National Motor Vehicle Title Information Service (NMVTIS)

OVERVIEW

For a detailed overview of NMVTIS, please see the attached information found at the bottom of the page.

STATE DATA ANOMALIES

Alaska - Re-Titling the Salvaged Vehicle

Alaska does not have a "Salvage" Title process. As such, Alaska does not distinguish between Junk and Salvage; and allows vehicles to be Resurrected and Re-titled. Due to the aforementioned, Alaska uses the Salvage brand for all NMVTIS vehicles that fall in the category of "Junk, Wrecked, or Dismantled" and the Reconstructed brand instead of the Rebuilt brand if the vehicle is resurrected and titled.
If a vehicle is declared junk, wrecked, destroyed or dismantled by either the owner or the insurance company, the title is required to be marked as such and surrendered to the Division of Motor Vehicles. The owner or the insurance company may then sell the vehicle as scrap or parts with a bill of sale. The vehicle record is flagged as "Junk, Wrecked, or Dismantled" with a "J" status message. An affidavit of Reconstruction and a physical inspection of the vehicle to verify the VIN is required before the vehicle may be titled and registered as a "Reconstructed" vehicle.

California - Title Number

Because California does not use a title number or a similar number either on the title document or in the title database, California fills the Title Number field with the title issue date.
Other states may include any number from a California title document in the Title Number field on the Used Vehicle Inquiry or Change State of Title message. If the State of Title is ‘CA’ and no match occurs on VIN, State of Title and Title Number, the VIN pointer file attempts to match using VIN and State of Title. Response messages that include California records also include a warning indicating that California puts the title issue date in the Title Number field.

Colorado - Title Issue Date

Colorado’s title database is missing the title issue date for a large number of records. These records include
- Records with no activity since the end of calendar year 2002 (the large majority of the records)
- Records created during the seven months between September 2006 and February 2007.
Because NMVTIS VIN pointer records require a title issue date and NMVTIS brand records require brand date, and because most of the records represent titles issued before the beginning of calendar year 2003, to load them to the NMVTIS central site files, 1/1/2003 was used as the title issue date and, if a brand applies, the brand date,. CO has no other records with 1/1/2003 as the title issue date or brand date.

Delaware - Odometer Mileage Renewal

Prior to February 2012, Delaware was updating NMVTIS with a new title record on an annual basis when they updated the odometer reading due to Odometer Mileage Renewal. A code change was made in February 2012 to stop sending the mileage renewal records but the records that were sent prior to that are still on NMVTIS. Therefore, the mileage on NMVTIS may be greater than the mileage on the Delaware title if the title issue date is prior to February 2012.

KANSAS

When reviewing a Kansas title, the approved title date that is mapped to the Title Issue Date shown in NMVTIS is not printed on the title. The Date Title Printed on the Kansas paper title may not be the same date as the Title Issue Date shown in NMVTIS. However, if you review the Date of Application and the Date Title Printed on the Kansas title – the Title Issue Date shown in NMVTIS should be equal to or fall between those two dates. When verifying a KS title for authenticity - check the Title Issue Date shown in NMVTIS to see if it falls between the Date of Application and the Date Title Printed on the paper Kansas title to complete verification of your title transaction. (NOTE: The Purchase Date is not relevant for this situation.)

Kentucky - Title Issue Date

The title issue date on Kentucky's title documents usually does not match the title issue date on the corresponding VIN pointer record.
This process helps prevent fraud, but it also means clerks must be aware that the issue date on the document and in Kentucky's responses to used vehicle inquiries will normally be later than Title Issue Date on the VIN pointer record.
KY has implemented a new Vehicle Titling and Registration system called KAVIS on January 7, 2024.
In KY, a vehicle is assigned a new title number when the County Clerk completes the application for a new title. In the previous system, AVIS, this date was reported to NMVTIS as the issue date. Once the title was printed, an update to NMVTIS with the actual title issue date was to be made after it was printed. Unfortunately, this didn’t always happen, consequently the issue date on the paper title and the issue date in VIN Pointer file did not coincide.
In the new system, KAVIS, a new title number is still assigned to the vehicle when the County Clerk completes the application, but the new system will report the new title number and issue date to NMVTIS after the title has been printed, therefore titles processed in the new system will have the same issue date on the paper title that is in NMVTIS.
The previous system, AVIS, was in operation for 40 years, consequently it will take several years before all the previous titles are processed by the new system and this problem is corrected.

