Classic Car Title Crackdown & Vermont Loophole

So fans of this channel for years have been aware of the so-called Vermont loophole and going back probably 10 or 15 years it’s been a very common method to get a title for a vehicle if you’re missing some paperwork. In fact, at one point, magazine articles called the Vermont DMV America’s DMV because they titled so many vehicles all around the country.

The End of the Vermont Loophole
Well, as everybody knows now, that Vermont loophole has ended and even a couple of years ago we started to warn consumers about using this loophole. Many states looked unfavorably about this loophole going back even 2020 or 2019, so we recommended against it as a method of getting a title. Well, now that’s officially over. What do you do about getting a title? How do you get a title if you can’t go through the Vermont loophole and you’re missing documents?

Alternatives to the Vermont Loophole
Well, there’s actually methods of getting a title that were better than the Vermont loophole even when the Vermont loophole existed. We’ll talk about those momentarily, but before we do, keep this in mind too: the Vermont loophole cancellation is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s not just about the Vermont loophole being canceled; it’s about vehicles that are older classic cars being phased out of the population of vehicles.

Georgia and Japanese Imports
What do we mean by that? Well, in Georgia, they’re clamping down on these Japanese Imports, these mini trucks, and you’ve seen them on the roads, these little Kia cars and trucks, and these kind of mini pickup trucks that you’ve seen. The reason why they’re being phased out is because they’re called not safe to be driven on roads, and Georgia isn’t the only state. Many other states are starting to phase this in.

Impact on Classic Car Owners
Many owners of these vehicles counted on the fact that there was a 25-year-old loophole for importing vehicles that didn’t have to go through the same import procedures. That’s true; they don’t have to go through the import procedures to come into the country, but that doesn’t mean that the state has to accept those for registration.

California’s Restrictions on Classic Cars
Here’s another one: California. This is the big one. It’s going to restrict classic cars. Think about that. Let that sink in. California, the birthplace of cruising and the Beach Boys and all the old car culture, is going to ban old cars from driving on the road. It’s looking to institute a zero-emission zone soon, very, very soon. It’s going to allow local governments to gather information about classic cars. They’re already sending out surveys to classic car owners and how their owners use them.

California Leading the Way
We knew this was coming to the U.S. California would be the first, right? So you might say, I don’t live in California, I don’t care. Well, guess what? Like everything else that happens that is restrictive, California is probably the first place it’s going to happen. According to the call report, a survey was sent out to owners of classic cars from 1978 and earlier. Think about that. A 1978 isn’t really that old. I mean, classic cars from the 70s, I guess, but a lot of good cars are not necessarily classic, and asked about how many miles are on the odometer. They’re going to start tracking your mileage to make sure you’re not driving them too much.

Emission Zones and Mileage Tracking
The state should allow local jurisdictions to create zero-emission zones, and in those zones, you will not be able to drive cars that don’t meet current emissions. You don’t think that’s possible? Well, in London, they already have that. In other areas of the UK, they find people daily for violations. Justification for a full ban on older cars is climate change.

Impact on Older Cars
So the way that they’re going to go about doing this is first they’re going to start contacting owners of classic cars, asking them how much they use them, asking them how many miles they drive on them, and they might use that against you. They might create a database. Either way, between these classic cars, these import cheap trucks, the shutdown of the Vermont loophole, older cars or less mainstream cars that aren’t bought new from a dealership are at risk. It may take a few years.

Urgency to Get Titles and Registration
So our advice is if you have an older car, get it titled and registered soon because at some point you might not be able to. Well, how can you do it if you don’t have paperwork?

Court Order Titles
Give a quick blurb about the most powerful process to use, and that’s called a court order title, sometimes called declaratory relief, sometimes called a quiet title. This is from an attorney in Florida, and if you’re in Florida, you can contact them about doing this. We don’t know who they are; we just found their website.

Legal Advice on Court Order Titles
Recently, I have received a lot of phone calls about filing a lawsuit to establish ownership of a motor vehicle. A person goes to the motor vehicle and tells the person that I don’t have a title, and they tell you under these laws 3 19 28 and 86.011, the court can issue you a judgment of ownership. Some counties have some documents you can use for that; some don’t. It says here it’s better done with attorney’s assistance, but like he said many times, people think the value of the property doesn’t match how much you got to pay. Attorneys charge three, four hundred bucks an hour. They might charge eight or nine hours. It could be several thousand to do this with an attorney. Now, you don’t have to use an attorney; it’s not required.

DIY Court Order Titles
But this is the way you do it as a court order title, and you can check out our website. You see the link below about more information on court order titles. But in this day and age of cracking down on older cars, on import cars, and no more Vermont loophole, this is the power play. This is where you get, you go over the head of the DMV. DMV has certain limitations. They give you the runaround. It’s a lot of bureaucracy. If you go over their head to the court, the court can give you a judgment of ownership. You bring that to the DMV, slap it on the counter, and they have to give you a title.

Conclusion and Resources
So if you have more questions, you can email our help desk at [email protected]. We have a lot of great people there that can help you out. Glad to be of assistance, and you can use our website as a free consumer resource. We have videos like this one and instructional videos. We have over 800 documents you can download for free, and it’ll give you a good head start on fixing your title problem so that you can get your car on the road before the big crackdown comes and you can’t drive old, nice classic cars on the road anymore.

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