In the realm of vehicle ownership, obtaining a title is a crucial step, granting you the legal recognition as the owner of your prized possession. However, the road to acquiring a vehicle title is not always a smooth ride, as exemplified by the recent challenges faced by vehicle owners in South Dakota. In this blog post, we explore a notable example shedding light on the reasons behind delays in vehicle title issuing and offer insights into how individuals can navigate this unexpected obstacle.
Understanding the Situation in South Dakota
Recent news from South Dakota has highlighted a significant hurdle for vehicle owners eagerly awaiting their printed titles. The South Dakota Department of Revenue, responsible for handling motor vehicles, has faced disruptions in its usual title-printing process. The cause? A shortage of paper, the essential material used for crafting vehicle titles.
The paper used for titles is no ordinary material; it incorporates built-in security features comparable to those found in currency notes. These security measures are integral to preventing fraud and ensuring the legitimacy of the title. However, due to the paper supply issues, the South Dakota Department of Revenue has made the decision to temporarily cease printing paper titles.
Impact on Vehicle Owners
For those in need of a vehicle title in South Dakota, this development translates to extended waiting periods. The news article suggests that the pause in printing titles will persist until February of 2023. Considering the timing of this information in early November, vehicle owners are faced with a wait of approximately four to five months before the resumption of title printing operations.
Security Measures Resembling Currency
Understanding the gravity of the situation requires acknowledging that a vehicle title is not a mere document printed on ordinary paper. Much like currency notes, the paper used for titles is chosen for its security features. This ensures that the title holds a level of authenticity and cannot be easily forged. The stakes are high, as the person named on the title is recognized as the legal owner of the vehicle.
Government-Issued and Unavailable Elsewhere
Crucially, a vehicle title is a government-issued document with security features akin to money. Unlike other documents, you cannot purchase or download a vehicle title from the internet. It is a unique security instrument exclusively issued by a government agency. Consequently, if the South Dakota Department of Revenue faces delays, there are no alternative avenues for obtaining a legitimate vehicle title during this period.
Submit Your Application Promptly
While delays are inevitable, vehicle owners in South Dakota are advised to submit their title applications promptly. The Department of Revenue is expected to process applications in the order they are received once title printing operations resume.
Ensuring Proper Paperwork
Given the sensitive nature of title documents, ensuring that your paperwork is accurate and complete is paramount. Any discrepancies may lead to further delays or complications in the title-issuing process.
The challenges faced by South Dakota serve as a reminder of the unique authentication process inherent in obtaining a vehicle title. As a legal government document, the title’s integrity is maintained through security features comparable to those found in currency. As vehicle owners navigate these delays, adherence to proper procedures and a clear understanding of the title’s significance become essential.
For those facing similar challenges in other states, it’s a testament to the fact that obtaining a vehicle title is a process governed by stringent rules and regulations. While delays may be a part of the journey, they underscore the importance of meticulous attention to paperwork and adherence to proper channels.
For any questions or concerns regarding vehicle titles, feel free to reach out to the appropriate government agency in your state, ensuring that you are well-informed and proactive in securing your legal ownership documentation.
So what is going to be the game plan for electric vehicle adoption for non-homeowners? If you are a renter somebody lives in an apartment or even a condominium, how are you going to own an electric vehicle and have reliable charging?
Here’s a great article from, the Associated Press talking about the charging dilemma for renters. From the article, here’s a woman named Stephanie Tarell, she bought a used Nissan leaf this fall and was excited to join a wave of drivers adopting electric vehicles to save on gas and reduce the carbon footprint. But she quickly encountered a bump in the road. She doesn’t have a private garage where she can power overnight and the public charging stations near her are often in use with long wait times. One day, she ran out of power on the freeway because a public charging station she was counting on was busy. “It was really scary and I was worried I wasn’t going to make it.”
So here’s the thing. You can look at an app and see where all the charging stations are but unlike a gas station, it may not be instantly available. If you pull into a gas station and there are five cars at the pumps, you might have to wait a couple of minutes for somebody to finish filling up their tank, but an electric vehicle can take an hour or more to charge up. And if the person is plugged in and walked away because you know a lot of people charging electric vehicles are not going to sit in the vehicle for an hour, they may walk over to a store. They may walk down the street to a restaurant to get a cup of coffee. So it’s not like the person might be right there when the car is done charging it might be another 20 or 30 minutes. Until they get back to the vehicle.
