Car title

A car title, formally a certificate of title, is the state-issued record that shows who owns a vehicle. It lists the owner, the VIN, any lienholder and any brand such as salvage. It is different from registration, which lets the car be driven on public roads.

When you sell or junk a car, the title is usually the document the buyer needs most. Licensed yards and recyclers use it to prove they bought the vehicle legally and to report it to the state. If the title is lost, you normally apply for a duplicate before the sale. Some states allow older cars to be sold without one, but the rules vary.

A title does not have to be paper. Florida law defines a certificate of title as a record that serves as evidence of ownership, whether it is a paper certificate or information stored electronically in the state’s database.¹