It’s All About the Title

It is two guys guys podcast is Kevin Byrd. I am Willie B. Man

We're we're gonna get a form today on something that every single car guys had to deal with

It's kind of fascinating when you think about the years the amount of time that it's spent on

Let's be honest pain in the butt paperwork when it comes to getting our car projects up and running

How many of us have struggled with a title issue at some point?

Cost me to sell or get rid of cars before yeah, no doubt

I mean when you figure cars are 50 60 years old some of them even longer than that

There's a lot of time in there a lot of room for stuff to go missing. Yeah, man for good reasons

Maybe bad reasons, but either way, right? It's still I got a car sitting right here in front of me

I don't have a title. I don't have a paperwork for it. You know like yeah, man

What do you do now? Look, can we both agree that some of the paperwork crap

You got to go through to title a car that's you know over let's say

Yeah, just put it into a normal time on that 20 25 year mark

Can we not just admit that it is such crap to go through all that all the hoops to get a

simple, you know

Title for your car like man is it is it a lot of steps in most cases?

It really is and they they don't make it user-friendly and I'll admit it's been so daunting that you kind of mentioned like

Sometimes you just sell something for parts or scrap because you just don't feel like you know

What steps to take and it's gonna take too long and maybe it's not even worth it at that point

But there's probably a lot of there's hardware sitting around that

Especially with the value and the prices that keep going up, right?

It's worth going through the monkey motion to get that sucker title because then you got a real legit thing

Right, right, but on side note think about this, right?

If you knew a place where you can go at least get help get some direction a little knowledge or you know

If you live in a certain area, um, you can even just pay this man to get the get the title done, right?

What how easy what would that be just man? Oh my god? I've had his car through generations

I don't know who had the last title. Here's what I need

I need you to go do this and I'm gonna pay you this

Are you telling me there exists out there an easy button there is an easy button man and today

We have Greg LaPointe on who's a buddy of mine, you know, I most people know listen

I do a radio show. It's my regular nine to five. I've always been passionate and love cars

I've got a number of cars

In my own, you know

Collection but I will tell you man

I've passed a lot of people on to this guy via the radio show and he never disappoints

It seems like title work is really the nemesis of most car guys collectors

Car enthusiasts and whatnot

But if you knew you had a resource and you knew that there were projects out there that didn't have titles

Tell me the money you could say by going to buy projects

Just hypothetically just think about this that don't have titles

But then you use your resource to get titles for you know how much money could save on projects just a you know

Just like a secondary secondary thought. Don't be putting that stuff in my head. I'm gonna be like quit my day job

I got a whole new gig going on in my head right now, right?

possibly

But we're gonna learn a lot today man. So Greg's a great resource

He's got a lot of knowledge and really when it comes to titles, we all know some steps. We're aware of it

They're pretty similar in most states

Let's pick his brain common title problems. I'm sure we could amass several of them that most of you have gone through

So let's take a break when we come back regular point GBI titles is his company

I know I know Kevin's got questions because I know he's got cars matter of fact

I'm not mistaken one of those early mustangs you have or maybe still have it was a title issue car

Or maybe you traded that one for another one. I know when I first started doing the show you had a title issue

Mustang, right? Yeah, man. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's not an easy one to to navigate through. Yeah

So we've all been faced with

What's the best way to do this without getting myself in trouble?

All right, let's take a break. We'll see you on the other side guys ride podcast Kevin bird will it be we're back after break

It is two guys ride podcast he is Kevin bird. I am will it be and let's be honest. We've all

dealt with title issues man the nemesis of every car enthusiast car collector

Uh hot rider race car guy you name it. We've all dealt with title problems

It's a pain to butt regardless of where you're going. What you gotta deal with no doubt

Well, great. Thanks for uh hopping on with this man. How long have you been playing in this in this game of titles?

about uh

At least a solid 25 years. I've been a business for 35 doing title work probably for a little bit throughout that whole time

But nothing but titles for up to 25 years. I think it is approximately

So you're kind of like getting figured this out a little bit. We've done a couple

About it good to be with you guys. Yeah, man. He's uh, he's figured out maybe a step or two to help along the way

He just got that process trimmed down

Yeah, I'm putting your number in my speed dial right now. Yeah

It was stressful in the beginning and they are stressful every now and then and they really are a lot of details to take care of

But uh, we get the job done and getting the title for your cars is very important

Like you guys were just saying what is the car worth 20% of its value without a title?

