Scenario OverviewSo if you need to get a title for your vehicle, we’re gonna look at scenario number two where it’s a vehicle that was not legally titled in your name. Maybe you got a title signed over to you and you lost it. Maybe the person who you bought it from didn’t have a title to give you. Maybe there was some other transaction that got you the car but didn’t get you the paperwork.
Bill of Sale ImportanceSo the first question is, do you have a bill of sale? A bill of sale is a receipt, is something showing that an event took place of transferring that car to you. It’s not a full legal ownership transfer because a bill of sale can be signed by anybody. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the person who signed it to you is the legal owner. So you can’t use a bill of sale in most cases by itself in order to get a title.
Vermont Registration Ownership DocumentHere’s one process that might work for a vehicle that’s 15 years old or older and you only have a bill of sale. In the state of Vermont, they will issue what’s called a registration ownership document. It’s not a title; they technically don’t issue titles for 15-year-old cars. They only issue a registration ownership. Matter of fact, when you get one, they’ll send you license plates. It’s a registration, but since that is their version of a legal ownership document, it is legally recognizable in other states.
How to Obtain Vermont Registration OwnershipThey will issue that ownership document to you with only a bill of sale. You don’t have to be in Vermont, the car doesn’t have to be in Vermont, nothing has to be about Vermont except for you mail them a form with a copy or a bill of sale and you pay their fee, which is $72 or $76. They will then mail you back this registration ownership.
Converting Vermont Document to Your State TitleOnce you get it, you bring it to your state. That’s your ownership claim and trade it in for a title. You may have to pay sales tax on the vehicle depending upon the transaction and what state you’re in, but the Vermont ownership registration document is a two-step process that many people use to get a title from their state when they have limited documentation with a bill of sale.
Completing the Vermont ApplicationThe bill of sale can be handwritten; it doesn’t have to be in a particular form. But you do have to fill out the correct Vermont application form. It’s form number VD-119. You can download it from the Vermont website. They don’t charge for that. You can print it. I recommend printing a couple of copies in case you make a mistake, and making a photocopy of your bill of sale so that way you have your original to retain.
Contacting Vermont DMVIf you have any questions, you can call up the DMV. They’re glad to help you out. Remember, they’re not issuing you a title, so if you ask them about a title, they’re gonna tell you, “We don’t give you a title for that car,” which is true because they only issue a registration. It’s a process used; it may or may not be applicable in your particular case, but it is something to take a look at as an option if you have limited documentation from your purchase.
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So, how do you run a VIN number check on a vehicle to check out the title or check out the vehicle history? Well, there’s four different things that many times people want to check on a VIN number.
Four Key ChecksNumber one is if it’s stolen or not. Number two is if there’s liens on the car. Number three is who the prior owner is or what is the prior owner history. And the last one is a salvage brand or some type of collision history.
Different Methods for Different ChecksEach one of those searches is done in a different way and in a different place. Only about half of those can be done online and sometimes not even that.
Checking If a Vehicle Is StolenOnly a law enforcement officer can check if it’s stolen. There’s nothing online that you can do to see if it’s stolen accurately. There’s a few third-party websites that might have those records, but they might be outdated. They might not be up-to-date. So only a local police officer, given that VIN number, can check if it’s stolen. But that’s all they can check. They can’t tell you if there’s a lien on it. They can’t tell you if it’s a salvage title. They can’t tell you who owns it.
Checking for a Salvage TitleIf you want to check a salvage title, you’re going to go through CARFAX. CARFAX is probably the best source to find out if there’s any damaged or collision brands on the title, salvage, rebuilt, certificate of destruction, any of those other brands. That’s where you’re going to get information from CARFAX.
Checking for Liens and Owner HistoryThe remaining items are liens and owners. Well, those two records are covered under a federal law called the DPPA, Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. The information is restricted for release under that law out of privacy for prior owners and banks. So anything other than the government DMV records is not going to be a hundred percent.
Accessing Restricted RecordsIn order to get those DPPA records, you’re going to have to go through a licensed private investigator like one of the things we do. But be aware that not all the records may be able to be released to you if you’re not the legal titled owner.
Replacement Car TitlesSo how do you get a replacement car title? A true duplicate car title is one where you own the car, it’s in your name, and all you need is another copy of that document. You’re not trying to change the name, you’re not trying to do anything different, it’s just a replacement duplicate copy. Only the legal title owner can do this, but it’s very, very cheap. In most states, it’s ten dollars or less. There are a couple of states that are two dollars.
