Michigan Secretary of State refuses to return Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin

Before there is a STATE issued VEHICLE TITLE, the vehicle is (likely) sitting in a registered dealer’s lot.  While it sits there, the registered dealer has a MANUFACTURER’S CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN.  According to:

The UNITED STATES, INC – DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS LICENSE AGENCY

So lets un-confuse things here!

Vehicle Titles: What are they?

After sending out 50 FOIA requests for each of the 50 States, the ultimate commentary is that the States do not use a bank to underwrite their vehicle titles as a bank note.  These are the responses from the State DMVs that understood what an underwriter is and does.

There are significant anomalies though.  All the states claim that their vehicle titles are printed on security paper….  but it doesn’t secure anything and isn’t a security.  hmmm…

Several States claimed that their vehicle titles are printed on BANK NOTE PAPER and one state even said that a VEHICLE TITLE is a bank note but that there isn’t any underwriter!  (Read on: underwriting may be out-sourced to the GSA, or Department of Revenue, or the Department of Treasury)

The two handfuls of States issue their VEHICLE TITLES from the DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE (DOR).  The Mississippi DOR FAQ even claims that a Vehicle Title is a SECURED, NEGOTIABLE DOCUMENT that REPRESENTS ownership.