Copart Auction Vehicle Title

So what happens when you purchase a vehicle from Copart and you don’t get a title or you lose the title?

Insurance Company’s Title Issue
Replacing a title for a Copart auction purchase has some complications. Typically, the insurance company that sold the car through Copart didn’t have the title in their name. This is a car that was crashed or damaged and was insured by, let’s say, Geico or Progressive or some insurance company, and they totaled it and sent it to Copart to sell. Copart never titles the car in their name. The insurance company usually doesn’t title in their name. So the last legal title is still in the name of the owner who had the car that crashed it.

Owner’s Inaccessibility and Complications
This creates a complication if you need to get a duplicate because neither Copart nor the insurance company can get a duplicate from the DMV. Only that last title owner can do that. That person may not have had the vehicle for months, sometimes more than a year, by the time the car goes through the claims adjusting process, gets sent to auction, is appraised, and sold in the whole nine yards. So this is a person who hasn’t had any contact with this vehicle for close to a year and is now being asked to get a duplicate that could be complicated.

Lien Holder’s Involvement
What makes it worse, in most cases, these vehicles have a lien on it. They were under a car loan or an auto lease. So the lien holder will also need to sign off because at some point they just sent the title to the insurance company. They never closed it out with the DMV. These create complications.

Seeking Solutions
Now the first place to check for a duplicate is Copart to make sure that they didn’t retain it. Maybe they have another copy of it, maybe they have a power of attorney that they can use to get another copy. Failing that, the process is more complicated. You may need to deal with a title agent. Sometimes you need to get a private investigator or even a court order to get a title if Copart can’t get you one or if the prior owner is not easily accessible to be able to get that title for you.

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