Mountains of paperwork and long lines at the DMV might soon be a thing of the past, as more states introduce digital vehicle titling platforms, the latest being Illinois, which has just partnered with CHAMP Titles to tackle the bureaucracy.
Specifically, together with the Illinois Secretary of State (ILSOS), the provider of digital vehicle title, registration, and lien systems of record in the US has just launched its Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) gateway service, the Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said in a recent X post.
This means that, instead of printing a paper title and mailing it to the lienholder, the ILSOS now transmits title information electronically to the lienholder’s ELT service provider. Thus, it eliminates paper-based delays, minimizes DMV visits, and speeds up car loan approvals – minus the state fees.
What are digital titles?
A digital title in vehicle titling refers to legal evidence of vehicle ownership and is accepted in 51 titling jurisdictions in the US. Through the use of digital titles, the authorities can keep the system of record up to date in real time. Until recently, vehicle titles were one of the rare legal documents that were still paper-based.
A cumbersome process that their management has been, the paper vehicle titles have presented a nuisance to dealers who had to manually match titles with vehicles on the lot or in their internal systems. Following their implementation in West Virginia, other states took notice and digital titles are now becoming a new standard in ELT systems – including Illinois.
What does ELT stand for in government?
As mentioned above, ‘ELT’ stands for ‘Electronic Lien and Title’ and refers to a software system facilitating the submission of vehicle liens electronically. The aim is to reduce costs, improve efficiency, minimize fraud risk, and decrease the environmental impact involved in the traditional vehicle titling process.
In the process, it also addresses the needs of vehicle retailers, fleet operators, wholesalers, insurance carriers, service providers, lenders, and consumers, as well as ushering in a novel, performance-oriented approach to government contracting, circumventing time-consuming, complex, and expensive solutions.
Commenting on the recent development, Shane Bigelow, the CEO of CHAMP Titles, said that:
“With the favorable results from several other states that have upgraded their DMV software with CHAMP, the word is getting out and we are making real strides in a high barrier to entry sector like vehicle titling and lien servicing.”
What are the three types of titles?
Currently, the most common types of titles include a clear/clean title, when a vehicle doesn’t have an outstanding loan on it; a lienholder/memorandum title, issued for cars with an outstanding loan; and an electronic/digital title that your DMV or BMV holds on your behalf.
Other types of car titles include affidavit title, bonded title, certificate of destruction, flood/water damage title, junk title, lemon title, odometer rollback title, parts-only title, rebuilt/reconstructed title, salvage title, manufacturer’s statement of origin, export title, and import title.
Meanwhile, it isn’t just DMVs becoming transformed by technology. Notably, earlier this year, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Gov, a specialized ChatGPT version tailored for US government agencies, allowing them to handle non-public and sensitive data while meeting strict compliance standards.
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