How NOT To File A Mechanics Lien On A Vehicle

Mechanics Lean and Title Problems
I know what you’re thinking you have this vehicle you have a title problem and you’re thinking wait an easy solution is just file for a mechanics lean and I’ll get me a title even if you are a licensed Automotive facility you may find that filing a mechanics lean not only is it not going to work to get you a title but it could backfire and could create some problems for you here’s the thing what many people aren’t aware of is filing a mechanic lean for a vehicle title is a very specific process.

Consequences of Filing a Mechanics Lean
Only to be used in certain circumstances and if your situation does not meet those circumstances not only will you not get a title but number two you could be fined and have enforcement action against you and number three lose the vehicle so let’s take a look at how that works what may not be readily visible to you is any time you file a mechanics lean you now have three or four very powerful forces aligned against you to keep you from getting that title you have the DMV they don’t want you to get a title on a mechanics Lane they have task forces that are trying to prevent mechanics lean title applications from going through you have lean holders that are out there trying to block mechanics leans you also have an enforcement arm of your local district attorney looking at mechanics lean it opens up an enforcement and audit process.

Florida’s Mechanics Lean Example
So let’s take a look at what a mechanics lean is here’s one example from Florida for leans enforcement of a lean sale of a motor vehicle a person claiming a lean under statute 713 for performing labor or Services May enforce a lean by sale of the vehicle in accordance with the procedures and if you notice this thing goes on here here’s the procedures this thing goes on for pages right a copy of their certificate a copy of this failure to make good faith efforts um precludes um the imposition of charges if you make any mistakes at any time the owner can request uh to inspect a vehicle um you can’t charge a leaner or sales agent may not charge fees in excess of $250 um must use third party services with a million dollar Bond there’s all kind of stuff that’s on here that would probably make your application invalid or ineligible also at the end of this process you can’t keep the vehicle you have to auction it off a vehicle subject to a lean must be sold at public sale very clear immediately upon the sale the lean the leaner meaning the seller must deposit with the Clerk of Court the proceeds of the sale right so there’s a lot of stuff you have to do here the clerk receives 5% of the proceeds and that’s after you go through all this after final demand the hearing should be held now look in this there’s an option you have for at any time before the sale the owner uh may post a bond or file a demand for hearing so that’s going to be a clue of what things you can do so here’s here’s what the the official statutes are.

Forces Against Mechanics Lean Filing
Now when I said before that there are forces lined up against you from getting your mechanics lean we’re going to look at those but don’t despair there is a method you could use that’s better than a mechanics lean that doesn’t have any of these adversaries these people are not trying to block you and it’s faster it’s cheaper it’s easier than a mechanic lean and most people don’t know about it we’ll talk about at the end.

Fraud Prevention in Mechanics Lean Process
So how do we know that there are forces up against you well here is a trade publication filing fraudulent mechanics leans don’t do it auto lean sale fraud in Florida what every lender needs to know this is auto dealer today this is a dealer publication this was published five years ago the automotive industry lenders DMVs know that a lot of mechanics are fraud or even if they’re not they’re trying to block it facts indicating a lean sale fraud not able to contact the customer um no accent information from the insurance company um toy repair shop recently incorporated or not licensed telephone company for the towing company is not answered so there’s going to be a lot of red flags steps to take to prevent lean sale fraud calendar the lean sale date contact the customer including did the towing company tow your vehicle did you authorize repairs the bank is going to contact the owner of the vehicle and ask them if it’s legitimate if it’s not it’s going to be reported to law enforcement.

Best Practices for Fraud Prevention
You’re also going to contact the person starting the lean to get documentation for the Towing and storage and if you provide them fake documentation that’s another crime don’t be a victim of what they call lean sale piracy if you’re using a lean sale to take a vehicle away from somebody you’re not supposed to take it from you’re going to get in trouble best practices for prevention of abandoned vehicle mechanics lean fraud this is the American Association of Motor Vehicle administrators those are DMV Commissioners motor vehicle administrators are the people who run the DMV they have put together best practices for prevention of mechanics lean fraud what does that tell you that tells you that the DMVs are aware of this they have put together best practices what are some of the best practices here is their 39-page handout it’s a 39-page manual on the best practice of preventing that let’s take a look at some of that first they tell you the reason that they’re doing it is because inadequate outdated title laws financial institutions may suffer significant loss by people taking advantage of mechanics Lanes people taking advantage of mechanics Lanes.