Illinois - Title Issuance Without Prior Title

Upon relocating to Illinois, state law requires the new resident’s vehicles to be titled and registered in Illinois. This requirement is problematic in that the majority of new registrant’s titles were held by an out-of-state lienholder. Since Illinois was having difficulty obtaining the latest title from these out-of-state lienholders, the state has implemented a policy to accept security agreements in lieu of the original title and a copy of the new resident’s registration card from the state for which they are moving. Using these security agreements as evidence, Illinois would issue title to the lienholder listed in the security agreement and supersede the previous title. This procedure only applies to new residents where Illinois is unable to obtain the properly surrendered title.

Louisiana - Title Number

The title numbers on some of Louisiana’s title documents are different from the numbers on Louisiana’s database and on the NMVTIS central site. The title number includes eight characters in two parts. The first part is a single alpha character and the second part is a seven-character numeric field. When the title document is printed, if there are leading zeros in the numeric part, the leading zeros are removed and the number is left-justified, so that the printed title number includes fewer than eight characters. For example, if the title number on the database is B0567784, that is what the response from a NMVTIS inquiry will show (the inquiry must include the VIN), but the title number printed on the document will be B567784. The sample below shows how the title number is printed.

Maryland - Title Issue Date, Printed Title Issue Date vs. Stored Title Issue Date, Salvage Certificates, and Maryland Snowbird Titles

Title Issue Date - Approximately 200,000 of Maryland’s records are missing the title issue date. These records represent legitimate titles issued by Maryland, and they have all other data required for the NMVTIS central site. Because of the number of records and the likelihood that some of the vehicles will be transferred to other states, these records are made available to other states by supplying the best approximation available for the title issue date. The approximate issue date, which is included on the NMVTIS central site record, is generated as follows:
- If a registration record is associated with the vehicle, the approximate issue date is January 1 of the year the registration processed. So if the most recent registration renewal was processed on July 14, 2008, the title issue date becomes 1/1/2008.
- If there is no registration record associated with the vehicle, the approximate issue date uses January 1 of the year that is two years before the model year of the vehicle. So if the model year of the vehicle is 1999, the approximate title issue date will be 1/1/2007.
- These are the only Maryland records that will show January 1 as the month and day of the title issue date.
Printed Title Issue Date vs. Stored Title Issue Date - For correction titles and duplicate titles, the title issue date printed on a Maryland title document will differ from the title issue date stored in Maryland’s database (and returned in responses to NMVTIS inquiries, once Maryland implements that capability). The title issue date on the title document represents the date the document was printed. However, Maryland does not store that date on the title record. Instead, the title record contains the date on which title to the vehicle was transferred to the current owner.
- The date on the most recent title document will always be (1) equal to the title issue date in the NMVTIS VIN pointer record and (2) equal to or later than the value in the title issue date field in the response from Maryland.
Salvage Certificates - Because the Maryland database is missing a certificate number for approximately 6,000 salvage certificates, these records do not appear on the NMVTIS central site, but the salvage brand is posted to the NMVTIS brand history.
Maryland Snowbird Titles - Maryland at one time allowed customers who were in their state for a minimum of 30 days to maintain dual registration (snowbird) titles, which were entered into the Maryland title system like a valid title. During their NMVTIS initial load, Maryland was not able to identify snowbird titles in their system and could not exclude them from NMVTIS. Maryland believes the number of occurrences for this is low, and they will perform any necessary corrections to remove identified snowbird title records from NMVTIS as they are identified. Maryland has since discontinued the process of offering the customer a choice of keeping their out of state title when registering or titling their vehicle in Maryland.

Massachusetts - Salvage Brand

MA issues two brands for all their salvage titles, except for parts only. The first brand is the salvage brand and the second brand is the reason for the salvage, such as fire, flood, collision, etc. When MA carries forward brands from other states where the other state only entered the salvage brand and MA knows the reason for the salvage, MA will add the reason salvage brand to NMVTIS using the brand date from the original salvage brand reported by the other state. Since MA entered the brand denoting the reason for salvage, the brander for that reason salvage brand will be MA. Prior to November 10, 2019, MA added the brand denoting the reason for salvage using the date they titled the vehicle in their state.

