Selling your car doesn’t immediately sound like a difficult process. If you’ve never done it before, you may assume that you only have to find an interested buyer, get the money from them, and hand them the title and keys to your car. Sounds easy enough, right?
Luckily, if you’ve paid off the loan for your motor vehicle, this process is, in fact, that easy. However, if you’re still making payments, there will be a lien on your car title that you need to remove before you can ever sell your vehicle.
Research suggests that a record 107 million Americans have auto loan debt. This number is about 43% of the entire adult U.S. population, which is a drastic increase from what experts saw in 2012.
During that time, only 80 million Americans were making car payments. But today, you can probably find multiple relatives, friends, coworkers, or even strangers with an auto loan.
Having this type of financial support isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, a car loan may be the very reason you have your vehicle today—but it does become an issue when you want to sell your car. When that situation arises, you must remove the lien on your car title before you can take any further steps.
What is a lien on a car title?
Simply put, a lien protects creditors. It provides them with legal claims against pieces of property to ensure they collect the money they’re owed.
For example, maybe you had to finance your vehicle through a bank or auto dealer. In those cases, you’d consider them as your creditors. And when you apply for a car title, you’d have to be transparent about who your lender is.
Once you apply, the lien will go and remain on your title until you finish paying your debt. Only then will your lender help remove the lien so that you can sell your vehicle.
Who holds a lien on your vehicle?
There are instances where your lienholder may not be an auto loan lender. For example, some states allow mechanics to put a lien on your car title if you haven’t paid them within a certain amount of time. However, more often than not, your auto loan lender will be the only one to hold the lien on your car.
Depending on where you live, the lender will file the lien with your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. And after you’ve paid off your debt, the lender will send another document to the DMV to release the lien so that the car title can be updated and transferred to you.
This method is a simple process. The only thing you have to do is keep up with your car payments. Then, you can pay off your loan and have the freedom to sell your vehicle whenever you want.
The only time you’ll experience obstacles is when you aren’t paying your creditor. There are about 6 million Americans who are 90 days or more behind on their car payments. When you’re in this situation, it becomes very challenging to sell your vehicle because you’ve not only failed to pay off your loan, but you’ve also fallen behind.
This mishap can even lead to consequences since you’re not the legal owner of your vehicle. For example, your auto lender could repossess your car if you default on the loan. And then it’ll be impossible to sell your car.
Can a buyer pay your auto loan to remove a lien?
If you’re unable to pay your auto loan, you may still have an opportunity to sell your car. You just might have to rely on your potential buyer.
Sometimes, a buyer can write a check out to your lienholder to pay the loan’s remaining balance. However, you’ll need to get your creditor’s approval to take this route.
Make sure you call your lienholder for permission. If they agree to the terms, you can sell your vehicle, and the car title will be transferred to the new buyer.
What happens after you pay your debt?
While paying off your debt is the first step you must take to remove a lien on a car title, it’s not the last. If you want to finish removing a lien, you need to get help from a transportation organization.
Typically, people like to visit their local DMV office to finish this process. The DMV will have the necessary forms you need to fill out. And it’s also the place where you can take any letter from your lender indicating the lien’s release.
However, the DMV is also the place where you have to suffer through long lines, boring waiting rooms, sometimes grumpy employees, and unhappy customers. What’s worse is that the pandemic has made the DMV even slower and more stressful than usual.
These days, it’s hard to book an appointment. The lines are out the door, and the DMV’s calendar is full for months on end. Right now, especially, the DMV isn’t a place that you want to visit for help. The organization has a backlog that would make anyone want to scream.
But if you’ve paid off your loan and want to remove the lien on your car title, who can you go to for assistance?
Who to use to remove a lien on a car title
When you need help removing a lien on your car title, you don’t have to go to the DMV. You have other options, and one of those options is Barry Risk Management, Inc..
With over 30 years of experience in the DMV industry, Barry Risk Management, Inc. can help remove an auto lien quickly and without any hassle. And the best part is that Barry Risk Management, Inc. can do it all online.
You don’t have to leave your home. You don’t have to stand in a long line. And you don’t have to sit in a boring waiting room.
All you have to do is get in touch with a representative from Barry Risk Management, Inc., and the agent will complete everything digitally. If they need you to fill out a document or submit any information, you can complete the task online.
Barry Risk Management, Inc. makes things easy and simple. So, if you’ve finished paying off your auto loan and want to continue removing the lien on your car title, contact Barry Risk Management, Inc. for help. They’ll make sure you have everything you need to sell your vehicle in no time.
Reach out here to speak with a representative with Barry Risk Management, Inc. so that you can remove the lien on your car title!