It's worth five times more with the title than without

Yeah, really really is man and look that's the equation nobody likes to face

But that's the reality if you do not have a title and greg has

You know, he's become a wizard at figuring out and finding out

Uh, how to help somebody through this process or even even do it for a lot of people

Uh, great. What would you say is the number one?

um

Issue that you have to deal with is is it somebody that lost the title or went through several transfers and never got

Finished with one. Do you see most people have a have a title or or have a you know, a signature problem

What what tends to be the biggest hurdle that you see taking the number of calls years you've been doing this

Well, that's a great question and we do five different applications within the state of colorado

We do also service the state of nevada a little bit in texas and a little bit in indiana too in colorado five applications

Our number one customer

Is or I should say our repair shops automobile repair shops. I could oh

Put in storage facilities too

Customers they just abandon cars here and there all over the state of colorado at almost every single repair shop

I'm sure you guys are totally aware of that

Yeah, and that's something you don't think about

Yes, I don't think about a lot. You know kev so many repair guys got to take out leans or whatever

Somebody says I can't afford the job or whatever they just forfeit the title

They don't have titles in the glove box. So how do those guys get their money back? Well, they got to get titles

Hey, I'm curious about

You know, here you mentioned colorado gregs from colorado

You know, we've got a big city here that did a three strike crackdown

Where the police are confiscating cars if you don't have

You don't have one of the three and those three are uh proof of insurance

tags and a driver's license

So you don't have proof of insurance registration basically and a driver's license

And you got to have one of those but if you don't have three of those

Right, they take your car on the spot in the first couple months. They've done this

They're averaging 10 cars a day and they sell them all at an auction

So when police confiscate cars

Do they have to get the title or do they sell them?

No title

Well, they have their own procedures just like a puc towing company. They have

Their own procedure. These are all bonded title applications that I do

So do you think the police do a title? They will they get a title for like a police auction?

Well, you know, uh, I don't know exactly. That's a great question

I think uh, well, we certainly get customers that have purchased a car through an auction and the paperwork wasn't right

Voided

Miss marked damage titles something like that. So we do sure title work for buyers at auctions

And I do recall way back in the past. We have done some uh police auction vehicles, but it is my understanding

They've got some way to do it

But I don't know for sure. Actually, I I don't know what that is

I I do something that is referred to as bonded title applications

Uh, what are those five processes that you're talking about? What are the five different processes? One is repair shops number one customer

Storage storage facilities would be right in there too after that car collectors

Uh, and also you project car guys

Uh

Yeah, man, you know, they they bought an older car

They're fixing it up

But you find out the car's been bought sold and no one's established title along the way until somebody stops

And does it and they call us and we do the title work for them

I can see that happening a lot right? Oh, yeah, how many times you bought a car

You know, it's jumped two or three people in the title process. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah

so

That's a that's a bonded title application

But if if you let me give your listeners a little

Inside information to save them some money if you're buying a car. That's 25 years and older

Uh, be sure to get a notarized bill of sale

25 years and older

Notarized bill of sale you will not have to buy a bond the procedure that you would use is a title application

In lieu of a bond and I'm sure you guys have heard that you don't need a bond

But you got to get that

Notarized bill of sale if you don't have that

Uh, and it's an older car. You got to do that bonded title application newer cars

Bonded title application. They are our second group of of customers are or buyers of car

We we call it a buyer application

Yeah, explain what the bonded versus don bonded is for most people. Well, you know, uh, all the applications here

They they they have some similarities in this way

You got to pull a vehicle record if the vehicle is from another state you got to pull that vehicle record

You've got to notify all parties of record in this state or in any other state that a title application is underway

So that's kind of common among all title applications. How do you notify? What do you mean notify him?

