NMVTIS (National Motor Vehicle Title Information System - pronounced En-Em-Vee-Tis) is a data system that stores information about titles issued by each of the 50 states plus DC. States are required to both submit data about their titles to NMVTIS and check NMVTIS to verify titles being transferred from other states. The US Department of Justice has ruled that all states must participate by January 1, 2010. (That ruling provides background about the laws requiring the system be developed and requiring participation.)
Some businesses are also required to provide data about vehicles, including insurance carriers and junk/salvage companies. The website at NMVTIS.gov provides more information about compliance.
For lenders, this has a few implications:
Public inquiry of the NMVTIS records are available.
DDI has chosen to use Auto Data Direct as a provider of NMVTIS inquiries and will be integrating those titling records with Premier eTitleLien™.
There are two main benefits to lenders. First, the NMVTIS records should show the most recent title issued as well as a history of other titles (and states who issued them) for the VIN. Second, NMVTIS contains a record of all the brands (salvage, flood damage, etc) that have been applied to the vehicle and which state applied them. NMVTIS does *not* include lien information.
State processes may change slightly.
At DDI we have observe two significant impacts to lenders as states are complying with NMVTIS. First, NMVTIS has its own data requirements that may not match each state. For instance, different states have different kinds of vehicle brands, and there is not a national standard for brands. More significantly, the NMVTIS standard for VINs has resulted in some states changing the VINs on their titles. (Mobile Homes have VINs that do not match modern automobile VINs - they frequently are recorded as 12345678A&B which is invalid.) This can cause problems for lenders releasing liens or trying to find information about a title.
Second, implementing NMVTIS into the business process for the state may delay issuing a perfected lien by up to five days. Any title received from out of state should be checked against the NMVTIS record to check for issues. A state may choose to slow down the process to be sure NMVTIS was updated. This should help reduce fraud and errors when transferring titles between states.
For more information about how each state participates in the NMVTIS program, see the official NMVTIS website. For more information on how Premier eTitleLien™ helps lenders cut costs and reduce fraud, see our official website. ;)
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