DMV Fraud Detection Practices
There’s a working group task force to develop detection of fraud in the title application process they are actively looking for fraud with these cases we’ve talked in Prior videos about how they do it they audit them they have sophisticated software that will flag applications based on your Automotive license should you be doing this many uh mechanics leans and here’s the fraud they’re identifying in the mechanics lean process title brand washing trying to remove a title brand lean washing fraudulently removing a lean holder without a valid lean release so if you want to remove a lean get a valid lean release there are better ways to do it that are legal than trying to do a mechanics lean and we’ve talked about it before and our website will explain that to you if you try to use a mechanics lean for getting rid of a bank lean you’re just putting a big Target on your back and a big uh flashing light on that VIN number for them to look at it and to possibly catch you in doing something illegal.

Fraudulent Practices and Their Consequences
Fraud may occur when a lean claim in intentionally circumvent the notification requirements not providing the owner information not doing the notification intentionally sending empty or junk filed envelopes to the legal owner sending it to incorrect address also this is a big one um selling the vehicle to them employees not holding a public sale right so if you’re trying to get the title for yourself that’s what you do you won’t hold a public sale where you’re your vehicle.

Avoiding Fraud and Mechanics Lean Pitfalls
Trying to get the highest sale price in a public sale you just want to slide it to your friend or to yourself that’s going to be fraud and they’re going to catch you chapter four they tell you the process to locate and notify the vehicle owners they tell you how to do that um using the nmvtis um they’re going to also tell you how to use lean title services and third party agents and find out which ones are committing mechanics lean fraud and the biggest way they do that is fraud and advertising so you’re going going to use a uh false VIN number a fictitious ad for a sale that never takes place this occurs when the lean claim it creates a natural vehicle but never publishes as required or they don’t actually hold the sale what does the DMV do they’re validating and verifying the ad and also validating and verifying the sale making sure it matches the vehicle and it was actually held collusion between the lean claim and the buyer that means that if the person you’re trying to steer the title to is a friend of yours and you’re colluding to make sure they get the vehicle that’s also a crime in some cases it’s a felony.

Legal Consequences of Fraudulent Mechanics Lean
Another big one is intentionally holding a vehicle to increase storage costs and that is a way to try to jack up your fees again they know about all this this is published information at the DMV so they’re looking for it so don’t think just because it’s possible to do that there’s not people watching what actions you’re taking and so at the DMV they tell you the best practices for juries is to review the application and when I say review they go over it with a fine tooth comb they look at the application the fees the jurisdiction the lean notice forms bill of sale affidavit of ownership they’re going to do a background check on all the parties to make sure there’s no relationships they’re going to verify the lean and what they’re going to do in many cases is even if everything looks okay they’re going to reject it send it back to you with the hopes that you’re going to be scared that they caught you and you’re not going to refile it they’re also going to do a stop title process place an administrative stop on the application during the review this makes sure that the vehicle isn’t fraudulently conveyed to another party this is the big one internal audit.

Internal Audits and Fraud Prevention
You’re going to they’re going to internally audit all the records for that repair shop to see are they did they have a repair for that vehicle that was paid tax on before they did a lean sale if you can’t show that you had a record of repair on that vehicle and then you’re doing a lean sale that right there is a red flag that’s going to catch you in the act of trying to do a fake mechanics lean and what they’re going to do is if they suspect fraud they’re going to take that title application and they’re going to retain it for criminal prosecution criminal prosecution they’re not playing around right they are doing this very specifically uh at all 50 states we are in contact with all 50 states DMV on a regular basis discussing how these issues are coming up in different state lines and they’re being caught.

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Get An Abandoned Vehicle Title

Abandoned Vehicles
We’re going to talk about the most commonly requested subject that comes up on callers to our private vehicle title helpline. This is the most frequently asked for information and it’s what most people who contact us ask about, and that is abandoned vehicles. Abandoned vehicles and mostly it’s because the person who’s calling needs to get a vehicle title, a legal title document for a vehicle, and the idea that they came up with is to say, “I’m going to declare it as an abandoned vehicle and claim it as.”