You got to send him a notice letter if uh, this is this notice that the above reference vehicle

And you got the year make model vin up there the above reference vehicle is

There's a bonded title for this vehicle if you have any interest in this vehicle contact

And the applicants name is right in the middle of the page if it's a repair shop repair shop address and phone number

If it's a buyer another car collector a project car guy

His name and address is in the middle of the page

So we send it out to all parties of record if you have any interest in this car

And 98 percent of the time they don't

But it is a notice letter, you know inviting any party of you know of record

If you got any interest in this car now is the time to speak up because the guy that's on this page

Is going to get titled to that car

So

When when you put that out, is it a real letter? Are you mailing a letter to people? Oh, yeah

Certified return receipt requested. Yeah, there's absolutely

And that's and that is part of the process. We got to have all that proof in there

Right. What do you use for the last proof?

Like you said is a previous owner or is it several people you're sending this letter to all parties of record

So we always start with pulling the record in the state of colorado

Maybe one out of five cars are from another state, you know, there are these

National record searches and so we're able to identify the state the car is from

We pull that record. So notice letters

go to any party of record

involving that VIN number that car

Letters to this people in this state or the other state the prior state any pre any prior owner any owner of record and prior

Well, yeah, the current record. You don't have to do a history. But yes a current current owner

At least do you go back to a solid known

Owner title and not anything beyond that

Right, everything's been sold 10 times, but it's clean up to some point time and then gets frozen

If people are jumping title there those people never go on record

So it is parties of people of record the owners of record lean holders of record

Yeah, everyone gets a notice letter the the current vehicle record. Yeah current

Okay, and what's the next step? Well, you got to get the bond and that that and then you know, there's a

You got to order the bond and that you got to get an appraisal to establish the the bond amount

And then you get and there's documents. You got to fill in the bond statement something. Who does the appraisal?

You can use a

online

appraisal system

Kelly's blue book

Or any of those are established online appraisals you can do a book

You know a blue book and just copy the page

You can go to a dealer

You can you know, so there's different ways of getting that appraisal great. Can I can I ask you a question?

Yeah

If you have a if hot rod or a car like a project car that you've got a lot of time into

It's got to the point where it looks like you're going to start to finish this thing and wrap it up

And you haven't got your title doing you start going through these steps, right?

This is a step. You obviously, you know, you got a lot of money in this car. Should you

Should you put it for a big amount or what's the difference between put it for a

Like get appraisal from kelly blue book

Which is going to be say $5,000 or $10,000 hypothetically for a a beat-up 70, you know charger

Uh, but one is you know got you know an upgraded big block suspension breakup grades a nice painted interior

Does it matter that I that I give it a bigger amount like on that or is it smarter to do so?

It's just like a personal appraiser

Comes in and values everything does full history comes back and says cars worth $40,000 or $50,000

Which is the smartest route to go? Well, that is that is an exceptionally

great question

And there's a an equation. There are some factors that come into play. I'm not sure I can explain every detail of that

But I I can hit the high points

Car collectors on some of these older cars the value of a car varies on the the person you know the collector

So that's an area where it's not easy to establish a value. There's wholesale retail issues

There's the car the condition of the car before the upgrades a condition of the car after the upgrades as you are pointing out

but still that's a

collectors of fine art fine automobiles

What they're willing to pay it's that's a sliding scale, you know, we leave that up to the appraiser

But there's other factors we take into consideration

For example, if if it is a completely safe application

No one is responding somebody's had a possession of a car for 20 years for example

You know, you want the bond to cover risk. So there's a risk assessment actually, but

What you're raising is a good question

You take into account other factors risk is probably the number one. How likely is this going to be a problem?

We've never had a problem with any of our applications none not in 35 years

We've never had a lawsuit

There's never been a claim certainly not not a successful claim never

And that's what the bond does it indemnifies the state of colorado in case somebody files a claim

So we've never had that problem. So again risk

I just wondered from a collector standpoint, is there a tax thing or is there something that we're gonna get hit with down the road?

