Florida Titles: A Historical Perspective

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A 1920's Title Plate

1920's Title Plate

Certificates of title were first authorized by Chapter 9157, Acts of 1923 with an effective date of July 1, of that year. Titles were issued to each owner of a motor vehicle with provisions for showing evidence of any liens. When a vehicle was sold, the title was endorsed to show transfer to a new owner and sent to the Comptroller for a new title. The primary purpose of the title was theft prevention. Money collected for these titles were then deposited in to the Auto Theft Fund.

1920's Title Certificate Plate with Registration Certificate

Carl Ford, Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles, stated in a letter to Diane Nelson: "...Florida enacted its first title law, Act 39, Laws of Florida in 1923. Metal title certificates were issued to each motor vehicle owner with a provision for carrying evidence of liens or other encumbrances against the vehicle. The certificates were nailed to the floor board of the automobile. The primary purpose of the title certificate system was to help prevent the theft of vehicles and the proceeds from the title fees were deposited into the auto theft fund."

The title certificate plate (above, left) was retrieved from a Studebaker and provided by Mr. John Espey as an example of one of these metal title certificates.

In 1941, the legislature enacted a title/lien law; Chapter 20917, enforcement of this law was placed with the Motor Vehicle Commissioner. Liens on motor vehicles were recorded in Tallahassee with the Motor Vehicle Commission.

On August 1, 1948, a new title law went into effect. This law required that certificates of title issued represent a complete abstract of title, including current mortgage status. To reflect this, every change of ownership and/or change in lien status was recorded in the records of the Motor Vehicle Commissioner with a new title being issued for each change.

In 1957, the Legislature revised the Sales Tax Law to include motor vehicles. The law provided that no certificate of title could be issued without evidence of payment of taxes, unless the vehicle was exempt.

A 1990's Title Certificate

On July 1, 1965 by an act of the 1965 Session of the Florida Legislature, the Motor Vehicle Commission became the Department of Motor Vehicles. The executive board was required to employ a qualified person to serve as director of the department. The director was responsible for administering and enforcing the laws pertaining to motor vehicles, including the issuing and canceling of motor vehicle certificates of title and collecting the fees required.

Because of the Governmental Reorganization Act of 1969, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Public Safety were combined to form the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Many changes in title laws and rules have occurred over the years, resulting in changes in the appearance of our title and in the way we do business. When the first title was issued back in 1923, the entire operation was manual. Gaining access to information on the owner of a vehicle was a time consuming process. Today more than 267 tag agencies throughout the state, including convenient local Tax Collector offices, complete title applications on-line with the FRVIS 2000 computer network, updating title records as they are validated. This makes the processing and retrieval of information more timely and accurate.

Current Title Certificate

For instance, in 2005, over 6.8 million titles were issued. Of those issued:

3 million plus were Florida Title Transfers
Over 700,000 were Out of State Titles
1.6 million were New Vehicle Titles
Almost 600,000 were fast title issuances

A little over 250,000 were Vessel Titles and almost 20% (46,093) of those were in Pinellas County alone.

Newer Technology

The use of computers has expedited and enhanced the titling the process, and in some cases, even done away with paper titles. In 1999, a fast title process was added to expedite title issuance for dealers and vehicle owners. In 2008 electronic, or E-Titles, were introduced where the electronic title exists only in a data base, where customers can obtain a printed title at their request,.

The DHSMV website contains data regarding the vehicles titled and registered in Florida for the past fiscal year and has estimates for the coming fiscal year. To see the statistical reports, go to: http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/html/FactsFiguresFY2006/PerStaDMV.htm and view the details.