How much does it cost to get a Lost Car Title Replaced?

So, how much does it cost to get a lost vehicle title replaced? A couple of different scenarios have different costs.

True Duplicate Title Method
First of all, the lost car title prices depend on the method. If it’s a true duplicate title, meaning that you held a title to the vehicle in your hands with your name printed on the front, you can simply go to the DMV. You request a duplicate. The range of costs for that type of scenario in some states is five dollars; it can go up to 60 or 70 dollars in some states. Most of the averages are about twenty bucks. That’s only going to work if you had the last legal title ownership in your name on that vehicle.

Alternate Title Method
The second is an alternate title method, meaning that you never had the vehicle title in your name. You bought it; maybe you’ve got the title signed over from the prior owner, maybe you never got a title, only a bill of sale. If you have a vehicle that’s 15 years old or older, you can simply go to the Vermont DMV, doesn’t matter what state you’re in, and use your bill of sale to get a Vermont registration title and then exchange that into your state. That will cost 48 dollars and up depending on what type of vehicle it is, and then you might have to pay a title fee in your state. Very inexpensive; you can do it yourself, no need to pay any outside title agents.

Contacting Prior Owner
The third scenario is if you have to contact a prior owner of the vehicle to get them to do a duplicate title. In that case, the cost will be the same as a duplicate title, five or twenty or sixty dollars. However, you’re going to have to get that prior owner to sign paperwork to do that. The cost there could be finding the person, getting them to sign something, maybe giving them some financial compensation to sign that power of attorney document to you.

Bonded Title Method
The next method to get a title is a bonded title. If you have some documentation showing you’ve acquired that vehicle legally, you can go to a bonding company in your state. They’ll issue a bond for the vehicle, which you’ll have to pay for. It could be a couple of hundred bucks. You take that down to the DMV, pay a fifty or sixty dollar title fee. Now you have a title that will only work if you have sufficient documentation to show the bonding company that you are the legal owner of the vehicle. They won’t issue a bond otherwise.

Court Order
The last example is a court order. If you have no paperwork, no documentation, you can go to the court, usually the probate court in your county, pending or state you’re in, and they’ll issue a court order title. The problem areas can cost a few hundred dollars in court fees, and that can take up to six months. So, the range of getting a title should be no more than a few hundred dollars to do it yourself if you go through all the process. In most cases, it should be fifty or sixty dollars. There’s almost no scenarios of getting a title that you cannot do yourself. You don’t have to pay somebody to do this. If you’d like to pay somebody for the convenience of doing it, usually you should be able to do that for fifty or sixty dollars additional over the cost. It shouldn’t cost you hundreds.

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