The Consequences of Declaring a Vehicle Abandoned
So, we’re going to talk about that and we’re going to look at the laws and how that works because one of the things you have to remember is that an abandoned vehicle may not be the actual definition of the vehicle you’re trying to get a title for. And as soon as you declare it as an abandoned vehicle, it is now permanently locked into that definition, and you may not be able to get a title, and it may permanently ban you from getting a title. So, we’re going to look at what the rules are, and we’re.

Better Methods Than Declaring a Vehicle Abandoned
Also going to look at many times what is a better method of getting a title than trying to claim it to be abandoned because if you think about it, where did you hear about abandoned vehicles? Probably just something you came up with or maybe you read on some discussion group. It’s not normally the best way to get a title. In fact, most of the time, if you declare and say a vehicle’s abandoned, you will lose the vehicle forever to the government. So, before you say it’s abandoned, make sure you understand what the rules are and look.

Government Issued Titles
At what the options are because a lot of times there’ll be better options. So let’s take a look at a few examples in a few different states. Now remember, a title is a legal government document issued only by a government agency. You can’t buy one from a company, you can’t download one from the internet. The government decides who to give titles to based on their rules. The government agency in most states is called the Department of Motor Vehicles. Some states it’s called the Department of Transportation. Either way, they have certain rules to.

Abandoned Vehicle Laws Across States
Have to follow, and if abandoned vehicle rules are to say you can’t have the vehicle, then you lose and they’ll seize it from you. Now, you’ll notice that we’ll look at a few states and the rules are going to be almost exactly the same from all these different states. Why is that? Well, the rules for abandoned vehicles come from federal guidelines, federal government guidelines. So, all the states’ rules are about the same. You’ll see as we look at three or four states here how it works, even if your state is not one.

Pennsylvania’s Vehicle Disposal Rules
Of the ones we use as an example, you will find that in your state, it’s probably exactly the same because they take this from a federal national government rule. So for the first thing, we’re going to look at is a fact sheet on the disposal of abandoned vehicles from private property, and that’s probably what you’re thinking about because you can’t really claim abandoned vehicles on the side of the road, right? If it’s on the highway or if it’s in a, you know, on a street, you can’t really claim that. But if it’s on your property, you might say.

Definitions of Abandoned Vehicles in Pennsylvania
Hey, if it’s on my property, I’ll charge storage fees and I’ll claim the vehicle. Let’s look at that. Purpose of this fact sheet: information on disposing of vehicles which have been left on private property. Notice the word “disposing.” It doesn’t say ownership. And now, what state is this? This is Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, right? Definition of terminology: abandoned vehicles involve an intention to abandon together with an act of surrendering the vehicle. Abandoned property is that which an.

Legal Definition of Abandoned Vehicle in Pennsylvania
Owner has relinquished all rights, title, and claim, and possession with no intention of claiming it or resuming ownership. So, if you declare it to be abandoned, you’re saying that the owner, you see, it says “an owner,” not “the owner,” “an owner has relinquished all rights, title, claim, and possession.” If you’re saying you’re the owner, then you’re relinquishing rights just from day one. You might be game over on doing it. But let’s look further. Section 102 of the vehicle code defines an abandoned vehicle.

When a Vehicle is Presumed Abandoned in Pennsylvania
A vehicle shall be presumed to be abandoned under any of the following circumstances. But the presumption is rebuttable, meaning that it’s not 100%. The vehicle is physically inoperable and left unattended on a highway or public property for 48 hours. The vehicle’s remained illegally on a highway for a period of 48 hours. Vehicles left on a highway for 48 hours, what about private property? The vehicle has remained on private property without the consent of the owner for more than 24 hours. Well, you might say, yeah, it’s been here for more than 24.

Private Property and Abandoned Vehicles
Hours, well, did you ever give consent to the person to put it there? Did you ever say, “Hey, you can’t leave your car here for a couple of days”? Did you buy the car and you gave somebody money and they gave you a bill of sale? Well, that was consent because you put it there. So, this doesn’t apply for most scenarios without the consent of the owner. Now, if somebody just voluntarily drives a car on your driveway, leaves it, and takes off and you don’t know who it is and you never told them to do it, that might apply.

