Vehicle Titling in 2025So 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 talk about all four of them, and it’s going to affect you as a vehicle owner, as maybe an automotive professional, as a lender, or as an auction. A lot of our clients are auctions.
Electronic TitlesThe first one is going to be electronic titles. 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 ProcessThey’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 LoopholeThe 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 numbered in days, 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 ExplainedWell, 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 LLCsWhether 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’ve 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, 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’re paying $500 to $600 in fees to get a license plate from Montana.
Crackdown on Montana LLCsA 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 my 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 LLCsBecause 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, then 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 AuctionsNumber three is salvage vehicles: Copart vehicles, IAA auction vehicles. 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.” 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 DesignationWhat 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 TitlesWell, 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 CarsYou 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 in a car, each one could be worth $1,000. 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. 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 in the right place, and advertise them.
Insurance Companies and Salvage CarsBut 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 of 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 Duplicate Titles Work for a Motor VehicleSo 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 and 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 they 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 TitleSo 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 TitleNow, 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 TitleIf 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 the DMV in person. Bring your photo ID, bring the VIN number, and you can get it directly 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 InformationThat’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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DMV Horror StoriesSo we all have DMV horror stories. In fact, this publication asks readers to talk about your worst experiences at the DMV, and they had no shortage of responses. But, you know, it’s not hard to find the bad stories. The question is, why? Has anybody ever stopped to wonder why the DMV is so difficult to deal with and why they make it a hard time? Well, it’s a combination of a perfect storm of two factors. One factor is, it’s a government agency. It doesn’t have the same efficiency implications, goals, and objectives as a private company.
Government Agency vs Private CompanyIf you’re a private company, if you don’t do things well, you go out of business. If you don’t serve customers well, customers don’t come see you, and you close you fail. If you’re a restaurant and have terrible food, you’re done. Right? If you’re a bookstore and you don’t have good customer service, lock your door. The DMV is different. The DMV doesn’t matter how bad the services are; you have to go there. You don’t have a choice. There is no competitor to the DMV. They don’t have to make a profit. They don’t have to have good reviews. They’re the DMV.
Legal Documents and DMV ResponsibilitiesThere’s another factor that people don’t realize. They’re handing out legal documents. When they hand somebody a license, a driver’s license, that’s not just a card something you put in your wallet. It enables you to do lots of things: to go on airplanes, to show your ID, to buy things, to vote, to open a bank account. If they handed it out without doing the proper due diligence, it could create a lot of problems for identity theft or fraud. When they hand out a car title, they’re handing the ownership legality of that vehicle to that person because the title doesn’t just have information about the car it also tells who is the owner.
Title as Legal OwnershipSo if I went to the DMV and said, “You know what, I want a title for this car, 2022 Toyota Camry, whatever it is, VIN number 1234, give me a title,” if they didn’t make sure all the documentation was correct, giving me a title to the car isn’t just a piece of paper I can put in my file cabinet. It now gives me an equal dollar amount to the value of that car. So if that car is worth $30,000, when they hand me a title, in effect, they’re handing me $30,000 in cash. And also, the other side of that is they’re taking it away from somebody else because somebody else used to be the owner. So unless they make sure all of that is correct, they’re arbitrarily taking away something from somebody and giving it to somebody else. So they have to do it right.
Bill of Sale and DocumentationSo their process is going to be pretty strict, and you might say, “Well, I have a receipt. I have a legal bill of sale. I bought it from somebody.” What is a bill of sale? We will be back in 8 seconds. In the meantime, remember, you have access to live, one-on-one consultation, undivided attention of a licensed, certified expert in this subject and many others. We want to listen to your story, we want to hear your questions, and give you expert advisement of your options. We want to tell you what we know about your situation and what options you have. Now, back to your video.
Understanding Bill of SaleA bill of sale is just something somebody wrote on a piece of paper that said, “I took the money from somebody and gave him this car.” It doesn’t necessarily mean they were the legal owner. It doesn’t mean they had the right to sell. It doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lien holder on it, a co-owner, or it wasn’t their car at all. Right? Well, I rented the car. It’s not a stolen car. It doesn’t have to be stolen to not be sellable. If I rented a car today from Hertz and drove it around and then put an ad on Craigslist and said, “Hey, I want to sell this car,” I could give you a bill of sale, sell you the car. It won’t come back as stolen. I gave you a legal bill of sale. I can even get it notarized. Does that make you the owner of the car?
The DMV’s Role in Protecting LegalitiesWhat happened to Hertz? That’s not how it works. There are legal documents you have to have. So the DMV is enforcing those to protect you as much as anybody else. You wouldn’t want somebody to sell your car out of your driveway if you went on vacation without paperwork or with fake paperwork and didn’t check everything out. So it protects everybody. Is it inconvenient? Absolutely. Is it tough? Sure. And that’s why we have a division of our company called CarTitles.com that helps people navigate that difficult title process. It makes it easier.
