Can You Get A Deal On A Car With No Title?

Understanding the Risks of Title-less Vehicle Purchases
Generally, we do not recommend purchasing a vehicle without a title. In fact, you may want to check your state laws to make sure you’re even allowed to do that. There are many risks that can come up if you buy a vehicle without a title. If there’s something about the vehicle history, you can be stuck with the car without a title in the long run.

Current Market Conditions Creating New Opportunities
Nevertheless, we’re seeing some things in the used car market that might indicate that if you could find a vehicle that’s affordable that you can get a great deal on without a title, but you want to be sure you can actually get a title. You want to make sure that it’s not a problem that cannot be solved. You may be able to avoid dealing with a used car market with no deals.

The Vanishing Affordable Car Market
According to this article from Autoblog, inexpensive used cars are vanishing. The used car market is skyrocketing. It’s very difficult to find any used vehicle for any kind of reasonable price and sometimes the only way to do it is to make an exception to some of the normal due diligence.

Strategic Approach to Title-less Vehicle Deals
If you find a vehicle that the seller doesn’t have a title, but the reason they don’t is a solvable problem, you may be able to kind of hack the market and get something that’s a great deal on a nice car. Kind of like if you bought a car that’s a fixer upper, you need to maybe put new tires on it or fix a transmission.

The Fixer-Upper Title Strategy
That’s some method you can use to get a cheap car. You could do the same thing by buying a fixer upper with the title. If you can get that title problem solved, then you can take advantage of the reduced market value that the seller would have to offer because they don’t have a legal title certificate.

Essential Precautions and Documentation
Again, make sure you’re allowed to do that in your state. Make sure that you get good documentation and make sure there’s nothing about that vehicle that could come up later that could prevent you from getting a title. And those are things that are crucial because if you buy a car with no title and then it turns out the car is not eligible for a title, now all your money’s gone. You’re stuck with a piece of metal in your front yard.

Visit Our YouTube Channel for more insights and discussions on various topics. Consider subscribing to our YouTube channel. Click here!

How NOT To Claim An Abandoned Vehicle

Understanding the Abandoned Vehicle Misconception
Frequently in our discussions with clients, the topic or phrase abandoned vehicle comes up during consultation. Often it represents an attempt to discover a method to secure a title for a vehicle that has become challenging. Legally speaking, an abandoned vehicle is one that appears somewhere that nobody knows where it originated from. It just materialized unexpectedly. Whether it’s on private property, public property, on a road, on a highway, in a field, and nobody knows where it originated from. It simply appeared and it wasn’t known where the origin of the vehicle came from.

The Reality of Most Client Situations
In most cases, when clients or customers are speaking to us, that’s not really the case. It’s something where they bought the vehicle and the person never gave him paperwork or somebody gave him the vehicle, never gave him paperwork. The reason why that distinction is very important, if you declare a vehicle to be abandoned, in almost every jurisdiction, you have to surrender the vehicle to the government.

The Harsh Reality: Finders Keepers Doesn’t Apply
The short answer is Finders Keepers does not apply to vehicles. A vehicle that is abandoned has to be processed through a very specific government legal process. And I’m going to show you a couple examples from a couple states of what that is. Now, that’s the bad news. The good news is there are almost certainly much better methods of getting a title.

Critical Advice: Avoid the Abandoned Vehicle Label
If your intention is to get a title for this vehicle, do not call it abandoned. If you call it abandoned, it’s going to make your process either impossible or much, much, much harder. You can’t just make up imaginary storage fees or claim a lean against the vehicle. None of that works. So, forget about abandon. Look at other methods. Even if the rare instance your jurisdiction, your county or state does allow abandoned vehicles, that process is going to be very highly scrutinized and you’re probably going to lose.

Tennessee’s Abandoned Vehicle Regulations
So, let’s look at a couple examples first of what you don’t want to do and then we’ll talk about what you do want to do afterwards. Here’s some state of Tennessee talk about abandoned vehicles. It tells you what the different codes are. You can look up all these codes. It says what the public may or may not do. The public may report vehicles left abandoned, immovable, or unattended to law enforcement. Private property owners, apartment buildings, or you know, if you have a piece of property you own, may call a towing firm and have vehicle removed. That’s it.

