The Expert Podcast

So here it is, 2023, and we're coming up on 20 years of our company doing car titles for our clients. We do titles for dealerships, auctions, lien holders, and consumers. A lot of times, the question comes up: What is the best way to get a title when it's a tough situation, a very hard, complicated situation? Look, if it's an easy title process, you could do a bonded title. Some people like to do the Vermont loophole, which we don't recommend, but some people just want to do it. Or you could do a duplicate title. But if you have a tough title problem, how do you solve that? What is the best way to go?

A lot of times, the inquiry comes from a dealership where they took a trade-in and there's some complications with the title, or there's a consumer that has an unpaid lien on the vehicle or a lien on the title record. How do you solve these? Well, let's take a look at three methods you can use to solve the most difficult title problems. The first, and remember, as you hear these, there might be something about these methods you don't like. "I don't want to do that. I don't want to go through all this." That's fine, but you're not going to get a title unless you solve the title problem. Titles don't just magically appear. A title is a legal government document issued only by a government agency. You can't buy one from a company; you can't download one from the internet. You have to get it from the government, and the government doesn't hand them out just on your request or with a bill of sale. If there is a problem with that title, you have to solve that problem before the government's allowed to give you one. The DMV, or Department of Transportation, or whoever in your state gives out titles, can't hand you one just on your say-so. You have to have proper documentation, and if you don't, they're going to reject you. So here's how you solve those problems.

The first method that we recommend to try is simply to get assigned by the prior owner or lien holder. If you have a block on a title because there's a prior owner showing up in the system or there's a lien holder showing up in the system, all they have to do is sign one form and you're off the hook. You can't sign the form, the DMV can't sign the form, nobody in the world can sign the form except for the person listed in the title record. So how do you do that? Well, I'll tell you how not to do it: Don't call them up and say, "Hey, sign this form for me" or "Get rid of this lien" or "Sign over the ownership." They're not going to do it. The lien holder, or the owner, or the probate, whoever it is, has control over that title. They have stuff to do in their life. They're not going to drop everything to solve your title problem. So make it easy for them. You fill out the form, you prepare all the documents, and mail it to them in the mail in an envelope. Old school. Put a little arrow sticker saying "Sign here," put a return envelope with your name and address and a stamp. So now what does that person have to do? All they got to do is sign their name, put it in the envelope, and put it in their mailbox. If you do that, your chances are pretty good that they'll help you. Look, most people want to help you solve your title problem if you make it easy for them. If you start demanding things and cop an attitude, and you know, calling them up instead of sending them in the mail, you're going to get rejected.

Why don't you want to call them up? Well, think about it. If you were just sitting around, whatever you're doing right now, watching this video, watching TV, eating dinner, and somebody called you up and said, "Hey, fix my title problem for me. Get rid of my lien." Who are you? I haven't had that car for years. I don't really care about you. I'm not going to jump through hoops to help you. I don't even know how to do it. You're telling them to find the form, fill it out, pass. They're not going to do it. So do the work for them so all they have to do is sign it. Now, instead of getting some intrusive call barging in on their life, they get an envelope with a professional letter and a form asking them to do you a favor. Now there's a different story, especially if you make the approach like this: Write a letter saying, "Look, I'm trying to get the car out of your name so you don't have liability." Most people are willing to help you, especially if you show them you're looking out for them, right?

That's number one. May not work, they might throw that in the trash, might go to the wrong place, they might not want to help you. Number two is you can do a court order title, and anytime customers hear that phrase, a lot of times they say, "I don't want to do court. It sounds too complicated." Well, it is complicated, but what's more complicated—doing that, or not having a title? How complicated is it that you don't have a title for the vehicle? It's not going to magically show up on your desk one day. It's really not that complicated. All you have to do is file three forms with the court where you live. You don't have to go anywhere else. You don't have to go to Vermont or other states. Anywhere. You file a petition for ownership, you file a letter of non-interest, and you file an affidavit of facts. Three forms. You sign them, you submit them to the court where you live, local to you, your county. The court will give you a date, usually a week or two in advance, after you send them the forms. They're going to tell you to submit to them a couple of things: maybe a copy of your license, maybe if you have a bill of sale, maybe if you have some kind of receipt. You submit those forms to them. If everything checks out okay, and you're not trying to do anything devious or underhanded, and the vehicle's legitimate, it's not stolen, no liens, no salvage, no back taxes, nothing like that, they'll give you what's called the Judgment of Ownership. That makes you legally the owner of the vehicle. You could walk into DMV, slap that on the counter, and get a title because you're going over the head of the DMV. You're going beyond what the DMV is allowed to do. You're going to the boss of the DMV, so to speak.

The problem is sometimes people feel like they don't want to do that, or they shouldn't have to do it, or "I deserve my title." That's great, but until you do something that solves the problem, you're still going to have no title. This is not that hard of a thing to do. Now, a lot of times people ask, "Do I need an attorney for this?" You don't need an attorney. You can do it yourself. Our website gives you all the instructions on how to do it. In fact, most of the time, you don't even have to go to court. Remember, courts don't want you to go there. They do everything they can to keep people out of their building. In fact, if you had a full-blown divorce case or litigation or lawsuit, which that's not what this is, they require you to do mediation, negotiation, arbitration. They do everything they can to keep you out of their court. So if you have something simple to them, like a court-ordered title, they're going to try to do everything remotely. Sometimes they make you walk in the door to pick up your judgment. Sometimes they make you walk in to go to the clerk to raise your right hand and swear under oath that you are making true statements, you're not making anything up. But besides that, they want to get you in and out. They don't want to have you clogging up their courtroom any more than you want to be there, right? So avail yourself of that process. Don't overlook it. All the aggravation and runaround you get from DMV, you can bypass that. You can short-circuit it by just going to the court process. It's straightforward.

Number three is you can do a surety bond title. A lot of people think, "Well, I don't want to do a surety bond because it costs too much money or I don't get a title for three years." It's really a pretty streamlined process in most states. Yeah, you have to jump through a few hoops, you have to fill out some forms, and sign some affidavits. Again, our website will give you instructions on all this, or we can do it for you. Remember, the cost of a bond is not that much as long as you have a car that's not a Ferrari or some expensive car. It might only cost you $100 or $200 bucks for a surety bond, sign some affidavits, submit it to the state, and you get a bonded title. Good to go. Now, what's the downside? Well, not every state does it. There are about 14 states that do not do a bonded title. So if you live in one of the states that gives you the privilege of doing a bonded title, go for it.

Those are the three methods that we recommend for very difficult title situations. Now, a lot of people say, "Well, can I just do this Vermont loophole?" Yeah, you can. But think about it. How much more complicated is that? Now you have to deal with two states. You have to deal with Vermont, get their paperwork, then take it to your state and hope they accept it. Plus, you have to pay sales tax to Vermont. Vermont charges big-time tax. It's six percent, and it's on the book value, not on your bill of sale, not what you