Pub 61 2020-2021 Issue 3

Electronic Titling and Signatures T he Texas Department of Motor Vehicles offers a web-based suite of applications to sup- port electronic titling. These include webDEALER, eTITLE and eTAG. All three are integrated to provide a seamless titling experience for users. Over 9 million title applications have been approved through webDEAL- ER since its inception in 2013. webDEALER, in 2016, and eTITLE, in 2020, received the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators Trailblaz- er award. The Trailblazer award recognizes a state agency or indi- vidual who implements a measur- able and transferable innovative change that positively affects their agency and community. webDEALER is a web-based ap- plication for licensed motor vehicle dealers and county tax assessor- collector offices that allows elec- tronic submission and processing of title applications. You must contact the county tax assessor/collector’s office(s) where you want to submit title applications to gain access. webDEALER expedites the title application process by eliminating redundant data entry, submitting paper applications, and time standing in line at a county tax assessor/ collector’s office. Entering title applications through webDEALER allows you to use a more streamlined title and registration application process and provides county tax assessor-collector offices with a more efficient review and approval process. In addition to automatically calculating fees and providing visibility of title applications from creation to approval, webDEALER facilitates a purchaser verifying the sales price and odometer reading of a vehicle electronically. Additionally, third-party systems can verify a purchaser’s identity and sign all required documents, including secure documents. Secure documents signed elec- tronically must be submitted through webDEALER. Examples of secure documents include a title, Dealer’s Reassignment of Title for a Mo- tor Vehicle (Form VTR-41-A), and Power of Attorney for Transfer of Ownership to a Motor Vehicle (Form VTR-271-A). The electronic signa- ture must match the signer’s printed name and indicate the signature is an electronic signature. eTITLE is available to licensed mo- tor vehicle dealers and allows for an electronic title (eTitle) record to be created using a Texas Certificate of Title, Certified Copy of Texas Title, or an electronic lien title when the lienholder releases it directly into your dealer’s eTitle inventory. This streamlines the payoff process and eliminates the need to wait for a pa- per title to be printed and mailed. By creating an eTitle record or accepting a lienholder’s electronic release into your eTitle inventory, a remark is added to the motor vehicle record indicating the vehicle is in the possession of your dealership. This protects you against fraud by preventing a Certified Copy of Texas Title from being obtained and used to secure a title loan. It also prevents other non-legitimate transactions from being processed in webDEALER and at a county tax assessor/collector’s office. One of the main functions of eTI- TLE is to provide dealers a secure way to electronically reassign titles to one another. A dealer can electronically certify the odometer reading with each reassignment. Security is maintained because each time the eTitle record is reassigned, the motor vehicle record’s remark is updated to reflect the new dealership’s information and eTITLE tracks the reassignments. You can also start a webDEALER title application from the eTitle record held in your inventory. Once the title application is started, all relevant information, including any previously uploaded documents, are imported to webDEALER. This eliminates the need to enter the same information multiple times for one title application. eTAG is the application used by licensed motor vehicle dealers to assign a buyer tag to a retail sale vehicle. It is fully integrated with webDEALER and eTITLE. Once a buyer tag is created for a vehicle, the tag information will display in webDEALER. Any information associated with that buyer tag and eTitle record can be merged and imported into the webDEALER title application. By using webDEALER, eTITLE, and eTAG together, you have a title application process that is electronic from beginning to end, which expe- dites the title application process.  8

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