What the Public Cannot Do in Tennessee
The public may not, key words, may not have the vehicle towed, sell the vehicle, register the vehicle, obtain ownership of the vehicle. So, if you are the general public, not a property owner, you cannot obtain ownership of the vehicle. That’s key. So, you don’t want to call it abandoned in Tennessee.

Texas Abandoned Vehicle Requirements
What about Texas? Texas says abandoned property, including vehicles. What you have to do is you have to remove it to a storage facility. Basically, you have to call a towing company and they will go through a government process of notifications, of official reporting, of inquiries to the DMV. In many cases, it doesn’t even work for them.

Even Licensed Facilities Struggle
Many of the conversations we have are for towing companies or storage companies that have obtained a vehicle that they towed for somebody that was truly abandoned and they come to find out they can’t get a title either because if you don’t follow every last step in the right order in the right amount of time, you lose. In some cases, you have to start the process within 30 days, but you can’t do too soon. You can’t charge certain fees. You have to do notifications, but first you have to notify the government that you have the vehicle. If you miss one step, the whole process is void.

The Complexity Even for Professionals
So, even for licensed repair and towing facilities, if you fail to follow the exact steps, you’re going to lose on your abandoned vehicle title anyways.

The Better Solution: Title Recovery
So, what can you do? The good news is your situation probably legally defined is not an actual abandoned vehicle. It’s probably what’s called a title recovery, meaning that somehow you obtained the vehicle. The vehicle was given to you or transferred to you or left with you somehow. You know where it came from, which is good. And you just didn’t get a title. You didn’t get the proper documents. You may have a bill of sale, but you’ll probably find out or if you didn’t already, that’s not going to get you a title.

Title Recovery Process Advantages
So, you can go through a title recovery process to have the vehicle be declared you as the owner and then you can get a title, register, sell it, whatever you want to do. But as soon as you start calling it abandoned, now it’s a free-for-all and the government has to step in and say, “We will decide who gets to have the vehicle.”

Your Rights in Title RecoveryIf you are in possession of the vehicle, you have the keys to the vehicle, you have the VIN number, and the vehicle was given to you or left with you, you have the right to do a title recovery attempt. And that title recovery varies from state to state. Our website. You can click the link below. We’ll have a whole section on instructions on exactly how to do a title recovery to get the ownership recognized as you being the owner and get a new title with your name on it.

Visit Our YouTube Channel for more insights and discussions on various topics. Consider subscribing to our YouTube channel. Click here!

How To Title A Vehicle From A House Cleanout (foreclosure, flip, deceased owner)

Understanding Vehicle Title Requirements for Found Vehicles
What do you do if you need to get a title for a vehicle that came from like cleaning out a house like a foreclosure house or a flip house or maybe you were hired by a property owner to clean out somebody’s house that has been deceased and you find a car. Also, this is the same process you would use if you buy a vehicle from a storage facility. Same exact thing.

Why Property Deeds Don’t Transfer Vehicle Ownership
Here’s why this is important. Even if you’ve purchased the house, you bought an old house, you bought an abandoned house or a house that maybe relative sold for somebody who’s deceased. If you bought the house and you have a deed for the house and you’re the owner, that deed and that transfer does not automatically transfer the vehicle to you. It may transfer other contents of the house like if there’s furniture or things in the shed or maybe some yard tools out back. Those normally convey with the house.

Motor Vehicles as Titled Assets
However, motor vehicles are a different type of an asset. They’re considered to be what’s called a titled asset. And so, the title transfer has to be specifically specified on a transfer for it to go along with the house. For example, if the deed to the house also has a valid transfer of a title with it, then it may convey that vehicle. If not, even if the vehicle was owned by the same person that owned the house, even if they’re deceased, it doesn’t automatically transfer.

The Legal Nature of Vehicle Titles
And the reason why is because a vehicle title is a specific legal vesting. meaning that this document, which is a vehicle title, isn’t just a piece of paper. This has the vehicle information, but also the owner information. And until this document is properly signed over on the back, that ownership transfer is not done just with a bill of sale or you bought the house. Has to be done as a separate action.

