The Expert Podcast

This is why you want to be very, very careful about how you get your car title. If you use a sketchy or illegal method, it could come back and bite you. Here’s a story about a DMV clerk who was selling illegal titles through a DMV scam that she was running. She had people selling these titles to individuals who didn’t have the right paperwork, and she was making $800 per title. Overall, it amounted to $3 million worth of titles that were processed. This was at an auto tag agency in Miami.

There was a stolen vehicle that had LoJack on it, and they found it in a body shop. However, they discovered there was a title for it — someone had issued a title for that vehicle. They tracked it back and found that this title clerk had allegedly issued the title. Upon further investigation, they discovered that many of her records were for fraudulent titles, and she was making a substantial amount of money from this scheme.

Anytime you’re looking to get a title for a vehicle, you want to make sure you’re doing it legitimately. Avoid using any kind of fake mechanic's lien, tax evasion, or paying someone to do something illegal. All the titles for these vehicles are getting revoked, so whoever had the title is losing out. If you were involved in the scam, authorities are also looking at potential prosecutions.

Remember, a title is a legal government document. You can’t buy one from a company, nor can you download one from the internet. You have to obtain it from the government. Yes, they’re going to make you jump through a few hoops, but they do that to protect you as the owner. Once they give you a title, they ensure that no one can take it away without the same level of documentation.

So, get your title the right way. Do it legitimately. Use the legitimate source and don’t pay any of these fly-by-night or scammers trying to sell you titles through dubious means. Ensure that whoever is obtaining a title for you can explain in detail how they’re going to do it, so you know it’s not being done illegally.

If you found this video helpful, be sure to click on other videos on our channel to see if there’s further information that could give you more insight into resolving your particular situation.