The Expert Podcast

So how do you file for a storage lien on a vehicle or storage abandonment on a vehicle? Well, be careful because, in most states, you are not allowed to file for a storage lien or collect storage, even on a vehicle, unless you are a licensed automotive facility and you have written authorization for that storage. Towing companies are exempt if you're a licensed towing company and you have verification that the towing was done properly, either by a police request or from private property with a signed contract from the property owner. There may be exceptions to the storage exemption, but if you're just a private, civilian-type person, you're not allowed to just randomly make up storage fees to claim a vehicle.

You also don't want to call a vehicle an abandoned vehicle. In most states, abandoned doesn't mean finders keepers. It doesn't mean you get to keep the vehicle; you have to surrender it to the state for them to auction it off. However, if you have a vehicle you're trying to get a title for, the way to do it is not abandoned vehicle or storage lien unless you are a licensed automotive facility that has assigned repair order authorization from the customer.

The best way to do it is to file a court order. You file a petition with the court to have you declared the owner of the vehicle by court order. The court order supersedes any DMV rule. So if you have the right story and you're legitimately entitled to own the vehicle, the court will sign off on that petition. You bring that to the DMV, slap it on the counter, and it'll give you a title.

If you're trying to kind of backdoor sketchy claim some vehicle that really you shouldn't be having, don't bother because it's not going to work. But if you purchased a vehicle, acquired a vehicle, were given a vehicle, or something was left on your property, the way to do it through proper channels is to go through the court order process. That way, first of all, it will work because the DMV won't reject it. And number two, it will verify your story that you're entitled to the vehicle, and it'll make it completely legitimate.

If you try to fudge up or kind of make up some paperwork to do an abandonment, mechanics lien, or maybe a storage lien, that's not true; eventually it'll come out and haunt you because they audit all of those even after they issue the title. Many titles have been revoked after the fact because they found that the story or the paperwork was invalid. So, court-order titles are the way to go. More information is available on our website at cartitles.com.