DMV Requirements and Legal Ownership
So, how do you do it. Well, you obviously you’re not going to have that title. The owner is probably not going to be able to sign it. So, what you do is you have to override because the Department of Motor Vehicles or the titling agency in your state can’t just give you somebody else’s car without proper documents. And you might think, well, all I want is a title. I don’t want Well, you already have the car. I don’t want anything else just a title. Well, just because you have the car in your possession doesn’t mean you own the car.

Possession vs. Legal Ownership
Possession is not ownership of a vehicle. You could have the keys. You could have verbal opinion. You could have a bill of sale. You could have everything. You have the VIN number. But if you don’t have the legal ownership, the DMV cannot transfer it away because in reality, they have a record that somebody else owns it. That person might be deceased. They might be moved. They might be gone. Whatever. But they can’t legally take it out of their name and put it in your name unless they have the proper documents. What’s the proper documents. Well, we looked at it.

Using Existing Titles vs. Court Orders
There you have the title. If you if you have that, you’re good. If you don’t have it, there’s another option. You can get what’s called a declaratory judgment. That is a paper you get from the court in the county where you reside to have you be declared the owner of the vehicle by court order.

How Declaratory Judgments Work
How does that work. Well, you have to sign a petition in an affidavit declaring how you obtain the vehicle, what the facts are, and ask the court to make you the owner. and based on your facts, they’ll probably do it. As long as the vehicle doesn’t come up as stolen, there’s no claims against it. No one’s disputing your story, you’ll get it.

Court Requirements and Process
What’s the catch. Well, the catch is there are no pre-made forms that you can just go into court and say, “Hey, give me this declaratory judgment.” They’re not going to know what you’re talking about. The court does things based on what they’re asked. So, if somebody comes in and ask them something specific, and I mean ask on paper, not just verbally. If you petition the court for a specific thing, they can decide to do it.

Court Petition Examples
You could petition the court to say, “I want my neighbor to wear a black and white polkadotted shirt tomorrow between the 8 hours of 10 and 3.” You can ask them for whatever you want. They can say yes or no, but they don’t have specific forms for everything a person could ask for, right. They also can’t help you make these forms.

Creating the Petition Package
So, what you have to do is you have to put the whole thing together. This is what a spe a particular petition looks like. It’s a package of documents. You put together a petition, an affidavit, a declaration of facts. You put that together and mail it. That’s why you see an envelope here because this is the package we make for our customers. We put it together in a folder. You don’t want to bring it in person to the court. You want to mail it in.

Court Review and Approval Process
And the court’s going to look at it. They’re going to do some research. Make sure everything you said is true. Make sure you’re not some kind of scammer trying to take somebody else’s vehicle. If everything checks out, they give you that judgment of ownership. You file it with the DMV and you get a title.

Application to Various Scenarios
So, if you’ve done a cleanout on a foreclosure house or maybe a deceased owner house or maybe somebody paid you just to fix up a house for a flip and you find a vehicle, that’s the way to get it. Also, if you’ve purchased a storage unit just like you see on Storage Wars or whatever, and you find a vehicle in there, maybe a motorcycle hidden underneath all the piles of junk, you have to do the same thing. The the vehicle doesn’t automatically convey with all the other stuff in the storage unit. You have to go through a separate process. That’s the process.

Visit Our YouTube Channel for more insights and discussions on various topics. Consider subscribing to our YouTube channel. Click here!

How To Remove A Lien From A Title Record – Lien Release

Understanding Vehicle Lien Removal Process
How do you get a lien removed from a vehicle title record? If you have a vehicle that is currently blocked from getting a title because you need to get a lien removed from the official title record, it’s very important to know how to go through that process. First of all, if a lien is on a title record, it doesn’t mean there’s money owed. It doesn’t mean that there’s still a balance owed. It might be owed but also it’s not required. In addition, even if there is money owed, it’s not certain that you can’t get that lien removed.

