Is a scan, copy, photo, or image of a title acceptable for ownership transfer?

Created by Matt Copenhaver, Modified on Thu, 5 Oct, 2023 at 2:50 PM by Matt Copenhaver

No.  

Only authentic ownership documents (not reproductions) are accepted as proof of ownership transfer.


Vehicle ownership is managed at the US state level, not the national level.  The ability of the States (and therefore, their Departments of Motor Vehicles) to coordinate with each other is relatively limited (by design of the US Constitution).


If one US state (e.g., New York) were to accept an image of a vehicle title from another US state (e.g., California), and issue a title for that vehicle, the vehicle could potentially have a New York title and a California title, with the buyer and seller both able to claim ownership of the same vehicle.


Authentic ownership documents only.

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