The Expert Podcast

…Look here's why it's very important for you to pay attention to how you're getting a car title. If somebody is doing it for you who you're doing business with, but also if you're buying a vehicle, making sure you're checking the history not just on Carfax or VIN audit or any of these other sites that may not have complete information. This is a perfect example Another…big time auto. Title. Scam. This is one out of Pennsylvania. We've seen dozens of these over the last 10 15 years And this is another big one. This is a business operation There were 13 companies charged in a title washing ring Well what does title washing mean? Well title washing is when you have a title that has a problem, there's a lien on it It's salvage, it's a parts only it's some other type of problem title or one that's missing documents. And you file false paperwork in order to fix the problem. Look there's ways that are legitimate to fix title problems. But a lot of times they take a long time and they might be expensive and people don't want to jump through all the hoops So they try to find a shortcut…And you run into problems with title washing Sometimes people do it accidentally They don't even know they're doing something wrong and they find out accidentally what happened in this case Let's take a look. Well 13 Pennsylvania businesses and 19 people are facing charges for title washing. They purchased totaled vehicles They falsified inspection information and submitted fraudulent title applications to bypass rigid requirements. And this is what people do. Getting a title is taken very seriously. by the DMV whether it's a salvage vehicle or a normal vehicle a clean title a lean title. Getting a title is serious It's a legal government document It certifies the ownership it certifies the status of the vehicle. So when you get you want to get a title. You have to make sure your paperwork is in order. And if it's not they're going to run you through the ringer. So what these companies are doing is they were falsifying Title applications to try to make the process easier. Well come to find out. It's not that simple because they audit this stuff. In this case they were totaled vehicles. and the law says they have to be repaired and undergo an enhanced safety inspection to make sure they're safe. The defendants allowed hundreds of heavily damaged vehicles onto roadways without even looking at them…They didn't complete the safety inspections and they just filled out the paperwork and they a lot of times they. Forged. documents and forged signatures. they claim that they did 240 inspections. but they completed using stock photographs and admitted never to completing an enhanced inspection. Look just because…you have the authority as a repair shop a body shop an automotive facility. To do something doesn't mean that just you signing the paperwork makes it right And this goes from mechanics liens to. A lot of repair shops. Do fake mechanics liens to help people get titles. These things get audited. The DMV or in this case Pennsylvania it's called Penn dot. They know that you as an automotive facility are given certain privileges. To do certain paperwork. To put titles through the system. But they also know that sometimes those privileges are abused and they audit them They know how to look for red flags. Does this company put through too many. R. the vehicles going through too quickly. They will also look at the percentages How many are salvage How many have liens and their algorithms their computer will flag them and then they'll do a manual audit And that's what happened in this case. So it's not something that's worth going to jail for. So do your paper. correctly, make sure somebody else is doing paperwork for you that you know how it's getting done You review everything. have a title company explained to you in advance What is going on with your title How is it going to be obtained? So you're not accidentally doing something that might be a problem or get your title revoked or maybe even get you or somebody else into trouble.