Examples of Successful Lien Removal
For example, there are many instances where even if there’s money still owed, you can still get the lien removed from the title record. So, you can get the title, you can sell the vehicle, you can process a transfer.

What is a Vehicle Lien?
What is a vehicle lien? A vehicle lien is a claim against a vehicle title for from a bank usually or a lien holder that makes that vehicle collateral for a loan. Now, a lot of people don’t realize this. The lien holder is not the owner of the vehicle. If you finance a vehicle from a bank, the bank is not the owner of that asset. They’re simply a lender or a lien holder.

How Liens Work on Vehicle Titles
What happens is they will place their name on the title to hold their position as a lien holder for collateral and that means the DMV can’t release the title. A vehicle title is a legal document. You’ve seen these before and it has the name of the owner on it as the legal possessor of the vehicle, but if there’s a bank that lent money on it, they’re also going to put their name on it to protect their interest.

The Problem with Paid-Off Loans
Now, if you paid off your loan to the bank, and we’ll talk about if you didn’t pay off the loan here in a minute, but if you did pay off the loan, what they’re supposed to do is sign the title, stamp it paid, mail it to you, and they’re also supposed to remove that record from the DMV database. However, most of the time, they don’t do that second part. They just sign the title, stamp it, and mail it to you. And if you lose it, now you have a problem because that record is still going to be in the database.

The Correct Way to Contact Lien Holders
If that’s the case, you want to contact a lien holder to have them remove it. However, it’s very important how you do this. You can’t do it by phone. You can’t do it by text message, fax, online, internet. You have to do it in writing. And we’ll talk here in a minute why. We have hundreds of clients over and over that contact us and say, “Look, I tried to call the bank. I called the lien holder and they said they couldn’t do it or they said they would do it and they never did.” That’s cuz you did it by phone. If you do it in writing, you’ll get your lien release.

Getting Lien Release When Money is Still Owed
Now, let’s talk about if the money is still owed. Maybe you stopped paying on a car a long time ago. Maybe it’s a charge off. Maybe it’s a write off. Maybe it’s what’s called a short sale. And you can get information on that below. How do you get the lien release? Same way. You do it in writing. What you do, and this is how we do it. You put together a package of documents that is an official lien release.

The Lien Release Package
The package. It’s a lien release, a letter of non-interest, an affidavit of facts, declaration of interest. You put that together in writing, printed, and you send it to the lien holder with a request for them to verify it.

Why Written Requests Are Essential
And it’s important to do it in writing because here’s why. Lien holders don’t have a dedicated lien release department. So if you call them up and say, “Hey, give me a lien release,” somebody’s got to figure out whose job it is to do that. And these are all people that do something else all day that they have a responsibility to get done. So if they drop what they’re doing to put together this package of paperwork, right, it might take them an hour or two to put all this together. It’s not their job. So they’re not going to do it. They either are going to tell you they won’t do it or they won’t do it. You probably are familiar with this because you probably got the runaround from the bank.

Making It Easy for the Lien Holder
But if you put that package together and send it to them, now it’s a different story. All they have to do is sign it and mail it to you. In fact, we put, you can see in this package, there’s envelopes in here. We even give the lien holder an envelope already written out to mail it back to you. In addition, put a stamp on the envelope. Why should you do that? Well, any work that that person at the bank has to do is one more reason they’re not going to do it. If they can’t find a stamp, they’re going to throw it away. If they don’t have an envelope, they’re going to just drop it. You got to do all the work for them. Even if there’s money owed, even if there’s not money owed, this is the way to do it. Getting a lien release to get your title cleared is extremely important.

Backup Option: Court Order Title
Now, if for some reason the bank doesn’t respond or they take their time or they just, you know, forget about it, then you have a backup option in that package that I held up here a minute ago. We also put together a magistrate title or a court order title or declaratory judgment depend on the jurisdiction. It’s a backup. So after a week or two, if the bank hasn’t responded, you can then take the package, bring it to your local court or mail it to your local court and they can sign it because the bank didn’t respond. The court order title is an override of that. It’s an override of the bank not performing what they’re supposed to do.

