The Expert Podcast

…Today we're going to talk about one of the most common subjects that comes up with car titles and that is. abandoned vehicles. our car title sales staff talks to eight 900 sometimes a thousand people every day. In the vast plurality of them. Five or 600. First thing they say is I need to file for an abandoned title. Cars abandoned. And most of the time, the car really isn't abandoned. It's not like this car magically fell into your driveway. And you don't know where it came from Usually it's I bought it on Craigslist I bought it from a towing company. If somebody left it. for me to sell and I never got a title. Abandoned literally means. That a car. Appeared at your property. And you don't know where it came from. And everybody that you know including you doesn't want it. It's not a way to get a title. Abandoned vehicle and were going to take a look at one example of what abandoned vehicle paperwork does look like This happens to be in the state of Colorado, from their department of revenue which handles their titles. And it's the abandonment of motor vehicles private tow requirements checklist. So in most states including Colorado, if you soon as you start throwing around the word abandoned for a vehicle that means that you abandoned it too It's not finders keepers You get to. Call up the towing company call up the police and have them towed away and they auction it off. I'm sure that for most of you watching this video, that's not what you want to do You want to keep your car and get a title for it ? We're going to walk through why abandoned is not going to get you that result in most places Remember ? There are 3,611 counties in the country. Every county. Has different procedures and jurisdictions. Most of them go by a state law which means there's 50 different. procedures. Most of them are very similar to this So let's take a look at what the procedure is So first what is an abandoned vehicle It gives you descriptions and motor vehicle left on private property for 24 hours. Vehicle stored an impound lot. Stored at a towing impound lot for 48 hours. motor vehicle. which is fitted with a mobilization device Like it has a boot on it. What you need to do within 30 minutes of pickup of an abandoned vehicle on private property, the tow operator must contact law enforcement So that tells you right there The first step is it gets towed. From you. You can't do this as the vehicle possessor because you are not a licensed tow operator. And you have to notify law enforcement, not less than two calendar days, but no more than 10 calendar days. You have to submit a record search to the DMV. So what you do is. You. File a notice with the DMV to get the records of who's the owner of that vehicle. Again this is only for a tow company This is not for a private civilian. You have to send out a notice to the owner saying look your car has been abandoned It's been towed. It's an impound. You have a certain amount of time Most states is 30 days to come pay the bill and come get your car out of hock…Vehicle's not retrieve shall be sold or disposed of within the following timeframe. So the disposed of with it between 30 and 60 days from the postmark…For record searches that there were not anything in Colorado and national database. you have to. Get something from a more advanced publication or more advanced source. And then you have to sell the vehicle in a commercially reasonable manner That means like an auction public auction. You have to put a copy of the notice in the newspaper fill out a form…if you. The vehicles $350 or less it gets a junk or parts only title. You can't get a regular title for it. If you're selling a vehicle with a value of more than three 50, you have to have these documents. To get a title, original private tow information request So think about it…If you're selling a vehicle that's abandoned. That's worth more than three 50. Y you won't have this. Because you are not a private tow company. You have to have a bill of sale and appraisal. To the buyer, you have to have a VIN verification. You have to have an application for title a VIN inspection. This is for newer vehicles. you have to have no record printout. And. the buyer must purchase a surety bond…For the vehicle. Minimum bond is $700. So. Even when you buy a vehicle. In Colorado from a abandoned. Towing auction. You still have to get a surety bond and you have to have all those things. The tow operators are required to disclose if it's a salvage. If it is a salvage it stays a salvage. if the VIN inspection indicates a vehicle is not roadworthy the buyer may apply for a salvage title. So. A lot of these cars that are left. In co abandoned or left because the owner doesn't want it because it's not worth anything The cars. Broke down. Cost more to fix and it's worth. That means it's going to be a salvage title not a regular title. When the tow operator conducts a sale like an auction. If the vehicle does not sell. The tow opera to make continue to sell storage fees for up to 120 days. And then when the purchase price. If it exceeds the amount. You have to send the money back to the department of revenue. Here's all your forms that you need All your form numbers Look 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 It looks like 12. The 14 documents you need. To do this…Again you can see from this it's not finders keepers There are a few rare counties. Where you can do. claim of an abandoned vehicle but even when you do that there's a lot of hoops to jump through this. Series of steps is for when. There is a tow required. Imagine what it's like when it's finders keepers by a civilian. It's not going to be easy now. If you've made it to the end of this video. And you have a vehicle that you want to get a title for this not really abandoned. Now you can look at other method. surety bond title. Prior owner contact. Magistrate title court order title there's many different methods You can see our website has them all listed. Our title division. Can help you out with that You can call them up You can email them help at car titles…Our surety bond division can get you a surety bond. If you need that. Our investigative division can also even do background checks on prior owners. If you need that as well…Keep in mind abandoned vehicles and easy thing to say. You'll read a lot on forums urban legends that you can just file for an abandoned. It doesn't work that way. Even when it does I…have the allowance in your jurisdiction There's usually many many many better ways to get a title than just throwing the word abandoned around because it's kind of come back to bite you because you can not going to end up keeping the vehicle.