So if you’re in a situation like this particular owner and you need to charge up your vehicle, what are you going to do? Sometimes you might have to just park and wait for that to become available and that can affect your schedule. So at some point, there needs to be a plan for people who don’t have daily access to a charger in their residence. There are homeowners without a garage, look a lot of single-family homes don’t even have garages in some parts of the country. Some townhouses don’t have garages. So maybe even some homeowners may run into this. Certainly, there are some rental-type structures like apartment buildings that have chargers, but they probably don’t have one for every single parking space there to be an electric charger in the garage or maybe two, but you might be a hundred cars. They don’t have one plugin charger for every space, at least not yet.
So what’s the outlook for this? Are they going to put chargers for every space in apartment buildings? What about on-street parking? How are they going to charge those vehicles? Because one of the strategies and one of the plans for having people to be able to have electric vehicles and use them on a regular basis is you plug in at night. It’s very convenient, which it is if you have a garage and you own your home, if you are a renter or have an apartment it may not be that convenient. Tell us what your thoughts are on how this is going to play out and what the possible solutions might be.
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For as little as $159 for most processes, we will save you the headache and prepare all of the car title paperwork needed to get you a new title. Simply choose the title recovery method you’d like to use and we’ll get started!
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Order Vermont Title LoopholeOrder Deceased Owner Title TransferOrder Bonded Title ProcessOrder Abandoned Vehicle ProcessOrder Prior Owner ContactOrder Lien Release Request LetterPGlmcmFtZSBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vYXBwLmFjdWl0eXNjaGVkdWxpbmcuY29tL3NjaGVkdWxlLnBocD9vd25lcj0xOTQ4ODEyNiZhcHBvaW50bWVudFR5cGU9MjMwNjY0MTAiIHRpdGxlPSJTY2hlZHVsZSBBcHBvaW50bWVudCIgd2lkdGg9IjEwMCUiIGhlaWdodD0iODAwIiBmcmFtZUJvcmRlcj0iMCI+PC9pZnJhbWU+PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vZW1iZWQuYWN1aXR5c2NoZWR1bGluZy5jb20vanMvZW1iZWQuanMiIHR5cGU9InRleHQvamF2YXNjcmlwdCI+PC9zY3JpcHQ+
So what if you have a car that you own or you purchased, and there was a loan on it but that loan has been charged off, went through a bankruptcy, or maybe went through repo but they didn’t want the car back? What does this mean in terms of ownership if the lender didn’t take the car back?
What this means is that there was a loan on the car, the loan was in default and never paid off, but the lender doesn’t want to physically take back the vehicle. This doesn’t mean that you own the vehicle, it means that they didn’t want to be responsible for disposing of the car. The loan is still on the title record, the lien is still a cloud on the title. Even if it’s a bankruptcy, that’s going to show on the title. To remove this cloud of the title, what you need to do is what’s called lien mitigation.
If you are the borrower of that loan, you’re going to need to contact the lender and have them issue a lien release letter. If you’re the borrower that did not pay that loan back, they might not be as motivated to do it. If you’re a third party that’s innocent that bought this car from somebody and you weren’t the person that defaulted on the loan, the lender might give you a lien release document. Either without costs or for a very small fee of just them doing the paperwork as long as you can represent your an arm’s length away from that borrower. Sometimes just on principle, they don’t want to give somebody a car that didn’t pay their bill.
Remember a charged-off loan, a defaulted loan, or a repo that hasn’t been physically picked up, even if the bank told you they don’t want the car back, does not mean you own the car. That does not mean the lien is cleared, it just means they don’t want to go through the hassle of pain to get that car repossessed, shipped, inspected, and put through an auction because that might cost them upwards of $1,000 or more. If they’re not going to get that much from the car, they don’t really want it back. Now it becomes your problem because it’s on your driveway or in your garage and it’s a nuisance. You need to sell it or get rid of it. It doesn’t mean you own it just because they said they didn’t want it. You still have to go through the lien mitigation process.
If you are an Indiana resident, a bonded title can be an effective way to recover your vehicle title if you don’t have sufficient evidence of ownership.
A bonded title is a type of title recovery method that requires the purchase of a surety bond, also known as a vehicle title bond, to secure the ownership of the vehicle. This is because, in order to receive a bonded title, you must have a major lack of proper documentation. The DMV in your state is essentially taking your word that you are the owner of the vehicle. The vehicle title bond provides security for the DMV to assign the ownership in the event that there is an ownership discrepancy after the bonded title is issued.