Methods of Disposing of Abandoned Vehicles
So, what do you do? Methods of disposing of vehicles: okay, you may request a police department to declare a vehicle abandoned and require a salvo to take possession. A salvo is basically a junkyard. So, the number one thing you can do: you can call a junkyard and have them come take it. Number two, the property owner may personally remove the vehicle to a place of storage pursuant to section 3352. What is that? Basically, you bring it to a towing company or salvage yard for them to get rid of it, okay? Um, what happens afterward?

What Happens After Vehicle Removal
The vehicle may be sold at a sheriff’s sale, right? So that’s giving the car away. What else can you do? The property owner may file suit in common pleas court requesting that an order be entered awarding ownership. Hmm, that sounds like a court order title. Let me give you a sneak peek: court order title, cartitles.com, we’ll talk about that later, right? So, the only three things you can do in this state is call the towing company and a junk company and have them come take it, or bring it to the junk company yourself, and they’re going to auction it.

Court Order for Vehicle Ownership in Pennsylvania
Off, or you can do a court order title and we’ll talk about that afterwards. You can’t declare it as abandoned and say, “I want to keep it.” You have to petition, request that an order be entered to award you the owner, and that request will extinguish the title and interest of any other person. Okay, the property owner may not repossess an automobile for the cost of storing the vehicle. So, you can’t make up fake storage charges unless you are a bona fide warehouseman provided by the Universal Commercial Code. What does that.

Challenges with Vehicle Ownership Claims
Mean? You have to be a licensed storage facility, and in most cases, you have to have a signed authorization agreement for storage fees. Okay, what if you say, “Well, I did work on it and I want to use that to claim the ownership”? Well, a bill incurred for repairs to a vehicle can be collected only by filing a complaint, obtaining a judgment against the owner. What does that sound like? Sounds like a court order type, right?

Texas Rules on Abandoned Vehicles
Notice and storage: abandoned vehicle has been removed. So it says once an abandoned vehicle has been removed, what does that mean? Well, Texas law says that there are certain requirements you have to have if you are going to charge, store, or remove a vehicle. What if you’re a storage facility? You’re like a self-storage yard. Well, the first thing you need to do is the garage keeper shall report the abandonment of the motor vehicle to a law enforcement agency to the jurisdiction where the vehicle is located and pay a.

California’s Lean Sale Procedures
$10 fee for notification. The garage keeper shall retain custody of the abandoned motor vehicle until the agency takes the vehicle into custody. So, what does that say? The cops are going to take the car if you say it’s abandoned. If you declare it to be abandoned, abandoned motor vehicles, you have to report it to the police and they come take it. What if you don’t report it as abandoned? A garage keeper who fails to report an abandoned vehicle to a law enforcement agency within 7 days after the date it’s abandoned may not claim.

Legal Process for Vehicle Ownership in California
Reimbursement for storage of the vehicle. Last but not least, we’re going to look at California. So, here’s a place. For California, if you’re thinking about California, you can call us and talk to us about these situations, but we just want to let you know that an abandoned vehicle in California is also the same, meaning the law says that you can’t just declare it as abandoned. You have to be able to, and there are exceptions, but the general rule is abandoned vehicles aren’t something.

Conclusion
The only way to keep abandoned cars forever is through proper paperwork, court orders, salvage, and legal processes.

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Is Carvana Really In A Turnaround?

Carvana’s Initial Issues
You may remember back a few years ago where we had done some reporting on this channel. You can see in this video clip that we were concerned that Carvana, the major auto retailer, was having problems. There were some criminal accusations, and there were major title problems. We were hearing from clients every single day about how they were having title issues and not getting titles for vehicles. There were some questions about their accounting back then and whether or not they were even going to stay in business. Did they have enough money? And we reported on this. We had probably eight or nine videos over the course of six or eight months that talked about whether or not Carvana was even a legitimate company, allegedly.

The Turnaround and Initial Resolution
Well, all of a sudden these problems seemed to go away. They bought an auction company called Adessa. They moved some money around. They changed around their financial statement and all of a sudden it looked like they were in great shape. Their stock went up. Their company seemed like it was being rebounded and so it kind of faded away.