If we say, oh, yeah, man, it was valued at this much, but in reality, you know, it's a $50,000 car at that point

Or does it matter? Well, that's interesting. You you ask great questions. Will he be damn

So the thing you'll pay taxes on the purchase amount

That's you pay taxes on the purchase amount. So if it's a buyer application

You ask what did you pay for the or it's on their on their bill of sale notarized or not

You got a bill of sale and on there says I bought the car for a thousand 10,000 whatever you'll pay taxes on that amount

Yeah, that's why every man lies about the price of the car. We's up there. Oh, it's just another 500 hot rod

There's no lying over here, brother

All right, look we Greg we're up against the wall. Gotta take a break more questions

If you ever be curious about title, I bet he's got a great answers great resource

And we'll talk about how he could help you guys out if you've lost the title

If you're out there like me, maybe maybe you're you're one of these people that buys some projects

And you bought the car without a title. How do you even begin that process?

Maybe it was lost. Maybe, you know, just have questions concerns

He's a great resource greg at gbi titles. He's kevin bird. I'm will be we're back after the break on the two guys ride podcast

It is the two guys ride podcast. He's kevin bird. I will be we have everybody greg on from gbi titles

So you guys gotta check this out, man

Most of us I would say 90 of all car enthusiasts has had a title issue

It's been something that everybody deals with because it's a very comfortable

Let's be honest keep it a piece of paper

For 50 years for a car, you know from the 60s is stupid. It's just it's ridiculous

They get lost along the way they get you know tore up and you know that it was so-and-so's brother's car

And he left and you know, it's in a shoebox and somebody's attic

Finding cars is one thing but finding cars with titles. It's a whole another game

Especially when you have a great place like greg his name is greg la point gbi titles

Hang on i'll give you a phone number in just a minute if you guys have any questions

Any sort of title issues? Trust me. You you want to call this guy?

Greg again, welcome back man

When we left we've gone through several of these sort of applications got you know a bonded title and lu of a bonded title, which

Um, what was in lu of what was the the person that does that particular kind?

And then what is the fifth kind if you will?

Again and in lu of bond in lu means no bond required. So it's a title application

No bond required in lu of bond and that if you buy a vehicle 25 years and older

Be sure to get a notarized bill of sale notarized

Bill of sale and you will not have to buy a bond in your title application

That's the big thing. So that's a common question people call me up

If you don't get that notarized bill of sale

You'll have to do a bonded title application and you'll have to buy a bond is just an extra expense. That's all

so

when you have that

That bill of sale and you know, you've got the stamp on it

So everything is good to go in that regard. How how easy is it to get a title from that boy?

Well, it is easier than a bonded title application

In lu of bond is easier than a bonded title application because you don't have to order the bond

You don't have to get the appraisal. So it does knock off a couple of steps

It does it is it makes it a little bit easier and the car is 25 years and older

So there's usually not too many complexities in that not too many details. It's pretty simple

Does the bill of sale have to be from the last titled person?

Yes, if there's a buyer

If the buyer of a car if he's doing the title applications should always make reference to his seller

His seller I do get that every now and then they want to talk about some seller

Three or four purchases back. No, you want to go back to your seller. You're the buyer

Who is your seller the person who sold it?

So it doesn't so so the last name on the car the last name of the title is irrelevant as long as you have

Something certified from the guy that you bought it from doesn't matter who had in the last title

Just from who you bought it. Oh, yeah, you know what what some people don't understand is we always see some strange name on the record

That's that's precisely what we're trying to fix. There's some strange name on their record

You know, maybe they know who it is whatever

Uh, but uh, but as far as the title application you you want to go to your seller

You don't want to go back in time to some previous seller two sellers back three sellers

No, you want to just go to your seller. That's the name that we use

So greg if I threw out like a scenario to wrap our head around or something

I'm thinking maybe, you know, you go to drag strip. You see you got been running for years

A drag car and uh, wants to sell it. Maybe you want to turn into a street car

Um, but he doesn't have a title for it

What would you recommend? Like what what are the red flags or what's

You know, what makes the thing worth it for you if you can get a good deal on this

Shell and want to build something up. Let's say it doesn't have a title

But there's the guy right there. He'll sign and he'll notarize something

Is that enough to move forward on something and then what kind of risk are you looking at depending on what you're paying for it?