Helping Customers Navigate the DMV ProcessIt’s tough because we are the ones that have to deal with the DMV, work with the bureaucracy, and then also deal with the clients that still have, you know, some difficulty. But at least it makes it easier for our customers, which we love doing. Someday, there’ll be electronic titles, and you won’t have to do paper. But that’s years away. So if you’re wondering why the DMV is always so hard to deal with or gives you the runaround, that’s why. They’re not bad people. They’re not trying to, you know, make your life more difficult. They have a job to do, and their system and structure are different than a company’s.
Understanding DMV’s System and MindsetLook, if you and I walked into the cell phone store and we wanted to go get a new cell phone, right? We walked in and say, “Hey, I want to buy a new phone.” There would be five people jumping over themselves to try to help you to sell you a phone because they’re going to make money on that phone. They’re going to make a commission. They might get a bonus. The DMV is not like that. They don’t get a commission if you get a title. They don’t get any extra money if you get a title. So there are two different mindsets. They’re there to protect the legalities of a process, unlike a private company that’s trying to get as much stuff out the door as they can.
Perception of the DMVSo if you look at it that way, it won’t be as annoying. It won’t be as frustrating because you have to look at it as two different things. Just because you walk through a door into a lobby, it’s not the same experience as walking into Home Depot, where they ask you, “Can I help you find, you know, that fitting?” The DMV is not like that, and if you look at it differently, it’ll be much easier to navigate and much more peaceful for your well-being.
Dealing with the DMV for a TitleSo you might be wondering why it is so hard to deal with the DMV to get a title. Are you getting the runaround for getting a car title or vehicle title from the DMV? You might think that it shouldn’t have to be that hard. In fact, in this article, this woman’s talking about making three trips back to the DMV, back and forth to their house. We’ve had clients we deal with every single day that tell us, “I’ve had to go back and forth with the DMV a dozen times.” Well, here’s the reason why: The DMV has very specific requirements for getting a vehicle title that you have to meet before they can give you a title. Even if the person sitting at the window is sympathetic to you and they hear your story and they say, “Yeah, you’re supposed to have a title,” if you don’t have the right paperwork, they cannot give you a title. Even if they wanted to, the system won’t let them print one. A title is a legal government document issued only by that government agency, the DMV. You can’t buy one from a company. You can’t download one from the internet.
Preparing Before You Go to the DMVYou have to go through the DMV. Now what you need to do is be prepared before you go there to make sure you understand what the requirements are. Don’t guess. Don’t say, “Well, I have a bill of sale, that’s enough. I have insurance, that’s enough.” You have to know exactly what their requirements are. How can you find out? Well, you can use our website, cartitles.com, as a free consumer resource to get all the requirements for the DMV before you go. Because if you don’t, you will be back to your reading in just a few seconds. In the meantime, remember that actualhuman.com offers you live one-on-one private video consultation with an expert in this exact subject. We want to listen to your story, we want to hear your questions, we want to give you expert advisement of your options and tell you what we know about your particular situation. Now back to your reading.
Getting Information in AdvanceDon’t go there and have them tell you what the requirements are. You made a trip, you waited in line, you talked to them, then you have to go home to do everything and then go back again. You can get all this information in advance. You can even get the forms, all the blank forms for the DMV, print them out from our website, fill them in, follow the instructions. We even have other videos like this one that will explain to you exactly how to prepare these documents. That way, when you go in, you’re not empty-handed. You have everything you need already done. The DMV employee will appreciate that from you. They’ll process your order faster, and you can get in and out of there in one trip rather than having to go back and forth getting everything.
Don’t Guess and Avoid FrustrationSo don’t leave it to chance. Don’t guess and see if you think you know what it takes to get a title. Even if you got a title two years ago, the laws may have changed. Requirements may have changed. They change all the time, and not knowing what the current requirements are is going to put you in a position where you’re just going to waste extra time and go back and forth, and you’ll get frustrated. Maybe the DMV person will sense that, and they might not help you as well. So use our website as a free consumer resource.
Make It Easier on YourselfLook, dealing with the DMV is going to be bureaucratic, it’s going to be inconvenient, and annoying anyway. Make it easier on yourself so you don’t end up like this woman, having to make three trips back and forth to get done what you want to get done. We wish you the best of success, and if you do want more direct instruction, you can click our website below to get consultation to talk to a title agent or to get the forms. If you like this video, be sure to click on a few others on our channel to see if there’s other information that might be helpful to you about this same subject or maybe even other related subjects that could assist you with your resolution of your issue.
Licensed Dealerships and Title ProblemsWe’re seeing more and more of these vehicle title problems popping up from people who bought cars at dealerships. This is not, you know, buying a car from some guy on Craigslist on the street corner or buying a car on OfferUp or Facebook Marketplace where the seller was kind of maybe sketchy at best. These are people who bought cars from licensed car dealerships and didn’t get a title. Here’s a person who bought a cheap Wrangler: “The dealer won’t give me a title, making it impossible to get license plates.” And when they went back to the dealer, the dealer laughed at them. They can’t drive their new vehicle because they can’t get titles and plates. How does that even happen? This is a dealership.
