Illegal Vehicle Title

This is Dave at Consumers Title. Today we’re going to talk about illegal car titles. When you fill out a form or present a form to the DMV for an application for a duplicate title or any other type of transfer, those forms are implied that the statements are correct. In some cases, it’s under oath either by a signature or by statute. That means that what you’re saying you’re guaranteed to be under oath, and there’s penalties for perjury. Sometimes it’s a criminal fine, sometimes they’re civil fines.

Consequences of Incorrect Statements
The worst-case scenario is that a criminal fine could have long-standing impacts on your personal life. Best-case scenario is the invalid title that’s issued could be revoked if the statements are incorrect. The DMVs do regular audits of paperwork to match up patterns.

Common Examples of Fraudulent Titles
Here are the common examples of where titles are issued fraudulently or through incorrect representations. One is mechanic’s liens. Mechanic’s lien is a legitimate process for certain types of professional companies to get a title: towing companies, repair companies, body shops, storage companies. But in order to have that mechanically and be valid, there has to be a certain process where that vehicle got to the mechanic, had to be legitimately presented to that garage for repairs by the owner, and then the owner didn’t pay for them. If it’s just used for somebody who bought a car that lost the title to get a title, that’s an illegal title.

Skip Titles
The next example is skip titles, where ownership has been jumped from one to another without proper documentation. Many states are cracking down and revoking titles and issuing tax penalties because of skipped or jumped titles where owners don’t recognize their name on the title.

Abandoned Car Process
Abandoned car process is another one. Abandoned car title is a legitimate process in some states to get a title of a car that was legitimately abandoned. It’s not designed to get a title for somebody who lost their title, and if the representations are made otherwise, that could be an illegal title.

Salvage Titles
Salvage titles are where a prior repair or damage occurred, and it’s got a stamp on it. Sometimes an individual wants to undo that Salvage title or turn it into some other title brand. Even an attempt to do these things in some cases is a crime, whether you do it or a title agent does it on your behalf under a power of attorney.

Conclusion
An illegal title can have serious consequences for the person who applies for it or even the person who obtains the title at a later date.

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