About 6 years ago after my divorce I had to file chapter 13
bankruptcy.  Along with many other items I had a personal loan on the
bankruptcy.  I paid everything off except the personal loan, which was
"secured" with the title to a vehicle I had purchased with part of the
money out of the loan.  At some point during payment on the
bankruptcy, the company I had the loan from "sold" the loan to another
agency.  After discharging the bankruptcy, that agency immediatly
turned it over to a collection place.  At some point, all the details
about the car title had been lost.  The car i junk (thanks to my
ex-wife).  I know there are many charities out there who will take the
car away for free and I would like to be able to take advantage of
that but I have to have the title to be able to find give it to them. 
I live in Ohio, is there a way to check to see who the vehicle is
titled to??

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 21 Oct 2003 11:29 PDT

Let me understand this...you are wanting to find out where a car is
that you no longer own, so you can donate it to charity, even though
it is no longer in your posession and now titled to someone else? Is
this correct?

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Hi Jimmy,

I'm an Ohio resident myself, so my first inclination was to give the
Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles a call:

Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles
1970 West Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43223-1101

Mailing Address:
Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles
P.O. Box 16520
Columbus, Ohio 43216-6520

614-752-7500

I spoke to Tricia in the Title department, who referred me to Jason in
the Franklin County Title department:

614-462-3091

To initiate a title search in the state of Ohio, you need only go to a
Title Bureau in your area with your state issued identification or
driver's license, any paperwork you have that is associated with the
car (insurance papers, registration, whatever you have) and the car's
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

You can locate the VIN easily by looking through the car's windshield
at the lower portion of the driver's side.  There is usually a small
metal plate with the 17 digit VIN, occasionally the number is etched
into the glass.

If you don't have any paperwork associated with the car, don't worry. 
Jason said that as long as you have the VIN and your ID, you have the
most important information.  Cost of a duplicate title application is
just $6.

Since someone else holds a lien on the car, you'll be issued a
"temporary title", which will list the lienholder's name and address. 
From there, you can contact the lienholder to gain "clear title" to
the car, which would then allow you to donate it to the charity of
your choice.

The state of Ohio usually offers online title inquiry as well, but the
server is misbehaving today.  When it becomes available again, you
might want to try the Online Title Inquiry here:

Ohio BMV
http://www.state.oh.us/odps/division/bmv/bmv.html

Hope this helps!

--Missy

Search terms:  None.  Pulled up the OH BMV and called them.

thanks missy