New Allegations Surface
But it seems like we were a little ahead of our time. This article came out today in Automotive News where Hindenburg Research, which is a company that looks for publicly traded organizations or corporations hiding problems on their books, questioned Carvana’s accounting practices and called the turnaround a mirage. So that turnaround that happened two and a half, three years ago made it seem like the company all of a sudden was in great shape. It was kind of curious. We even questioned in one of our videos, like, how did this happen all of a sudden? Where they were at one point on the ropes, back against the wall, and then a couple months later they were doing great. It’s not like they were selling many more cars, their business wasn’t that much different. It’s just that their finances all of a sudden got better. We questioned how did that happen? And since, you know, it wasn’t that big of a deal to us, we kind of let sleeping dogs lie.

Forensic Audit Results
Well, this article comes out to say they made accusations that they did a forensic financial audit and they found 800 million in loan sales to a suspected undisclosed related party, and that there was accounting manipulation and lack of underwriting resulting in temporary reported income growth. So what they’re saying, basically, is the income growth, the business development, the rise in sales was all smoke and mirrors. It’s kind of what they’re saying, allegedly. Their research, including extensive document review and 49 interviews with employees and related parties, shows that Carvana’s turnaround is a mirage. It’ll remain to be seen whether or not this is accurate, but it is a troubling report coming out from a major analyst.

Closing Thoughts
Now granted, they’re short sellers, so they bet on companies going down, but who knows whether or not this video we did a couple years ago, “We Told You So, Carvana in Trouble,” was a precursor for this major problem with Carvana. Stay tuned and let us know if you’re having problems with any Carvana titles or any dealership titles for that matter.

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What To Expect For Car Titles In 2025

Vehicle Titling in 2025
So what can you expect in the industry of vehicle titling for the year 2025? Obviously, with the new year, there are a lot of new rules and not a lot of new laws and also some industry transformations that we’ll be seeing in the coming year and years following. There are four major changes that will happen to the vehicle title process in the coming year. We’ll kind of talk about the four of them, and it’s going to affect you as a vehicle owner, as maybe an automotive professional, as a lender, as an auction. A lot of our clients are auctions.

Electronic Titles
The first one is going to be electronic titles. Electronic titles, so through our coalition called eART with many other title providers and some other third-party vendors like DocuSign, CarMax, and Manheim Auto Auctions, we are now pursuing a transformation with the different DMVs in different states to have them convert to electronic titling in all 50 states. Now, it’s a slow process, and it’s going to take a while to get there, but many states are already starting to implement technology.

Digital Signatures and Paperless Process
They’re starting to implement rules that allow for things like electronic digital signatures. Look, everything else you do in life, buy a house, sign a mortgage, you can do electronically, right? Use DocuSign e-signatures. DMVs don’t normally allow this right now; only one state really allows it, so we’re working on doing that. We’re also working on eliminating paper title documents. We’re looking at electronic documents. We’re working hard to get that done. So in 2025, we expect that many states are going to start adopting more and more of these rules and allowing people to have electronic titles and electronic records, which will make the process easier. You won’t get as much of a runaround, and you won’t have to wait as long for titles to come in the mail. You can get them almost instantaneously.

Montana LLC Loophole
The second big change for vehicle titles is going to be Montana LLCs. Remember, back years ago, there used to be the Vermont loophole. People did this Vermont loophole over and over to get titles from different states using the Vermont loophole, and that loophole, for many years, and we talked about it back starting five, six years ago, was really days are numbered, right? Because it’s not really the preferred way of getting a title, and the other states really didn’t like it because you weren’t going through the right process. Eventually, they put enough pressure on the federal government and Vermont to stop doing it, and the state of Vermont didn’t want to stop because they were getting a lot of money on sales tax.

The Montana LLC Loophole Explained
Well, now the loophole that some people are using is the Montana LLC loophole. What is that? Well, Montana does not charge sales tax when you buy a vehicle, so some people are using this process to buy a vehicle without having to pay sales tax by putting the car in a corporation name in Montana. Now, why a corporation name? Well, most states don’t allow you—almost all states don’t allow you—to get a title from that state unless you are a resident of the state. So you can’t just shop around and say, “Well, this state is easier or better for me to get a title. Let me just get a title from there.” It doesn’t work that way. You have to be a resident. But the way to work around it is you form a corporation in Montana, an LLC, you put the title in the name of the corporation, and you don’t pay tax. Well, technically, that’s not good because even though you registered it and titled it in Montana, you’re driving it in your state. So the tax isn’t just where you get the title; it’s where you use it, where you’re an owner.