Obtaining a Duplicate TitleThe duplicate title has to be obtained from the correct state, meaning that if that title was last issued by, let’s say, the state of Texas, you would have to go to the state of Texas or apply there by mail to get that title. If you move to another state, you can’t go to the other state to get a duplicate; you have to get it from where it originally came from.
Lien ClearanceMake sure there’s no lien on the vehicle. Even if you had a lien on the car and paid it off, in many cases, that lien record will still be showing with the DMV, so that’ll have to be cleared from the title. The reason why is because normally when you pay off a lien, what happens is the bank just signs the title and then mails it to you. That lien is never cleared from the DMV records, so you might have to get a lien release from the bank.
Correct Application InformationMake sure also that the name that you’re applying for the duplicate is correct. So if there’s two names on the title or one name (husband-wife), you have the correct application name format when you go to the DMV.
Application ProcessIt’s okay to do this by mail; you don’t have to go in person to the DMV. You can download the form from their website, print it out, and send it in. In some cases, if you do it by mail, you’ll have to get it notarized because they want to verify the signature and make sure the owner is correct.
Online ApplicationsIn most cases, you can’t do this online. The reason why is because the DMV wants to make sure that the person requesting that duplicate is actually authorized to have the title; it’s actually the owner. You wouldn’t want your title just being sent to anybody on the internet that applies for your duplicate title, so they’re protecting your interest by keeping the applications from being submitted through the internet.
So what is a bonded title for a vehicle and how can I help you replace a recover title when there’s difficulty with the paperwork?
Definition of a Bonded TitleA bonded title is simply a process where you as the vehicle owner, when you don’t have all the right paper, you don’t have the prior title, you don’t have maybe the right documentation, you purchase a bond from a bonding company.
Function of a BondThat bond guarantees the ownership of the vehicle. You can present that to DMV as your ownership rather than presenting them the old title.
Using a Bond When the Title is UnavailableSo if you can’t get ahold of the old title, you can get a bond that will replace that with the DMV. It’s in lieu of the correct documents that prove you are the owner.
Approval from Bonding CompanyThe bonding company needs to approve this. They don’t just automatically write a bond. They’re gonna check out your story, make sure you have at least something like a bill of sale or some documentation, and make sure that the vehicle is legitimate.
Cost of a BondNormally, the cost is going to be about a hundred dollars, one hundred and ten dollars for the bond. It’s not an excessive amount, and the bonding company wants to prove it because they’re on the hook for the vehicle.
Bonding Company’s InterestThey collect a hundred or so from you, but they’re on the hook for the entire value of the vehicle. A bonded title process is something you can do yourself.
Assistance from Bonding CompanyYou purchase a bond, the rest you can do at DMV. In fact, in many cases, if you purchase a bond from a bonding company, they will help you with the DMV process for free because they have a vested interest in making sure that the process is completed correctly.
The top five most common vehicle title problems.
Jump to Title IssuesThe first one is a jump-to-title where you have a title for a vehicle that is signed over but the original title owners were two, three, or four owners ago, so you can’t sign that many times on one title, and the prior ownership chain is broken where you don’t have a clear chain of title, and that’s one of the biggest types of problems that we fix.
Liens on vehiclesThe second one is a lien on a vehicle. This is where there’s a bank or lending institution that has a lien recorded on the title. The loan itself might be paid off to zero, or the bank might not have any requirement to pay any more money, but the lien is still recorded with the title records at the DMV. That’s the second most common thing we see when we fix titles.
Damaged DocumentsThe third one is a damaged document. This is when you actually have the title; the legal title document is in hand, but there’s some damage or erasure. Sometimes people cross things out or put white-out, and that voids the title; it’s not usable by the DMV.
Purged RecordsNumber four are purged records. This is when the prior history of that vehicle in the ownership history has been removed from the DMV record that’s been deleted because it’s so old. Some states do it after five years, some are seven, and some are ten. It depends on the age of the car too, but once those records are deleted, it’s very difficult to create a new title history.
Auction Title WoesAnd the last one that we deal with is our auction titles. When a person buys a vehicle from an auction, the auction either doesn’t give the right paperwork or they provide the paperwork, and then it’s damaged or it’s the wrong kind. Sometimes it’s a certificate of destruction, a salvage title, or a rebuild title. In those cases, there’s a lot of legwork to get that squared away. So those are the top five things we see. It’s very likely that one of those applies to you, and that’s why you’re looking to get a title for your vehicle.
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