Summary of the Lien Removal Process
So that’s the process of getting a lien removed from a title record. If you have been instructed by your bank to go to a website to get the lien release and it’s not going to the right place or they tell you to call a title company, this is why. Because they don’t have people in their bank that’s trying to help you out because it cost them too much money.

Why Banks Don’t Clear Title Records Automatically
And you might even ask, why is it that they don’t clear from the title record when they sent you your title initially? Well, it’s money. For them to do that, somebody has to fill out some forms. That might take a half an hour, 45 minutes. Somebody has to get those forms to the DMV and pay the fee. It might cost them $100, $120 for all the cost of taking a lien off of a record. Think about that. For hundreds of thousands of cars, that’s millions of dollars they save by not clearing the lien record. And it puts the burden on you. But this is a way to get that done easily.

Visit Our YouTube Channel for more insights and discussions on various topics. Consider subscribing to our YouTube channel. Click here!

Can You Get A Title For A Certificate Of Destruction Car Or Junk Parts Vehicle

Understanding Common Questions About Vehicle Title Issues
We receive numerous inquiries constantly regarding junk titles or parts only titles. In various states, these may be referred to as certificate of destruction or non-reparable designations. Vehicle owners have obtained these automobiles perhaps from Copart or IAA or alternative auction platforms. Or perhaps you purchased it from a private seller such as Facebook or Craigslist or maybe Offer Up. And what occurs is you attempt to obtain a title for the vehicle and you discover that at some point in the history of that vehicle, the VIN number has been reported as a parts VIN number or one of the other terms that previously was mentioned.

What These Designations Mean and DMV Rejections
What does that mean? Well, you probably got turned away from the DMV. They told you you can’t get a title. What does this mean? How can you get a title? Today we’re going to talk about all the details of these types of title recordings or title brands. What they mean, what you can do about it, how it happened, and what is the legalities of these parts vehicles.

Defining Parts-Only Vehicle Classifications
So what is a parts-only vehicle? As mentioned, a parts-only vehicle is one which has a designation on the title record that says the vehicle is only for parts. Sometimes it’s called a junk title. Sometimes it’s called a dismantle title. In Florida, for example, they call it certificate of destruction. In Texas, they call it non-reparable. In some states, they don’t call it anything, but the VIN number is just canceled. For example, these cars that are junk titles that come out of Washington state are simply sold with a bill of sale only. And many times the buyer doesn’t even know that there’s something wrong with it.

How Insurance Companies Create These Designations
So, how does this happen? Well, the way that this designation is added to a vehicle record, it’s done by an insurance company. When a vehicle is reported as a claim to an insurance company, a total loss claim, the insurance company is allowed to put a designation on the title. They could call it salvage. They could call it flood. They could call it recovered theft. They could also call it parts only. It’s up to the insurance company. They are the ones who put this brand label on the title. And they do it based on a number of criteria.

Condition vs. Damage Assessment Reality
It very rarely has to do with the amount of damage. Many of these vehicles that come out of Copart or IAA or one of the insurance auctions that have a junk or parts title are in very good condition, very little damage. Maybe it was a flood car that has a little bit of corrosion and the floorboards. Maybe it’s a car with no apparent damage.

Insurance Company Liability Concerns
First, let’s talk about why the insurance company does this. Obviously, when these cars sell at auction, they’re going to sell for less than they would if it was a salvage title. So, why would the insurance company shoot themselves in the foot and say, “We don’t want to get salvage title money for it.” All has to do with liability. What happens is when a vehicle is sold by an insurance company who paid out a total loss claim for the vehicle, the vehicle then is sold at auction. If that vehicle creates any harm or damage or injury to somebody even 5 or 10 years later, that person can go back and sue the insurance company for selling it in the open market.

Insurance Strategy to Avoid Future Lawsuits
So, the insurance companies have started to say, “Look, we don’t want these cars back on the road. So, let’s just put junk on it, sell it at the auction, we’re done with it.” In fact, they’re finding that the cars don’t sell for much less than they would if they put salvage on it. So, they’re not really losing that much money. So, why would a vehicle sell as a parts only if it’s in good condition? Why would the insurance company do that? Well, remember it all has to do with liability.