Damn, you guys ask hard questions. Okay, so you know

That is very doable. It's simply doable on our end. We compile the application

It doesn't matter whether it's a school bus a hot rod a motorcycle. It doesn't matter or

We will do the same steps in each application. Now, whether a guy will be able to title a hot rod or a

Some vehicle out of brandamere

It has to be street legal. That's kind of the cops department

Yeah, forget about that. But you can you can turn anything street legal with the right stuff on it

But you got a vign. You got a cool car. You just don't have a title

But you got a dude willing to sign a notarized

Bill of sale

But you don't have any back history. You have no idea where this car came from

Well, could have been stolen whatever

Well, well, we're gonna be here. No, we one of the steps in these title applications is a certified bin inspection

And they run what is called an ncic ccic on that certified bin inspection

Historically

You used to just be able to walk up to any police officer, you know 20 years ago

Just walk up to a police officer. He run this vin and if it cleared

The nc the national crime information center and the colorado crime information center database not stolen vin not stolen

They filled out that certified bin inspection and you're good to go

Of course now all the other steps have to be done

But as far as the stolen question that's handled by that certified bin inspection

And there is a box that ncic ccic gives you that clearance

But so that sounds like the first step if you're thinking about buying something with no title is

Do a vin run and see if it comes up stolen. Well, actually

We don't hold that position at all for this reason. Well, naturally no one wants a stolen car

And and the boy i'll tell you it's been so few we don't see stolen cars at all

If if there's any kind of real genuine evidence or or there's some genuine suspicion or if there is actual

Actually a stolen car. We just say call the cops

Turn the car over it's worthless a stolen car is worthless

So, you know, we don't mess with anything like that and it's so rare

We don't see any of that over here at all

So you're basically assuming the guy's legit and the car's not stolen going off that and and rolling with that

That sounds risky, right? That's why I was asking about could you minimize your risk?

You want to buy something but you don't want to get right hosed

Well, wait a minute here the answer to that is this stolen cars are statistically insignificant

for us

Way statistically insignificant. No, there's other steps. No the certified bin inspection

Frankly truthfully should be done about the third step

Not the first the first step should always be pull the record second step always send out the certified notice letters

Those are the two necessary first steps. These cars aren't stolen. I mean, they are so in fact

I can't even I'd have to go back in my mind years and years to hear of a car being stolen

They're just not around anymore. I don't know what they're not around us. Maybe I should put it that way

And if anyone knows and in the stolen car, they're sure it's heck not going to be calling us

Right, right. What about people that have they they're doing a project

But they don't have a bin number because some of the older cars

Maybe you're doing 22 chassis or something like that. What what about because I'm sure you get some of those, right?

That's got to be somewhere in the equation

Well, you're talking about

It lacks a bin no bin

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, what that is is this if you know these cars if they have too many vins

In other words, they added a door and there's an extra bin or there's no bin or the bin is damaged

What you know some one of those three they would go to an assigned bin

Title application and so there's a process for that. It's kind of a two step process

It's it's unique in a way that application is probably more unique than the other four

But uh, very doable no problem at all. Uh, you go through the steps

It's very safe and secure and by the way that is the point to these they are they

Actually, these these are two or three times safer than they even need to be

Truthfully, they I mean they are a little bit exhaustive about making sure everyone's notified making sure it's completely safe

These are very very safe and if I may add a little bit sleepy. It's a sleepy process

We just go through them all get them done

It's a minute. It's a lot of running around a lot of paperwork

That this is why so many people

Don't go through these steps, but greg has figured it out over a number of years here and if streamlined it

He's got it down. I'm sure he's got a notification letter form

I'm sure he knows exactly where to pull up and park at and uh, he's got the fast track through all the

You know the paperwork the bureaucracy because greg there's a lot of it. Where have you been all my life, right? Because

You could have saved a whole bunch of us

A whole lot of hardy. Oh

I'm here now. You you got my number. You call me anytime

I got a question on this assigned vin uh, because I was asking the dmv or whatever years ago about a car

and uh, I was told that it needed to be

uh

Fully drivable to where they could inspect all the lights the taillights all that stuff

And then they would assign a vin which seems pretty risky if you're buying a basket case

With no vin and you got to put a bunch of money in it and then all of a sudden somebody says no

Is there a no in there somewhere?

for an old car

well

Again as far as us doing the title application in a way

It doesn't matter what the condition of the vehicle is we can compile all the steps and necessary documentation