Legal Issues with Montana LLCs
Whether or not that evades your taxes or not, that’s between you and your taxing authority and your revenue department. That’s more of a legal question than a title question. But you got to watch out because many states are recognizing that this Montana LLC is a way people are using to evade taxes or to avoid things like inspections or paperwork, right? And the states, you know, through our conversations with different states, they know that this is happening. They’re not stupid; they realize this is going on. There are all kinds of fly-by-night companies advertising, “Yeah, we’ll do this Montana thing for you,” and you know, you’re paying $500, $600 in fees to get a license plate from Montana.

Crackdown on Montana LLCs
A lot of people are doing it on higher-end vehicles like luxury vehicles or motorhomes when those could cost $100,000 to $200,000, and you could save $10,000 to $15,000 in sales tax. Now, there may be legitimate reasons to do it rather than just avoiding the sales tax, or you might say, “Well, I’m going to do that because I’d rather have a title there and still pay the tax in your state.” That’s fine, but that’s something that’s going to end pretty soon. You’re not going to see that being able to be done too much longer, and some states are starting to crack down. They’re sending out bulletins to law enforcement in the state, “Look, if you see a Montana license plate in our state, run the plate. If it’s an LLC, pull that car over to see if the driver is on the LLC,” because now that begs the question: Are they using the car in their state? Plus, check the insurance.

Insurance and Registration Issues with Montana LLCs
Because if you have a Montana LLC, the question is: Where is your car insurance policy from? If you have a Montana policy, but you’re driving it, let’s say, half the year or all the time in Virginia, let’s say you’re kind of misrepresenting to your insurance company where you’re using the car. On the other hand, if you get an insurance policy from Virginia and you have a Montana LLC, then it doesn’t match the registration. So that could be a problem. So if you’re going to look at that, we recommend getting legal advice from an attorney to make sure what you’re doing is not going to get you in trouble. Look, it may not, you may talk to an attorney and they say, “That’s fine,” but just make sure that you verify for yourself that what you’re going to be doing matches your personal needs and matches the laws in your state and matches what you’re trying to accomplish. It doesn’t get you into trouble accidentally.

Salvage Vehicles and Copart/IAA Auctions
Number three is salvage vehicles: Copart vehicles, IAA auction vehicles. Well, we’ve started this conversation many years ago, three or four years ago. Most of the vehicles now that are coming out of Copart and IAA are going to start to be more commonly designated as “parts only” vehicles, not salvage. Some states call it “certificate of destruction,” some states call it “non-repairable,” Texas calls it that. Some states call it “junk.” Right? The scary thing is some states don’t call it anything. They just don’t give you a title, and you may not know you’re getting one of these.

Insurance and the Parts-Only Designation
What does that mean? Well, if the vehicle has been designated “junk” or “parts only,” its VIN number is void. You can’t get a title, can’t get a registration; it’s a permanent cancellation of that vehicle as being eligible for any kind of on-road use. Can only use it for parts. A lot of people are buying these cars out of Copart, IAA, not knowing what they’re getting into, and they’re finding out later, “I can’t get a title.” And we’ve talked about this before, so this isn’t news. The news is more insurance companies are starting to use this instead of salvage titles. Why are they doing that?

Why Insurance Companies Favor Parts-Only Titles
Well, what they’re finding is they’re not getting that much less money for the car at the auction. They’re getting the same amount. Why is that? Well, most of the people who are buying cars at Copart or IAA are not buying them for the purpose of putting them back on the road, fixing them up, and selling them. Most of the people buying cars there are buying them to take them apart anyway. Even a salvage title. In fact, the only people really making big money on cars at Copart or IAA auction are the ones who are dismantlers.

The Economics of Buying Salvage Cars
You buy a salvage title car, it’s crashed in the front, and they take it apart. You can have a $5,000 engine, a $3,000 transmission, $2,000 airbags, maybe five or six of those, you have wheels, you have doors, you have computers. Gosh, there are four or five computers on a car, each one could be worth $1,000 bucks. By the time you add all that up, it could be more than what the car would be worth if you bought one from a dealership. Right? So you have the expense of dismantling it. More importantly, you have to have the expertise of knowing where to put all these parts, ship them to warehouses, put them at the right place, and advertise them.