Hidden Damage from Flood Events
If the vehicle was a flood car, no collision damage, no impact damage, no physical damage, maybe you can tell it was a flood because of the mud line or some other criteria. The insurance company doesn’t know if when it was in the flood if things like the computers are shorted out, if the sensors for the anti-lock brakes were rusted, maybe the impact sensors for the airbags that are in the bumpers in the front and back and in the side, they were also corroded. So, let’s say somebody buys that car, they fix it up, they don’t replace those sensors, and the airbags don’t go off, somebody gets hurt, insurance company’s on the hook.

Long-Term Corrosion and Detection Issues
Sometimes these in these damages and these corrosion events don’t show up for a while. Maybe they look nice now, but because they were submerged in salt water or even freshwater, the corrosion might not occur for two or three or four years later. So even if they inspected the vehicle, they wouldn’t find it.

Recovered Theft Vehicle Examples
Also, an example of a parts only vehicle or certificate of destruction is a recovered theft. Let’s say a vehicle is stolen and after 30 days of the car being missing, the insurance company pays the claim to the owner. They give them their money for the car and then another month goes by and the car turns up. People are joy riding it. They get pulled over. They get arrested and the car comes back. Well, the owner doesn’t get the car back. Now the insurance company has the car and they resell it at auction.

Unknown Component Theft Issues
Well, what they don’t know at the insurance company is were the airbags taken out of the car? You know, airbags are worth two or three or four thousand dollars each. So, sometimes car thieves will take out airbags. If there’s five airbags in a car, that could be 10 or fifteen thousand dollars that they could sell in the black market. Insurance companies won’t know that. They don’t want to take the time to spend a thousand or two thousand dollars inspecting every vehicle to see if everything’s good. They just bring it to the auction and dump it. Pennies on the dollar.

Why Good Condition Vehicles Get Junk Status
So that is why many vehicles that have a junk title or parts title or certificate of destruction title are in good condition because the criteria the insurance companies use is not based on condition, it’s based on liability.

Federal Restrictions on Junk Title Vehicles
So what can you do about this vehicle? If you purchase one, if you have one, what can you do to get a title? Well, let’s take a look at what the rules are and how you can get a title. The short answer is first there is no way to get a title unless you get that junk status removed from the title record. As long as that junk parts record is in the record system, no state in the country, no matter where you go, is allowed to get a title. It’s in a federal system called the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System. That’s known as the NMVTIS.

National System Database Restrictions
So, the designation on the title record bans that VIN number from any state issuing a title. In fact, every state has connection to the national system. And if you go to try to get a title, they’re going to type it in. They’re going to look it up. They’re going to say, “No, this car is banned.”

Court Petition as the Only Solution
So, how do you get it removed? The only authority that can remove it is the magistrate. What is the magistrate? That is the county court where you reside. You can file a petition to ask the court in your county to remove that designation from the vehicle. Why would they do that? Well, they don’t really have too much of a what they call a dog in the fight, so to speak. They don’t really care that much about it. They just want to go by what your petition is asking for.

Court Decision Factors
What are they going to consider in factors in deciding that? Well, they’re going to consider the condition, also the year, the history of the vehicle, you, the applicant, what their jurisdiction says, what their experience is with these vehicles. And really, it’s a personal opinion. The magistrate or judge can look at it and say, “Yeah, I’m going to, you know, there’s nothing wrong with this vehicle. I’m going to let this person get a title for it.” The problem is you will never know in advance if they’re going to say yes or no like any other court case. It’s totally subjective.

Requirements for Title Attempt
So if you have a vehicle with a certificate of destruction or non-reparable or junk title, the only way you can even try to get a title is to first petition the court to have that removed from the title record. If you don’t make that effort, you have zero chance of getting a title. Can’t happen. It’s a federal law.

Success Rate Expectations
So, what are your chances if you do it? Well, no one’s going to know in advance, but based on polling and asking our clients, it’s about a 50/50 chance. If you file a court order title package, you got about a 50/50 chance. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. For some people, it’s better than nothing. If you have a vehicle that’s worth, you know, three thousand with a junk title or twenty thousand with a salvage title or regular title, then it’s worth it because it’s kind of like would you go to the casino and if you had a 50/50 bet to make twenty-five thousand dollars, you’d probably do it.

