The process
How to get a title for a car with no title
Four things happen on your side. Everything else is ours.
Your four steps
Tell us about the vehicle
Your details, the VIN, and a few photos from your phone. We check the VIN as you type it, so a mistyped character gets caught now rather than a month from now.
Print the two forms we send you
We fill them in for you: the Montana VIN inspection form and a bill of sale. You print them at home. Print at 100%, not “fit to page.”
The bill of sale names the Montana company we operate through, so it will not say Pink Slip Title. That company holds the title for the few weeks Montana needs, then signs it straight over to you.
Get the VIN inspected
Somebody independent has to look at the vehicle and record the number on the Montana form. Who is allowed to do that depends on your state: a notary in Florida, a safety-inspection mechanic in Pennsylvania, a licensed dealer across much of the country, and police only in about twenty states.
Check who can inspect your VIN where you live. Where a private inspector is allowed it usually costs about $25; with police it is often free.
Mail the envelope back
Glue the return label from your packet onto an envelope and add one Forever stamp. USPS tracks it, and we email you as it moves. From there we prepare the Montana application, have our signature notarized, and file it.
Our side of the desk
Then we take over
We prepare the Montana application and everything the state requires to go with it, and we file the whole package. Montana takes roughly a month.
When the title arrives, we sign the vehicle over to you and mail you both documents. You’re the owner of record.
Timing
How long it takes
| Your paperwork back to us | Depends on you, usually a week |
|---|---|
| Montana processing | About a month |
| Title in your hands | Typically 5 to 7 weeks total |
Common questions
Questions we get asked
Is the title real?
Yes. It is a certificate of title issued by the State of Montana, the same certificate every vehicle titled there carries. We prepare and file the paperwork; the state issues the document. Montana’s own rules expressly provide for applying for a title on its own, without registration.
Do I get plates or registration with it?
No. This is a title and nothing else. Registration is between you and your own state, and the Montana title is exactly the ownership document your state’s counter will ask for when you transfer it in.
Do I have to be a Montana resident?
No. Montana doesn’t require the applicant to be a resident, and it doesn’t require the vehicle to have held a Montana title before. That combination is why this route exists at all. Most states gate on one or both.
Does the vehicle have to go anywhere?
No. It gets inspected where it sits, a barn, a driveway, a storage unit. Where your state allows a private inspector, they come to the vehicle rather than the other way around. Nothing has to start, move or be towed.
Do you handle motorcycles, ATVs and dirt bikes?
Yes, all of them, and all at the same $299 total.
Street motorcycles follow the identical rule to cars: 30 years and older.
Off road machines, meaning ATVs, side by sides and dirt bikes, we take at 10 years and older. Montana treats off road vehicles more leniently than cars, so the age bar is lower. We hold the line at 10 years because a nearly new machine with no paperwork is a different kind of story, and not one we want to be part of.
What if there’s an old lien on the vehicle?
A recorded lien that was never released has to be resolved before anyone can title the vehicle, us included. If you know of one, sort that out first. If you’re not sure, email us before you pay anything.
What if Montana rejects the filing?
You never pay the $279. It only becomes due once the title has actually been issued and is in our hands, so a filing that fails is never billed. We prepare the forms ourselves and check them before they go, so rejections should be vanishingly rare, but you are never left chasing us for a refund of the large number, because we never took it.
Four steps on your side · $20 to start
Start with the vehicle’s details today.
$20 on Stripe to open your case, then tell us about the vehicle. The remaining $279 is due only once your title is issued and in our hands. Check your state’s inspection rules first.