and then lenders and then filter down to consumer civilians. But finally, it’s here. Our collaboration with ESTART—you can find out on our website, cartitles.com—is our website. We have information about ESTART, which is the vehicle title electronic conversion collaboration that we’ve been working on for over a year now. It’s finally getting to the point that electronic titles are a reality.
So there’s a new type of fraud. Well, it’s not brand new but it’s rolling out quite a bit more than it used to be with classic car sales—fake classic car sales.
How Scammers OperateHere’s what the scammers will do: they will find the name and address of a used car dealership and they will create a website that’s very similar in name. Let’s say it’s called Joe’s cars. They will make a website that is Joe’s used cars inc.com and they’ll get the logo and the picture of the building from Google Earth. They’ll get photos of vehicles that they scrape from different websites and they’ll make a very nice-looking used car classic car for sale website.
The Appeal of Classic CarsBecause classic cars many times are not bought locally, look if you’re selling a 2022 Toyota Corolla you don’t need to go halfway across the country to get that car because you can find one near where you live. But if you want a 1969 Z28 Camaro, you’re going to have to probably take whatever you can get wherever it is in the country. The chances of one of those cars being right next to your house are slim. So people buy them remote. They may want to go look at them but a lot of times you have to send a deposit in advance or take pictures or take videos.
Creating a Fake WebsiteSo what these scammers will do is they’ll make a fake website of a car dealership. They make it look legit. They put the address of a real car dealership so if you Google the address, yep, there’s the car dealership. They’ll put a phone number that rings to them and they’ll get pictures, not necessarily from the car dealership that they’re cloning, that they’re making you know, identity theft, but they’ll find great cars online elsewhere and they’ll take the pictures. No Photoshop, maybe the logo of this fake car dealership on the front license plate, maybe on the sign in the background. They’ll put the fake car dealership name and they’ll put really slick good-looking photos and even videos that they scrape from the internet on the website.
Engaging with the VictimThey take the call and they say, “Yep, this is Joe at Joe’s used cars. Do you want to buy this car?” Yep, and they’ll go back and forth with you. They’ll send you pictures. You can ask them to send a new picture; they’ll send you an updated photo. Eventually, you’ll say, “I want to buy it,” and they’ll say, “Well great, do you want to come see it?” “Well, I’m not really local.” “Okay, well if you send a deposit, we’ll hold it and we’ll either ship it to you or you can send an inspector.” They’ll take a deposit and of course, it’s a scam, right?
Preventing the ScamSo how do you prevent this from happening? The first thing you do is anytime you are going to buy anything or send money remote, make sure you can positively identify the company you’re doing business with. Also, look up their website to see when it was formed. You can do a WHOIS lookup on a domain name, which is a web address. Joe’s cars.com, you can plug it into a website called WHOIS, it’ll tell you what date it was formed. Most of these were formed within the last four or five months because they can’t keep running this scam for too long because they’ll get bad reviews. So if you see the website was formed recently, that’s a red flag.
Verifying Business DetailsThen what you do is go onto Google Maps, look up that business, click on it on Google Maps, and look at the actual phone number. Because you can’t fake a phone number on Google Maps because they make you identify the business and call that number and say, “Hey, do you have this car for sale?” If it’s the real place, then you call the real number.
Requesting ProofThe third thing you do to make sure you’re not getting scammed is have the person send you a video of them walking on the lot of that place with a date and then show the car. Because a lot of times the videos they have are videos that were put on the internet months or years ago. Make sure it’s dated, make sure it shows the lot from Google Maps, not another showroom location, and make sure the one you can see on Google Maps.
Inspecting the TitleThe last thing you do is ask them to send you a photo of the title of the vehicle. Because if they have the vehicle, they should have the title. If they don’t have the title, that’s a red flag. Or look at the title to see if it’s photoshopped. A lot of times they’ll take in they’ll Photoshop the words on it, the name of their dealership. Remember, the dealership’s name is probably not on the front of the title. So if they send you a title and on the front of the title, on their certificate side, right, this side, if the name of the dealership is listed as the owner, that’s probably a red flag. You might think that’s legit. Dealerships never put a new title in their name. Their name is signed over on the back from the seller and then they sign it over to you.
Contacting DMVSo if they send you one with their name printed on the front, that’s also a red flag. The last thing you can do to verify the title is you can contact the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state where that title was issued from and ask them. They won’t tell you the name because that’s privacy laws, but they can tell you if there’s actually a title issued from that state and they can tell you the title number and it should match what the scammer sent you.
Be CautiousBe very careful because these scammers are taking tens of thousands of dollars from victims for deposits on vehicles that they don’t even have and they’ll bluff you and say, “Yeah, you can come look at it,” because they know you’re far away and you probably won’t.
Additional PrecautionsWorst case scenario, if it’s a lot of money, you could go on Craigslist and find a local inspector that can go down and look at the vehicle. They may not be a car inspector but at least they can go put their hands on it, put their eyes on it, take a picture of it as a third party. It might cost you 50, 100 bucks to have somebody local go to a dealership and see the car but that will also keep you from getting scammed in that way. It still could be a scam; it still could be that dealership selling a bad car, but at least you’re not sending money, wiring it to somebody outside the country that made up a fake car dealership website to steal your hard-earned money.
