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The Expert Podcast brings you firsthand narratives from experts across diverse industries, including private investigators, general contractors and builders, insurance agencies, vehicle specialists, lawyers, and many others.
So you need a title for a vehicle and you have a title problem. This is what a title looks like. You see it on the screen. Here's what it looks like in person: it's a legal title certificate from the government. You can't buy one of these from a company. You can't download one from the internet. There's no such thing as a photocopy. It's like a $100 bill; either you have the original or you don't.
If you're having a problem getting a title, you might be wondering, "What do I do?" Well, first, to let you know, see the website below, CarTitles.com, which has a bunch of information about how to get titles. There's also consulting you can do. One of the areas that we specialize in is vehicle title problems. We deal with lenders, auctions, dealerships, and even consumers about solving difficult title problems. So if you want to book a consultation, you can do that below. But let's take a look at some of the basics of what you can do.
You may have got the runaround from the DMV already. They may have told you, "Get out of here with your bill of sale; we don't deal with this." A lot of times when it happens, people look for what's called a loophole. They want to say, "Well, how can I get around this? How can I evade this?" Well, what does Wikipedia say about loophole? They say it's an ambiguity or inadequacy in a law which can be used to circumvent or avoid the system. You want to circumvent or avoid the system?
Just give you a little warning: anytime you're trying to circumvent or avoid the system, there's a chance that you're going to get into some trouble. So rather than circumventing the system, why don't you use the system? Here's one way you can use it: this is a process offered by every county in the country. This happens to be Hernando County in Florida. It's called the declaratory judgment for a title for a vehicle.
Now, when you hear declaratory judgment and you see Court Circuit Court, you're going to say, "Wait a minute, I don't want to deal with all this court stuff. Isn't this like Law and Order, Jack McCoy?" No, it's not. It's an administrative process. I'm going to very briefly go through some of the basics of it. Now, it doesn't matter if you're in Hernando County or not; it's the same basics in all 3,611 counties in the country. You probably have to make a few modifications, and the other counties aren't going to have this nice, pretty description instruction sheet, steps one through nine. They're not going to have that. Most counties don't even know about a court order title because, quite frankly, courts do more than just titles; they do judgments of thousands of things. If they had a sheet that described every scenario that they did, it would take too much time. So don't expect to find this, but you can use the website CarTitles.com to get more information about your county.
So what does a court order title do? Well, if you have a vehicle you own, here's what it says right in the wording: "A vehicle you own for which you did not receive a title at the time of purchase." Does that sound like you? If it does, then let's keep going. The court can issue an order directing the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a certificate of title for your vehicle. Does that sound good? Did you wish that when you went to the DMV and they told you, "You can't get a title," did you wish that you could get somebody to direct them to give them a title? Did you try to direct them to give you a title? Did you try to tell them, "You have to give me a title"? How'd that work out for you?
If you are running into struggles with the DMV, don't despair; everybody does. DMV is a bureaucratic nightmare; it's very difficult to deal with. It's not their fault; they're working within the system. They have people there, and normally, good people; they're just working within rules that give them restrictions. But if you go to the court, the court can say, "We got this; we'll take care of it." So what do you need to do to get a court order title? Now remember, this is one county, Hernando County. Other counties may have some different steps. Other counties may not have anything specific; they just kind of wing it every time.
First, you have to make a search to locate the former owner. You have to have a bill of sale, which presumably you do, or even if you don't, if you have a canceled check or some means of proving your ownership, maybe you have a text message, maybe you have a receipt from Zelle for payment, who knows what you have. You have to get a printout from the tag office with the last title number, so you can have the record of that. You have to get a motor vehicle identification number inspection, so you have to go, depending on where you are, to the sheriff or police to have them look at the VIN number, make sure it's not stolen, and make sure it's a legitimate VIN number. Then you're required to complete an affidavit. Fortunately, in this county, they have it here, Affidavit Vehicle Title Application. They have an affidavit. Most counties don't; you have to make up your own. Then, once you have that, you file it with the clerk and you have to pay a fee. In this county, they even give you an out; if you feel you cannot afford the fee, ask for an Affidavit of Indigency, saying you're too poor to pay it. After you file your paperwork, your case will be reviewed by court staff. In most instances, you will not have to appear in court. Remember what I said about Law and Order, Jack McCoy? You don't have to go to court most times; this is an administrative office-type process.
How long does it take? It says right here, "Process takes approximately 3 weeks." There you go again. This county, Hernando County, has documents already typed up for you, the declaratory judgment, excuse me, Affidavit of Indigent Diligent Search. It has all the documents you need. Most counties aren't going to do this for you; most counties are going to make you type all this up from scratch. The website will give you some instructions on that, or you can book a consultation to get more one-on-one customized instruction for that. But there you go, there's your loophole for a court order title, which is kind of going over the head, get out of jail free card of DMV. If you've been dealing with the DMV or in your state, maybe Secretary of State, Department of Transportation in Pennsylvania, whatever agency in your state gives out titles, if they give you a hard time, go over their head, do something like this. Some states, you can do a bonded title; we'll save that for another video. But this is your powerful loophole of getting a title when your state is refusing to take what you have. Thank you for watching another video at actualhuman.com and describe. TV. Remember, if you have questions or comments about our videos, put them in the link below. Also remember that you have availability and access to live one-on-one question and answer consultation with a licensed expert in a number of fields: investigations, insurance, surety bonds, civil court mediation, even things like real estate records research, real estate brokers, real estate mortgage lenders. In addition, you're going to find that experts are available in business segments, business development, marketing, advertising, certified licensed experts. So if you do find this content valuable and you want to delve more deeply into a subject, you can't ask YouTube a question, right? But if you want to talk to somebody live and actual human, use the link below. Thanks for watching.