Dealership License SuspensionsWell, it is happening. Here’s a new car dealership, Lefon Hyundai in Detroit, that had their license suspended because they were selling cars without titles, selling vehicles, and failing to have a title in possession of the vehicle. They also failed to properly complete the state’s title application. How does this happen? Well, here’s one of the scenarios that can come up that you may not know about as a consumer, but it’s important to be aware of when you’re buying a car from a dealer.
Dealer Financing ExplainedDealers, like consumers, actually finance their cars. If you buy a car, you’re going to get a car loan, and you make payments on it. Dealers have car loans on all the vehicles in their inventory. It’s called floor plan credit, or floor plan financing. The word “floor” comes from the cars on your showroom floor—there’s a plan for financing it. So what happens is, you might think, “Well, why do dealers have to finance their cars?” Think about how many cars are on a dealer’s lot. Even if a dealer has 100 cars on their lot, and let’s suppose each car averages $35,000, that’s $3.5 million of inventory sitting on a lot.
Costs for Smaller DealersLet’s say a new car dealer. First of all, most new car dealers have more than 100 cars, and cars don’t cost $35,000 anymore; now they’re $40,000 or more. So that’s a minimum. Even if you have a small mom-and-pop used car store that has 10 cars on their lot, and they are $7,000 each, that’s $70,000. Think about the mom-and-pop car dealer with a little trailer on the corner. $70,000 might be a stretch for them to come up with, so they do this floor plan financing.
How Floor Plan Financing WorksHow does it work? When you buy these cars, whether it’s from an auction, from the factory, or from a trade-in, you contact your lien holder—that’s called a floor plan lender—and you tell them, “Look, I just bought this 2022 Jeep from the auction.” “Great, we will pay the auction, wire transfer them the money. You go get the car, you ship it. We’re going to hold the title.” And that’s the key: the lender holds on to the title.
Title Holding by LendersJust like you as a consumer, when you finance a car, the bank holds your title too because they don’t want you to sell it without paying them. The floor plan lender wants to do the same thing—they want to hold that title to make sure the dealer just doesn’t sell the car, pocket the money, and not pay them off. Let’s say the dealer bought that car for $22,000; the lender financed it. Now the dealer sells it for a profit. Let’s say they sell it for $25,000.
Dealer Responsibilities and Cash Flow IssuesThey make $3,000. They take the $25,000, take $22,000 of it, give it to the lender, and keep the $3,000 for profit. What they’re supposed to do is send that $22,000 to the floor plan lien holder to get the title. Then, when they get the title, they can complete the application, put it in your name, and you’re good to go. They sign the back. However, sometimes if that car dealership is running short on cash—maybe they have to make payroll or pay their rent—that’s where title problems come up.
Financial Mismanagement and Ponzi SchemesThey might have a problem getting the title from the lien holder if they don’t have the cash. They figure, “Well, I’ll just use this buyer’s money to pay some bills, and I’ll pay for it later.” It becomes a Ponzi scheme, like taking your money to pay somebody else’s car off and their money to pay your car off. Next thing you know, the lender has what’s called an “out-of-trust” scenario.
Risks for Buyers and LendersIf that dealership maybe even only has five cars that they didn’t pay off, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but five cars could be $100,000. If the car dealer is short on cash, they may never be able to come back from that $100,000. If they’re already losing money, they can never pay it back. This results in buyers not getting titles for their cars.
Issues for Buyers with Car LoansWhat makes it worse is if you are a buyer who financed the car when you bought it. Let’s say when you bought that $25,000 car, you went to a bank, such as Chase Bank, and took out a car loan for $25,000. They paid the dealer for the car. If the bank doesn’t get the title, you still have to pay that car loan, and you have no title for your car.
Bank Options in Title DisputesYour bank is not going to waive your loan just because the dealer didn’t give you a title. They paid the money. When you get a car loan, the bank writes a check to that dealer for 100% of the car in full, so they’re already out the money. If the dealer doesn’t give the bank the title, the bank can either call the loan in full and make you pay it back, or convert it to a personal loan instead of a car loan, increasing the rate.
Advice for BuyersWhat do we recommend you do? If you go to a car dealer and are going to buy a car, have them at least show you the title. They’re not going to give you the title, but before you sign the paperwork or give the money, say, “Show me the title so that I know you have it in your possession.”
Avoiding Title IssuesIf they can’t show you the title, if they say, “Well, we don’t have it,” even if it’s at the floor plan lender, you can say, “That’s fine. Why don’t you get the title first, and then I’ll buy the car?” If they can’t do that, it might be a sign that the dealer is cash-strapped and not someone you want to do business with.
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