Required Court Documents
So, if you do decide to do a court order title, what do you do? What do you need to file? Well, in most jurisdictions, there are four documents that need to be filed. Now, keep in mind, these are not pre-made forms like you find at the DMV. Courts do not have standard forms for every kind of case they handle. They handle hundreds or thousands of different types of cases for different people, and they don’t have one standardized form for every case. So, you have to create these documents with all the wording from scratch.

Document Details and Requirements
Those documents are a petition of ownership. You have to petition the court saying, “I want to be the owner. I wanted to get a title.” The second document is an affidavit of facts describing what the facts are. The third document is a declaration of interest saying you’re not aware of anybody else trying to claim an alternate interest and then also standard title application. So, you have to prepare all those. You can get more details on how to make up those documents at our website cartitles.com.

Court Contact Limitations
Remember, you cannot call the court to get more info. If you call the court and say, “Hey, I want to do a court order title.” They’re going to have no idea what you’re talking about because they don’t have names for all their different cases. For example, somebody might have a court case saying, “My neighbor’s dog bit me on the ankle and I need to get stitches and I want them to pay for it.” You can’t call the court and say, “Hey, what is your procedure for my neighbor’s dog bit me on the ankle and I want to get stitches case.” They don’t have separate cases for every specific type of scenario. So, you have to do this on your own. The court can’t help you give instructions on how to do this. You have to just show up with the documents and file them.

Processing Time Variables
Another question people ask, how long does it take? Well, it really depends on how busy the court is in that moment during that week. We have a client we deal with all the time for different types of court documents and they happen to be in a county in Florida and sometimes when we file cases they get it back in three or four days. A month later they could file a case and get it back in five or six weeks based on how busy they are. So you’re never going to know in advance how long it’s going to take. You just got to get it filed and let them do their thing.

Filing Location and Method
Where should you file them? Well, every county has a specific court. Could be called civil court, circuit court, superior court, magistrate court, etc. There’s different names for it. Some counties have more than one court, and you have to know which one to file it in. Also, when it comes time to file them, do not bring the documents in person to the court. Always do it by mail. There’s a lot of good reasons for that. You’ll have bad luck if you bring it in person.

Court Appearance Requirements
And that brings up another question. Do you have to go to court? Normally, you don’t have to go there. This is an administrative process that is done behind the scenes in the office. You have to file the documents, let them do some research. They might email you. They might call you to get information. They might want copies of things like a picture of the VIN number, but everything is usually done remotely. Sometimes when they’re done, they want you to come in to the to the excuse me, to the lobby and have you sign a form, but that’s usually when the case is done. It’s not a big production. It’s not a big like law and order Jack McCoy type court case. It’s an administrative process.

Summary and Key Takeaways
So that’s an overview of junk parts only titles. The most important thing is before you can even start doing anything, you have to get that removed from the title record. You have to get it cleared from the title record. And the only way to do that is through a court process. More information on that you can get on our website cartitles.com. We also have options for document preparation. If you want to have us do that for you, you can do that. We also have options for filing assistance. We even have one-on-one consultation and advice. So, if you have a specific case you want to talk about, one-on-one video call with myself. You can click the link, schedule a time, and we can do a personalized review of your vehicle, of your VIN number, and of your case.

Purchase Recommendations and Value Enhancement
The most important thing is if you have not purchased a non-reparable junk title, we don’t recommend buying it because it’s going to be a lot of work. If you already have one though, it is worth spending a little bit of time attempting to get that removed because if you can get it removed, you will enhance that vehicle’s value by thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars. We had a client a few months ago who got it removed and his vehicle value went from five thousand to thirty thousand just because of that removal of the brand. So, it is it is a valuable method, a valuable activity to pursue to try to get your title.

Visit Our YouTube Channel for more insights and discussions on various topics. Consider subscribing to our YouTube channel. Click here!