The Hidden Costs of Car Ownership: When Lenders Can (and Can't) Charge You Storage Fees on Your Title

Episode Description

Can you legally charge storage fees on a vehicle to obtain its title? This episode breaks down the complex regulations surrounding vehicle storage fees and title ownership. Our expert explains when storage fees are legitimate, what licenses are required, and why this approach might not be your best option for acquiring a car title.

Key Topics Covered

• Licensing Requirements for Storage Fees
  • Must be a licensed automotive facility (body shop, repair shop, towing company)
  • Cannot arbitrarily create storage fees without proper licensing
  • Exceptions may exist for parking lots and self-storage facilities
• Legal Requirements for Valid Storage Fees
  • Written authorization required from vehicle owner
  • Cannot make up fees "out of thin air"
  • Fees must be agreed upon in advance
• Rate Limitations and Regulations
  • Storage fees must be reasonable, posted, or statutory
  • Rates often capped by state or county statutes
  • Must comply with maximum amounts allowed by law
  • Fees typically range from $5-$20 per day depending on jurisdiction
• Time Limits and Notice Requirements
  • Some jurisdictions require notice to customer before charging fees
  • Specific waiting periods may apply before fees can begin
  • Time limits vary by location and situation
• Better Alternatives to Storage Fees
  • Magistrate title process
  • Bonded title applications
  • Court order titles
  • Why these methods are often more direct and effective
• Common Misconceptions
  • Why storage fees aren't a "secret trick" for title acquisition
  • How attempting storage fees might actually waive your rights to the vehicle
  • The importance of understanding all available options

Expert Advice

Storage fees are rarely the best path to vehicle title ownership due to complex legal requirements and potential rights waiver. Consider consulting with title experts to explore more direct and legally sound alternatives.

Resources Mentioned

• Live one-on-one title consultations available
• Licensed investigators and title examiners
• Comprehensive title option listings
• Video consultation scheduling

This episode provides general information and should not be considered legal advice. Consult with qualified professionals for your specific situation. 

What is The Expert Podcast?

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 are you allowed to charge storage fees for a vehicle in order to get a car title? A lot of times people will call us up and say look I have this vehicle it's on my property I'm going to charge storage fees to the owner to be able to become the owner of the vehicle to take over the title to the vehicle can you do that? Well here's the thing there's a lot of factors at play that you have to look into and our title Consultants can look into this for you.

But the first thing is if you are not a licensed Automotive facility meaning like a body shop a repair shop a towing company in most jurisdictions you can't just arbitrarily make up storage fees like if somebody puts the car in your driveway and you say hey I'm charging you $20 a day so you owe me $5,000 for the last four months or give me the car can't do that unless you're a licensed business you have to have a license to be an automotive business there may some exceptions to that but that's typically what you'll find in most States.

Now if you are a parking lot or a self storage facility there may be exceptions to that but here's the thing that has to be in writing you have to have a written authorization the person is agreeing to pay you that you can't just make it up out of thin air because if you could why not just say I'm charging you a million dollars a day give me the car right.

The second part addresses the dollar amount in most jurisdictions even if you are licensed and authorized to charge storage fees it has to be either reasonable posted or statutory what does that mean it means that either has to be less than the maximum amount allowed in the statutes could be five bucks. You will be back in your video in just a few seconds in the meantime remember that actual human.com offers you live one-on-one private video consultation with an expert in this exact subject we want to listen to your story we want to hear your questions we want to give you expert advisement of your options and tell you what we know about your particular situation now back to your video.

10 bucks 20 bucks a day the state statutes or the county statutes will have that or it has to be posted at your place of business or it has to be in writing agreed to by the person who owns the car next you have to look at what is the time limit sometimes you have to charge storage fees only after you've set notice to the customer sometimes you can start after a few a certain number of days so you have to look at those laws the short answer is there's many factors that go into it.

Now here's the thing if you're looking for an excuse a reason some loophole to get ownership of a car charging storage fees is usually not the best way to do it you have to jump through a lot of Hoops if you do a magistrate title A bonded title a court order title it's usually a more direct route and then you don't have to argue over do you deserve storage fees are you entitled to storage fees so normally we tell people skip over trying to charge storage fees.

A lot of people think that's their secret trick like their you know their clever idea to get the title because the car has been parked in their Barn for a year and they're going to charge storage fees that's probably not the way to go in fact if you try to charge storage fees you might accidentally wave your rights to the vehicle where if you do the proper procedure that you may not have heard of that's fine then you could get the title so just because you thought up in the middle of the night oh I'm going to charge storage fees don't think that's the best idea or even the only idea to get a title.

Look at all your options our website will list those for you and if you want more details we have title Consulting you can click the link and schedule a live video call with myself or one of the title agents to talk about your title situation.

Thank you for watching another episode of actual human advisory on describe TV remember we have live one-on-one consultation appointments available at actual human.com where you can book a one-on-one undivided attention live call with a licensed investigator a licensed insurance broker a licensed mortgage broker real estate broker I'm also a certified real estate title examiner a certified civil court mediator along with having developed and started over 15 businesses several of which were sold for millions of dollars so if you do have questions in any of those categories you can arrange a one-on-one live video consultation use the link below and we'll see you on the next video.