New Jersey - Title Number

New Jersey titles do not have a field called "Title Number" or a similar name. However, New Jersey titles do include a number that is unique to each title. The number submitted to NMVTIS as the title number includes two letters followed by a series of numerals. The number can be either 13 or 17 characters long, including two letters and either 11 or 15 numerals. It comprises an agency code (positions 1-2), a Julian date (positions 3-9) and a serial number (positions 10-13 or positions 10-17). About 70% of Jew Jersey’s titles print with a 13-character title number.
On New Jersey’s title database and on the NMVTIS central site, all New Jersey title numbers have 17 characters. If a title is printed with 13 characters, New Jersey’s system right justifies the serial number in an eight-character field and inserts four zeros into positions 10-13. In the example below, the printed title number is ST20021420001. This title number appears on New Jersey’s database and on the VIN pointer record as ST200214200000001.
Other states may submit the title number on inquiries or Change State of Title transactions with either 13 or 17 characters. When another state submits a New Jersey title number with 13 characters, VIN pointer processing automatically inserts zeros in positions 10-13 before matching against existing records. If the title number matches a New Jersey title number on the NMVTIS central site, the response messages from the NMVTIS central site include the title number just as it was received on the initial message, with either 13 or 17 characters. Response messages from the NMVTIS central site that include New Jersey title numbers also include a warning that some New Jersey title numbers print with 13 characters.
New Jersey’s title numbers are located in the bottom right-hand corner of the title document underneath the line for "title" and "date" of the first release. Two items appear there, but only the second item is used as the title number. The first item includes two characters, and it is followed by one or more spaces. The second item, which begins after the spaces, is the number to be used as the title number.

New York - Title Number

Because its privacy and security rules prevent disclosing title numbers, New York does not allow the title number to be stored on the NMVTIS central site. Instead, to provide a unique record key to NMVTIS, New York fills the Title Number field with the title issue date.
Other states may include any title number from a New York title document in the Title Number field on the Used Vehicle Inquiry or Change State of Title message. If the State of Title is ‘NY’ and no match occurs on VIN, State of Title and Title Number, the NMVTIS central site attempts to match using VIN and State of Title. Response messages that include New York records also include a warning indicating that New York puts the title issue date in the Title Number field.
On the title document, New York’s title number is labeled “Document No.” The VIN is labeled “Title and Identification No.”

Oregon - Brand Date and Title Issue Date

Oregon did not have a brand date for their legacy data so they used the latest title issue date as the brand date for all legacy brand records reported to NMVTIS. Because of this there are some instances where NMVTIS might have the same brand date for Oregon brands that actually occurred on separate occasions, i.e., rebuilt brand has the same brand date as totaled and/or salvage brand. Going forward the date the brand is added to the title will be captured as the brand date, but for all brand records prior to January 22, 2019, the brand date will be the date when the last title for that vehicle was issued.
There are also situations where Oregon is not informed of the totaled and/or salvage condition of a vehicle until after the vehicle has been rebuilt. In this case Oregon enters the totaled/salvage brand and rebuilt brand using the same brand date. This situation continues to occur.\
Please note that Oregon reconstructed brand maps to the NMVTIS rebuilt brand. As such, the Oregon title will have reconstructed, but the definition of reconstructed for Oregon maps to the NMVTIS rebuilt brand.

Pennsylvania - Title Numbers, Title Issue Date, Brand, and Electronic Liens and Duplicate Titles

Title Numbers - The value that appears in the Title Number field on a Pennsylvania title document differs from the title number stored in Pennsylvania’s database by two characters. The printed title number includes an 11-digit number followed by a space and two letters. The title number on Pennsylvania’s database includes only the 11-digit number. It does not include the space or the two letters. When submitting a Pennsylvania title number to NMVTIS on an inquiry or a CSOT transaction, jurisdictions should submit only the 11-digit number.
Title Issue Date - The title issue date on Pennsylvania’s title documents may not match the title issue date on the corresponding NMVTIS central site for titles that were issued prior to July 25, 2010. Prior to July 25, 2010 when a title was issued, the issue date on the title document was the date the title was printed but the date on NMVTIS was the date the transaction was processed. In most cases the date was the same but in some cases the date was different.
Brand - Due to a glitch in Pennsylvania’s previous programs, brand types "Rebuilt", "Prior Police", "Original Police", "Agricultural Vehicle", "Logging Vehicle", and "VIN Replaced by New State Assigned VIN" were erroneously added to some vehicle records in NMVTIS. In addition, some vehicles were erroneously denoted as Exempt from Odometer Disclosure, and some vehicles should have been reported as brand types "Salvage-Stolen" or "Salvage-Reasons Other Than Damage or Stolen" but were not. Pennsylvania has corrected their programs as of August 2010 so the correct brands are now being sent to NMVTIS.
- They are also correcting NMVTIS as the titles are transferred but some erroneous records remain on NMVTIS. Therefore, for these records the information on the title document will not match the information on NMVTIS.
Electronic Liens and Duplicate Titles - The latest title record for some of Pennsylvania’s vehicles is not on NMVTIS. Pennsylvania has not been sending a record to NMVTIS for titles which are produced due to Electronic liens being released and or a duplicate title being produced via request from customer. Instead the original title is the latest title on NMVTIS and will contain a title issue date that is older than the title issue date on the negotiable title but the title number will match.

