The Expert Podcast

So, how do you get a car title and why is it so difficult to get a car title? It's just a piece of paper, right? If you've purchased a vehicle, let's say on Craigslist or from Copart or from an auction or maybe on Facebook Marketplace and didn't get a title when you bought it, or maybe you have a bill of sale and you're having trouble getting a title. What's the problem? Why is the DMV giving you the runaround?
Well, first of all, let's talk about what is a vehicle title. A vehicle title is a legal government document issued only by a government agency. It looks like this. It's a certificate. You can't buy one of these from a company. You can't download one from the internet. It's an uh authentication of ownership. So that title document, it's going to have the vehicle information, the VIN number, the year, the make, the model, all the vehicle details, but more importantly, it's going to state on it who is the owner. It's going to have the printed name of the owner that the government recognizes owns that vehicle, right? It's the registered owner of the vehicle.

So even in addition to that information being printed on the title, it's going to be recorded in the government record system. Well, what is that system? Well, this is done at the state level. Every state has an agency that issues vehicle titles. In most states, it's called something like Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of Transportation. Some states do it under a different agency such as Illinois calls it Secretary of State. And what that agency does is make sure that ownership of vehicles is very carefully regulated. So somebody can't just snag ownership of a vehicle that really doesn't belong to them.

So how do you get a new title? Well, if you had a title in your name and you lost it, let's say it got damaged or flew out the window or thrown away. If your name is the one that's in their records, what you can do is you can go down to the Department of Motor Vehicles office in person with your photo ID. They want to make sure it's really you getting the title. They don't want to be giving your title to another person because that wouldn't be good for you. So, they want to verify your identity. Once they verified it, they'll get you another title. But that only works if they have your name in their system as the owner.

But if you purchase this vehicle and never switched it over or you got a bill of sale and no title, what do you do? Well, there's a few methods you could use to get a title in those scenarios. Every state has different official, legal, government processes to get a title. Some states it's called magistrate title. Some states you can do a bonded title. Some states you can call you do a declaratory judgment. And our website below car titles will give you instructions and descriptions of all those.

It's a matter of putting together a package of paperwork. And we do this for clients all the time. Here's an example of the kind of paperwork that you need. You'll need a stack of documents for that process. Right? It could be um affidavit. It could be petitions. It could be shy bonds. It could be any number of things based on your state and which method you choose. And once you have all that package put together, you have to sign it and then you mail it to the government agency that handles that process.
Now, you notice I said mail it. You do not want to bring it in person. Very, very important. If you notice the package, you will be back in your video in just a few seconds. In the meantime, remember that actualhum.com offers you live one-on-one private video consultation with an expert in this exact subject. We want to listen to your story. We want to hear your questions. We want to give you expert advisement of your options and tell you what we know about your particular situation. Now, back to your video.
We sent to our clients, we put envelopes already in there with the address of the agency where this is going to go. The reason why is because with a title transfer such as this, it's a little more complicated than a standard person walking in the door of the DMV trying to get a title for a vehicle. These alternate title transfers are not normal. Sometimes the people working at the window, working at the front desk of a of a title office, they may not know all these details.

Think about it. In most states, there are 30 or 40, sometimes 50 different little offices for the DMV around the state. Each office might have four or five people working on the desk. That's hundreds of people in that state. Not all of them are going to know how to do a complicated title transfer. But if you mail it to the main branch of the DMV, for example, in Georgia, it's Atlanta. In California, it's Sacramento. the person who's going to see that package, they're going to be the most highly skilled, highly trained, highly aware of the process anywhere. So, they're going to know how to do this.

If you walk into the door, they might not know what to do. They might say, "This is no good." They might make you leave. They might not be able to handle it. So, you want to bring it to the main headquarters for the DMV. And then even if you have everything right, expect that it's a bureaucracy. So you're gonna have to deal with some inefficiencies of government to get it handled. But if you do stick with the process, you can get a title. As long as your vehicle is not reported stolen or and anything shady going on, you can go through this process to get a title.

It's not going to be as easy as just showing your bill of sale. A lot of people think, well, I have a bill of sale and the VIN number, that's good enough, right? It's not really good enough because a bill of sale, all that is is a receipt that somebody signed saying, "This person gave me some money for this vehicle." Doesn't prove anything. It doesn't prove they're the owner. Even if they were the owner, the DMV doesn't know that that's their signature. They can't verify signatures, right?

In fact, let's say if I wanted to be a scammer, I could go down to my local Herz rent a car. I could rent a vehicle. I could drive it home. I could put some stuff in it to make it look like it was my personal vehicle. I could advertise it on Facebook. And I could say, "Hey, I'm selling this vehicle. I lost my title. Here's a bill of sale. You're the owner. The vehicle is not reported stolen. Doesn't have any leans. You give me the money. You drive away." You're not going to be able to get a title. Bill of sale is not enough.

All a bill of sale shows is somebody was willing to take your money and give you a receipt for that money. So, it's good to have one to prove you actually purchased it and didn't just grab it off the street, but by itself, it's not enough to get some government agency to take a vehicle out of somebody else's name and put it in your name, right? And that protects you, too, because if it was easy to get a vehicle title transferred to your name with only a bill of sale, if you went on vacation for two weeks, you could come back and your car could be in somebody else's name because they decided to make up some fake bill of sale.

So, there's a process for it. Jump through a few hoops, fill out some forms, but eventually, if you stick with it, work with the process. Our website has very good instructions on how to do this, you can end up getting the title to the vehicle that you deserve. Thank you for watching.

Remember, you can access live one-on-one personal consultations with a licensed private investigator, a licensed commercial uh insurance broker, licensed certified real estate title examiner, also a certified civil court mediator. So, if you have a need to talk to an expert in any of these fields or even a licensed building general contractor, you can click the link below, actualhum.com, and arrange a live one-on-one undivided attention with a licensed expert where you can ask any questions, get information about your situation, and we'd be glad to help.