TIP: In the wake of recent Milwaukee-area flooding, which damaged cars across Southeast Wisconsin, credit unions and their members should be cautious about buying cars with “branded” titles. Your members don’t want to be tricked into buying a car with an unknown history, and the credit union doesn’t want to overestimate the value of collateral that has been damaged.
A “brand” is a descriptive label that states assign to a vehicle to identify the vehicle’s current or prior condition, such as “junk,” “salvage,” “flood,” or another designation.
The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) is an electronic system that allows participating states (including Wisconsin) to share brand, odometer, title, and other data. It provides valuable information to consumers and lenders. Prior to purchasing a vehicle, NMVTIS allows consumers to find information on the vehicle’s title, most recent odometer reading, brand history, and, in some cases, historical theft data.
This NMVTIS page explains how to access state vehicle title records across the country. For Wisconsin, it says:
Wisconsin vehicle record information can be requested by submitting the Vehicle/Driver Record Information Request form, MV2896 and a $5.00 fee for each record. If personal information is being requested, the form needs to have one of the boxes checked authorizing release of personal information. Vehicle/Driver Record Information Request. Additional information related to privacy of Wisconsin motor vehicle records can be found at: State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation Privacy Notice.
Consumers also need to be careful about “title washing.” For example, as described by NMVTIS, after Hurricane Katrina, authorities reported truckloads of flooded vehicles being taken out of Louisiana to other states as far away as the upper Midwest, where they were dried out, cleaned, and readied for sale to unsuspecting consumers in states that do not brand flood vehicles. Prospective purchasers of these vehicles may not have known that the vehicles had been subjected to a saltwater flood that made the vehicles’ electrical systems (including their airbag sensors) more prone to failure. NMVTIS is designed to prevent vehicle histories such as these from being “washed” or concealed because it is designed to serve as a national repository of vehicle brand information. Fully implemented, NMVTIS will have data from every state and will be queried before any state issues a vehicle a new title, making it extremely difficult (if not impossible) to wash a “flood” designation from a vehicle.
Wisconsin title brands
According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT), a title “brand” provides important information about the condition of a vehicle, eligibility for title and/or registration/license plates. The DOT describes a brand as a permanent record that prints on each Wisconsin title issued for an individual vehicle.
Wisconsin carries over all out-of-state brands recognized by NMVTIS to Wisconsin titles. Most vehicle brands are permanent and show on each subsequent Wisconsin title issued for the vehicle.
The owner of a vehicle must disclose certain brand information when selling a vehicle, or when applying for a title if the current Wisconsin title for that vehicle does not already have the brand. The owner marks any appropriate brand on the assignment of title or on the Wisconsin Title and License Plate application MV1.
Failure to disclose a title brand may result in a fine up to $5,000.
The DOT advises car buyers to check the front of the title for any brands and ask the seller if he/she should check any of the brands on the assignment of title at the time of transfer. Brand information is printed under “Additional Vehicle Detail” on the bottom half of Wisconsin titles issued after December 2004. In addition to Wisconsin title brand information, you will find any available brand information for a vehicle previously titled in another jurisdiction.
State law requires the vehicle owner to disclose title brand information if it is not already on the current Wisconsin title. This includes flood damage, which is defined as a vehicle that is not considered junk and damaged by water to the extent that the estimated or actual repair costs, whichever is greater, is more than 70% of the fair market value. A vehicle that has been submerged in water will receive a flood damaged brand. If the vehicle is less than seven years old it will also receive a Wisconsin salvage vehicle brand.
Many other types of title brands, including hail damage or salvage vehicle, may appear on Wisconsin titles. They are described on this DOT web page.