Rhode Island

The OTHE vehicle makes that are migrated from the legacy RI system to RIMS. AAMVA/NMVTIS has agreed to accept OTHE as a “vehicle make” for these affected vehicles. NMVTIS will note an “anomaly” for this condition and all parties agree that the issue will resolve itself in time as new titles/registrations are issues for the affected vehicles.
Back Ground explanation from Rhode Island:
- In identifying data to be used in structured testing, it was found that many vehicles (especially buses) are being migrated from the legacy RI system with the make of “Other” (OTHE will appear as the make on the Initial load file for these vehicles). It is expected that this will generate the warning for a non-NCIC compliant make name for each occurrence on the file.
- I am being told by the business that the titles originally printed by the legacy system for these vehicles actually state a make name but, in the legacy system, the make field was “free form data entry”. So, vehicle makes that were no spelled correctly in the legacy system are being migrated to the new system as “other”. (Since the new system cannot automatically fix the misspellings)
- As new titles and registrations are being added to the new system, the make field is now a “drop down box” and the user must select a valid value from the list. The make data will be cleaned up organically as transactions are performed on these vehicles (so that the customer can verify the correct make is being stored during the
  transactions). It is anticipated that as we go forward, when the vehicle make has been corrected by the new system, these vehicle VINs will be reported to NMVTIS in the VIN Pointer Update Modify file. However, for the initial load file, the make field for all of these misspelled legacy vehicle makes will be “OTHE”. I believe there will be roughly 15,300 vehicles on the production Initial Load file that will have the make OTHE.

South Carolina - Title Issue Date

South Carolina's title database and NMVTIS VIN pointer records do not contain the correct title issue date for titles issued before August 1, 2002. Instead all title records before that date show a title issue date of July 31, 2002. The corresponding title documents contain the actual title issue date.

South Dakota

South Dakota presented the following situation:
- A dealership that is in the business of recycling vehicles and parts purchases Chevrolet or GMC trucks from a company in Canada. The company in Canada buys the vehicle from a retail outlet and uses the engine, transmission, drive train, and transfer case and rear axles to make Zamboni ice machines for hockey rinks. The Canadian company then sells the remaining vehicle (title included) to the SD dealer (rebuilder) who either replaces the parts on the vehicle and sells it or sells the parts to a rebuilder who then puts the vehicle back together, making it a complete vehicle. When this takes place the warranty issued by the manufacturer is apparently void.
- The SD rebuilder sells the remaining vehicle and parts to someone who puts the vehicle together. That person sells it to someone else and does not disclose the facts to the purchaser. The new purchaser assumes the vehicle has a warranty but finds out the warranty is void when taking the vehicle to a dealer for warranty work. The dealer informs the new purchaser that the vehicle has been reassembled with new or used parts.
- To document this situation in NMVTIS, the state of title may use vehicle make, brands or both, depending on the jurisdiction's procedures and laws. If the vehicle is considered assembled from parts, vehicle make may be submitted as "ASVE" (assembled vehicle). The jurisdiction may also assign a "Reconstructed" brand (brand code 10). The model year of the vehicle is assigned based on the jurisdiction's procedures and laws.

Virginia - Title Number and Title Issue Date

Title Number - Documents issued prior to Spring 2017 contain an 8-digit title number as shown in the “Title No.” field in the upper right of the document. Documents issued spring 2017 and later contain a 10-digit title number.
Title Issue Date - Virginia transactions, which are a prior Electronic Lien and Title (ELT), have an “Established Date” printed on the Certificate of Title. This date is reported to NMVTIS as the “Title Issue Date.” When accepting a Virginia Certificate of Title that has an “Established Date,” enter this as the Title Issue Date.

