The Expert Podcast

So you have a vehicle that you need to get a title for. Maybe you've done some work on the vehicle, like brake work or transmission work. Maybe you've stored the vehicle for somebody, or they left it on your property and never came back for it. How do you get a title without having a bill of sale or some transfer form to give you the vehicle? Well, you have two options: you can do a mechanics lien or you can do a civil lien.

If you're a licensed automotive facility, you have the privilege and authority to do a mechanics lien using your automotive license. If you're a civilian or a private individual, you can do a civil lien. What's the difference between a mechanics lien and a civil lien on a vehicle, or even a storage lien on a vehicle? Here's how it works: If you're a licensed automotive facility, you can use your repair license, dealer's license, or body shop license to go through the mechanics lien or garage holder's lien process. You send some notices to the owner, you send some notices to the DMV, and you file that with the licensing authority, and they give you a title.

The licensing authority in your state, normally called the Department of Motor Vehicles or Department of Licensing (sometimes it's called the Department of Transportation in some states), is allowed to grant you a legal title certificate based on your affidavit and your automotive license. If you do not have an automotive license, the Department of Motor Vehicles can't give you a title, but you can go over their head. You can do a civil lien and have the court, a magistrate with the court, sign an order of judgment to force the Department of Motor Vehicles to give you a title.

You can check out our website, leantitles.com. It'll give you instructions on both of those, but more importantly, you want to make sure that you have the correct documents to present either to the DMV or to the county clerk. If it's a civilian, it goes directly to the county clerk. What do you need to have? Well, you need to have the VIN number of the vehicle, your driver's license, and your identity. You need to file a petition or a complaint—whichever it is in your county. Every county does it differently—to ask that magistrate or that clerk to declare you the owner of the vehicle based on your word and your story.

In most cases, you don't have to file a title bond to get the civil lien process started. It's like going over the head of the DMV. If you've been getting the runaround from the Department of Motor Vehicles or the title division, you can go over their head, go to the clerk of court, and have them give you a judgment of ownership. Slap that on the counter at the DMV with a civil lien, and you can get the title in your name.

Now, this is not going to work if the car's reported stolen or if you have no right to this vehicle, but it does, in many cases, erase financial institution loans. So if the person had a car loan with Wells Fargo, this can override that if done properly. Using the civil lien process or mechanics lien is a way to leapfrog over title bureaucracy or red tape. In fact, some automotive shops will use a civilian lien even when they can technically do a mechanics lien. Sometimes civil liens are more direct, and they will trump over what the DMV says for a mechanics lien.

So we have a lot of clients that are repair shops that just skip right over doing a mechanics lien and go right to a civil lien to get a title for a vehicle. Check out our website. If you have any questions, you can put comments below or email our Help Desk.