Insurance Companies and Salvage Cars
But these parts companies already have that. They’re already doing that. So if you took the same car, let’s say a 2022 Toyota Camry, it’s crashed in the front, you buy it for half its book value or even a third of its book value. You might think, “Well, I’m stealing the car.” Well, by the time you buy all the parts, put the car back together, and go to sell it, you’re going to find a couple things. First of all, you’re not going to get that much for the car, because people who are in the market for used cars want a car that’s in good condition. You don’t get that much out of it. But by dismantling it, you’re now part of the supply chain that gets to sell these parts. And that’s why insurance companies have figured that out. They’re selling parts, they’re liquidating these vehicles, they are selling them off, and they’re moving them through auctions without much of an issue.

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How Do Duplicate Car Titles Work?

How Duplicate Titles Work for a Motor Vehicle
So how do duplicate titles actually work for a motor vehicle? A duplicate title request is when a person who is the legal titled owner of the vehicle requests a replacement certificate for the one that they had or lost, or never had to begin with. Now keep in mind that a duplicate title is a very specific phrase. What it means is exactly what the two words mean: duplicate title. It is a duplication of the last title issued. So remember, a vehicle title is a legal document that explains and identifies an actual vehicle’s year, make, model, and VIN number, but also assigns the ownership of that vehicle to a particular person. Right, so Joe Smith owns this 2020 Toyota Camry. Well, if Joe Smith is the owner, he has a title; it’s a certificate. If at some point Joe Smith loses that title, Joe Smith and only Joe Smith can request a duplicate title certificate. Nobody else can because the DMV or the titling authority in your state is not going to give that title certificate to anybody except for Joe Smith. It protects him in his ownership because if anybody could get the replacement title, then anybody could get any title for any car they wanted, even if you had a bill of sale or receipt or anything. So the only person who can request a duplicate title is the person whose name is in the title records.

What to Do If Your Name Isn’t on the Title
So how does that work? Well, if your name is not in the official records, then you don’t want to order a duplicate title. You want to do a title replacement, title recovery, or a title transfer. That’s a whole different thing. We’ve talked about that in other videos, and you can find out more on our channel or on our website. But if your name was on the last title and you want to order a duplicate, you can do that. Now remember, if there’s a lien holder listed on the title, they have to be cleared off first. Even if you paid off the loan, that lien might still be lingering in the title records. You might have to get that cleared up, and we can talk about how to do that. You can find it on our website. If there are other owners on the title, a co-owner or co-signer, you also have to get their signature to make sure they’re okay with you getting the title.

The Fastest Way to Get a Duplicate Title
Now, what’s the best way to get a duplicate title? Well, the fastest way to do it is to go in person to the Department of Motor Vehicles office. Drive there, take an appointment, wait in line, show your ID to show who you are. They’ll match your ID, look up in the system, “Yep, that’s your name on the title.” Here’s another title. They normally can give it to you the same day. Sometimes smaller branches might not have blank titles in stock, and they might have to mail it to you in a couple of days. That’s the fastest way to do it and the cheapest, for that matter. But now, you have to go to the DMV, get the right forms, and do everything. There are ways to do it that are easier where you don’t have to go anywhere, but that’s going to cost a little more money.

Remote Options for Ordering a Duplicate Title
If you go on our website, cartitles.com, it’ll show you the process for doing it remotely. You can order it online. It’s going to take longer and might cost more money, but it’s going to be less work. So you have to balance: do you want it faster and cheaper or slower and easier? Right? It’s easier to just click a button online and get it, but if you need it fast or you’re on a budget, go to DMV in person. Bring your photo ID, bring the VIN number, and you can get it directly there that way. If you don’t mind waiting a little bit and would rather not go in line at the DMV, then you have other options.

Conclusion and Additional Information
That’s how a duplicate title works and how the duplicate car title process is handled. If you do have more questions, you can click the link below. It’ll give you instructions and also offer you the option if you want to talk live to a licensed, certified title agent. You can do that as well on our website, cartitles.com.

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