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Before beginning your bonded title process, make sure that your vehicle meets the eligibility for a bonded title.
If your vehicle meets the eligibility requirements of an Indiana bonded title, begin the application process by obtaining the Indiana Affidavit of Ownership packet.
Indiana Affidavit of Ownership packet
Complete in its entirety the Indiana Affidavit of Ownership packet. The documents in this packet include:
Seller contact
Before proceeding with the bonded title application, you must first attempt to get the original title from the seller or lienholder. Send each of these parties a letter via certified mail requesting the signed title. If they do not respond, keep the original unopened letters for later documentation.
Written statement
A written statement is required for you to explain how the vehicle came into your possession. This letter should state the seller, the date of the transaction, the purchase price, and vehicle information. This written statement must be notarized. If you already have a notarized bill of sale, you may skip this step.
Document submission
Collect all documents listed and related to the ownership of the vehicle, including a photocopy of your driver’s license. Submit your documents to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles Central Office Title Processing for approval. The Indiana BMV will direct you on how to proceed after submission.
To learn more about Indiana’s special title circumstances and affidavit of ownership, check out their website here.
Did you ever wonder why it’s so hard to get a title for an abandoned vehicle or to even file for an abandoned vehicle? In almost all 50 states, filing for an abandoned vehicle means you are giving away the vehicle. You don’t get to keep it. Abandoned vehicles are not “finder’s keepers”. It’s not where you can just file and get to claim a vehicle because it’s abandoned. In fact, most of the time when the word abandoned is used, the state will seize the vehicle from you and sell it at auction after going through a notification process.
So, why is it so hard to file for an abandoned vehicle? Here’s an example. Here’s a comment from one of our prior videos from a user who said “My vehicle has a warning under investigation over an abandoned vehicle. My truck is in front of my property on a public residential street. It has an active sticker. The truck moves but it simply doesn’t move that much because we all work from home. We order things online. We have our own gym room. We pay our taxes and business.” So here’s a person who has their vehicle on the street in front of their house. Somebody obviously saw it and thought maybe it was abandoned it hasn’t moved for a long time and they filed an abandoned vehicle report. And so they put a sticker on it and that’s what the state will do.
The government will put a sticker on it. They’ll give it some time, notify the owner, and if they don’t hear back, they’ll auction it off. Well, that vehicle that you’re calling abandoned maybe somebody’s vehicle that’s on vacation or in the military. Maybe they don’t go out that much or it’s an extra vehicle. You may know about that vehicle, you may know that the person moved out of the apartment and they went overseas or you may know that they died. You may know more about it, but it doesn’t matter though because the DMV doesn’t know and they’re not allowed to issue you a title saying you are the owner until they exhaust all of the investigations. That’s why this person says, “the vehicles under investigation”, that’s what they do. The DMV agency in your state will do an investigation before they do anything with an abandoned vehicle. They want to make sure that no one wants that vehicle. Not the prior owner, not a lien holder, not a relative, not a co-owner.
Once the investigation is completed and the prior owner or other security interests have been notified and do not have an interest in claiming the vehicle, the state will auction it off for the value of the vehicle. Once it’s auctioned off that money is held. Some of it is used to pay the fees for towing or for auctioning, but the rest of that money is held in case later somebody comes forward and said Hey that’s my car! If it’s truly abandoned and nobody wants it then the money actually goes to the state. They get to keep it. Abandoned vehicles are not it’s not the wild west where you can just claim something that you see that’s unoccupied Now, if it’s a different story than that which it usually is, maybe you bought a car or somebody that you know, put on your property or they gave it to you. That’s a different story. Now you have methods of filing for a title. You can do a court order title or you could do a civil lien instead of a mechanics lien.
Be very careful about using the word abandoned vehicle because as soon as you do that, it may trigger a requirement that the state seizes it. They do an investigation, then they auction it off. And this is the reason why this person worries about losing their car because they don’t go anywhere. You know they go door dash, Uber or, they have a gym in their house and they don’t go anywhere which a lot of people do now. This is to protect somebody like this. This may not be the case in your situation but the state doesn’t know that so they’re not allowed to simply hand over a title. Use one of the other methods other than abandoned such as court order title, civil lien, or bonded title.
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