Washington - Rebuilt Brand Without a Title, Title Issue Date and Title Number

Rebuilt Brand Without a Title - In Washington, when an insurance company or wrecker declares a vehicle "destroyed", the company marks "DESTROYED" across the front of the title document and turns the document in to the state. Washington does not issue a new title, certificate or other ownership document until the vehicle is repaired and inspected. The record on the vehicle database is marked with the "WA Rebuilt" brand. Prior to December 12, 2016, Washington posted a "Rebuilt" brand (brand code 09) to the NMVTIS brand history at the time the vehicle was declared "destroyed". Beginning December 12, 2016 Washington posts a "Salvage" brand (brand code 11) to the NMVTIS brand history at the time the vehicle is declared "destroyed".
- If the insurance company or wrecker transfers ownership of the vehicle before the vehicle is repaired, the transfer is done through a bill of sale. If another state receives an application to title the vehicle, the application will be with the bill of sale and without a title document. When an online NMVTIS state performs an inquiry on one of these vehicles, the response to the inquiry includes "03" (canceled) in Title Status and a 599 warning message that says "VEHICLE INSPECTION REQUIRED". This situation indicates the vehicle has not been repaired and inspected. Beginning December 12, 2016 WA posts a "Rebuilt" brand (brand code 09) to the NMVTIS brand history and creates a new title when they are informed the vehicle has been rebuilt and is qualified to be put back on the road.
- Washington plans to perform a data sync in the spring of 2017 at which time Rebuilt brands where the Title Status is "Canceled" will be changed to salvage brands on NMVTIS.
Title Issue Date and Title Number - On Washington’s title document (Vehicle Certificate of Ownership) the field “Date of Application” shows the date that ownership was transferred to the owner shown on the title. The Title Issue Date in the NMVTIS VIN pointer record reflects the date the most recent title document was issued.
- To compare a title document from Washington with data from a NMVTIS inquiry, examine the title number and the title issue date. All three data sources—title document, NMVTIS VIN pointer record and inquiry response from Washington—should have the same title number. Also, the Date of Application on the title document should always be:
  - equal to or earlier than the title issue date in the NMVTIS VIN pointer record, and
  - equal are earlier than the value in the title issue date field in the response from Washington.

WEST VIRGINA - UNRECOVERED THEFT AND RECOVERED THEFT BRANDS

When West Virginia processes an “Unrecovered Theft” vehicle it is branded in NMVTIS under brand 49: “Salvage—Stolen”, as there is no basic “Unrecovered Theft” or “Stolen” brand currently available. West Virginia does not consider an “Unrecovered Theft” vehicle a salvage vehicle. Once recovered, the insurer can request either a clean or a “Salvage” title.
West Virginia is in the process of updating their titling systems to begin using brand 36: “Recovered Theft” on vehicles which were previously deemed “Unrecovered Thefts” but have since been recovered. Once we begin using the “Recovered Theft” brand then titles which were previously branded “Salvage—Stolen” in NMVTIS can either receive a “Recovered Theft” clean title, or a “Recovered Theft” Salvage title, depending on what the insurer requests.

Wisconsin - Title Number

As printed on title documents, the final two characters of Wisconsin title numbers are a dash followed by a numeral or letter, such as 12345A67-8. However, the title number stored on WI's title database and the number WI sends to the NMVTIS central site do not include the dash. If the dash is included in an inquiry or CSOT transaction, the title number will not match the title number on the NMVTIS central site. To match the NMVTIS central site, omit the dash and include all alphanumeric characters, including the character after the dash, in the title number. For the above example, an inquiry would be submitted with title number 12345A678. The title numbers vary in length.

WYOMING - TITLE NUMBER

The title record number in NMVTIS does not match title number on Wyoming’s paper title due to counties using "placeholder" zeros on the paper title as the numeric digits increase with time. These "placeholder" zeros do not load to Wyoming’s system therefore do not load to NMVTIS.
Leading 0's after the dash are acceptable and permissible in NMVTIS.
The number of zeros that load to NMVTIS will depend on how many digits are in the title numbers. As long as the numbers after the zeros, AFTER the dash on the paper title are the same on NMVTIS, it is a correct Wyoming title and jurisdictions may proceed with the title transaction.

NMVTIS TITLE REFERENCE CHART

NOTES:

The following states do not participate in NMVTIS, so we will not see any anything from these states in transactions: Hawaii.

Vehicle Services County Clerk Guide

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