It's the certified vin inspection that will uh, that addresses some of that

Roadworthy and not roadworthy roadworthy to law enforcement does not mean is it running in tip-top shape? It means

Break lights blinkers mirrors no cracks in the windshield tires properly inflated

That's roadworthy and also they got their their their database. They want to check

Uh, well, I could see that all that stuff to get your you know registration and your tag and all that

But I was told just to get a title to a no vin car

Had to get all that that far down the road. Yeah, it doesn't seem right. Yeah, it didn't seem right to me either

But maybe maybe tags but a title

Yeah

We we there is

Let me let me just summarize and just say that there is an assigned vin title application

Uh, and there is a not roadworthy indicator on the certified vin inspection

So there is roadworthy not roadworthy and and you can get a a certified vin inspection with either indicator

It's roadworthy not roadworthy. Okay, so you could you could get a jalopy that doesn't drive

And you could get a vin with whatever it is you just said is a non roadworthy

Uh, you have a vin so you have confidence to put a bunch of money in it and then you can get a roadworthy

Okay, exactly right. You don't want to sink a ton of money in something until you're holding that title

Man, you know more than the people that work at these places

I don't want to be uncharitable

But I mean, you know, uh, some of the many clerks are very smart nothing better than a smart clerk

I'll tell you that right now nothing more aggravating with than a clerk that needs a little more training. That's for sure

Well, I can tell that some of these are unique processes and they just don't do them

Because I I know when I've poked on DMV like they go grab the next teller in

And then they get somebody in the back and they're like, I don't know. We've never done that before here

Exactly. They say that this is uh, the most complicated thing they see it at their job

Yes, they can be and and you know that it's only gotten more and more complex details

I really wish they would simplify it people call us the ones that are do it yourself

Or I I do what I can to encourage them, but I'll tell you what do it in it yourself

You're laying yourself open to a hell of a lot of frustration if you're just taking a crack at it for the first time

Yeah, man, and let's be honest

It's safe to say all of us have experienced the really pleasant ladies that work at the DMV

They love seeing us always happy always with snacks

It's uh, it feel I feel like they're the happiest people in the world

So why wouldn't you want to spend hours with those people almost on a daily?

Um, I'll go back and wait in line and pull a ticket. Then you can talk to the next tech

You know, right? I would love to thank you so much. Um, yeah, man

So look gbi titles if anybody needs it, let me give you this number

Jots is down. Got something right with gbi titles. The number is 303

759

3599

So 303

759

35

99 Greg is uh, he's done it for several of my friends. Uh, a lot of people I send him

He's always uh, just been a great success great person to work with

Everybody has great reviews of him and such a obvious such a

Uh, a needed step for most car people out there because we don't know which way to go and what

To do when and when to do what and what steps to be first second third fourth fifth and so forth having somebody

Help us or just do it man. That is a it's blessing for so many of us in the car industry and car world

Right on man. Hey, you guys are the greatest. What are the questions anything else?

No, man, just uh, that's how people reach them and gbi titles

Make sure to check out our show air and weekends on the motor trick network check your local listings

Also available on discovery plus and max. Thanks our producer scoop senior producer

Justin carter executive producer bob ecker and to our guest greg the point gbi titles

303 759 3599

Don't forget we got a website two guys garage dot com our social at two guys garage

I feel like a smarter man

Right on greg. Hey, I'm gonna be a I would be in touch with you soon. Yeah

Uh, yeah, man. He's a big time helps for so many people and for uh, yeah

We're just everybody. I've ever seen him with with title. I really appreciate it you guys. All right

Are we good buddy? Good. Yeah, man. We're good

Hopefully you guys took your anxiety down for all these things that come at you in life, man

Because you know, there's an easy button out there. You know, there's a greg somewhere. Yeah, uh, so

With that, man, hope you guys learned something today and we'll catch you on the next two guys garage podcast

take care

Two guys garage podcast is a production of britain productions for more episodes visit i heart radio apple podcast

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Greg LaPointe

GBI Titles

Ford Mustang

bonded title

notarized bill of sale

1970 Dodge Charger

certified VIN inspection

assigned VIN

About this episode

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