So you have ordered the car titles document package. What do you get? When does it come? Well, here’s what happens once you place the order.
Document PreparationWe immediately start preparing documents for your car title process. They’re usually done within a few hours, almost always the same day, and you’ll get an email that will confirm all the spellings and the VIN number to make sure everything’s correct after we printed it out to make sure it’s ready to go. Once you verify everything’s right, then we send you out this package.
Package Contents and SigningIt’s a full portfolio of all your documents, all the different places they need to be signed. Some states allow for digital signatures; if that’s the case, we don’t need to send you any package, you can sign it online. Normally, most states are still in the paper era, and if that’s the case, we send you this package with all the signatures identified: where to sign it, where to put your name, where to put your address.
Instructions and ConvenienceOnce it’s signed, we’ll give you an envelope exactly where to send it back to for filing. Also, for convenience, there’s a full instruction sheet. Everything’s filled in; you don’t have to normally fill in really anything. There’s also a QR code to make it easier for instructions. It’ll have little arrow stickers.
Document ProcessingOnce it gets sent back, either to us or to whoever it needs to get sent to for processing, it’ll have direct access for you to get your title. Once all the documents have been reviewed, the title is sent directly to you with your name on it. It’s not in anybody else’s name, it doesn’t come to us, it comes directly to you. But that’s an example of your car title packaging that comes to you.
Shipping InformationWe sent it USPS Priority Mail with tracking. It’s two-day shipping, so you’ll have it very quickly. Again, in states where they allow for digital signatures, all this is done electronically. Most states are still on paper.
Future of Electronic TitlesIf you followed our channel, you can see that there is an eART program, and the eART Coalition is a group that we’re a member of, along with many other prominent companies like DocuSign and some DMVs. We’re in the process of transitioning different DMVs over to electronic titles so you don’t need all that paperwork, but that’s still a few years away.
Additional InformationIn the meantime, we’ll get all the documents to you, where to sign them. A couple things you might have to check off boxes, but that’s the package you get and when you get it. If you have any questions, you can contact our Operations Department, they’ll go through it with you. But that’s the package you get from car titles when we do the paperwork for you to get your title easier.
So what is a clear title on a car? What’s a clear vehicle title? Well, a title as you probably know is a government document issued only by a government agency. It’s actually a documented piece of paper. There are some efforts to try to make titles paperless where it’s digital. That hasn’t happened yet, so for the time being titles are all paper documents. Make sure that if you’re buying a vehicle not only are you getting a piece of paper but it’s also a clear title.
Importance of a Clear TitleWhat does that mean? It means it doesn’t have any liens on it. It means it’s not stolen, means it’s not a salvage or parts only, that there’s no back taxes on it. If somebody doesn’t hand you a piece of paper without any stamps on it or any liens on it, you might be buying a vehicle that you could have a problem with later. You don’t want to be in that position. If you have a vehicle that you’re purchasing and there’s any kind of reference to a lien on the title or salvage, you could have problems switching the title to your name. A clear title is incredibly important to make sure that you’re not buying something that you’re not going to be able to own, that the money is going away.
Checking for a Clear TitleThere is a series of things you can do to check on that. Don’t try to do anything online like an online VIN check, Carfax, VIN Checker, VIN audit. Those are not accurate at all. They may tell you some basic information, but they don’t have anything about liens. The salvage information is questionable at best and it’s not going to tell you anything about prior owners or back taxes. The only way you can check is by getting the information directly from the government agencies and you have to do that in person. They won’t do it over the phone, they won’t do it by email. You may be able to mail them a paper document for them to mail you a printout, but you’re not going to be able to do it in a way that you think is going to be convenient by calling them up or emailing them.
Steps to Verify a Clear TitleWhat you have to do is you have to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state where the car was last titled, not in your state, in wherever the car was last titled to ask them, are there any liens on the vehicle? Because let’s say if a car came from Texas and you’re in Alabama, if you go to Alabama DMV, they won’t have the information about Texas liens at the Alabama DMV, so you have to go to Texas. The next thing you want to do is make sure it’s not stolen. You might think, well, the DMV should know that, right? Well, they might not. The only people that know about that 100% is the law enforcement. If you go to the local police department in the county where you live or for the city where you live in person, they won’t do it over the phone. You have to bring your photo ID so they can know who you are, bring the VIN number, they can run it through what’s called NCIC, National Crime Information Computer, and they will be able to tell you if there’s an open active stolen on that vehicle. Online’s not going to give you 100%, DMV won’t give you 100%.
Additional ChecksThen what you want to do is check the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) to make sure it’s not a salvage or parts only. There’s some design on a title that could make it impossible to ever get a new title if it’s considered junk or considered a certificate of destruction. It has nothing to do with the condition, the car could be in great shape, perfectly new, it still could have a junk title because of the insurance company’s liability. The last thing you want to do is check for any back taxes. Whatever state it was last registered in, if there’s any back taxes owed or past due fees, they could hold up the title unless those are cleared. And there’s only a few that do that: California, Illinois, a couple other states. But you also want to make sure that it doesn’t have anything about it that would keep you from getting a title. So a clear title is important, that’s how you’ll find out. Don’t take the easy way in just running a $15 Carfax. It is very likely going to miss a lot of things that could keep you from getting a title and that’s not going to be good if you spent a lot of money for that vehicle.
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