                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

ELECTRONIC TITLING AND REGISTRATION PROGRAM (§ 46.2-603.1)

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Department may
establish an electronic titling program for any motor vehicle. Participants in
the electronic titling program shall submit electronic applications for original
motor vehicle titles in a form and format prescribed by the Department.
Participants must provide all documentation or information required by the
Department to process the electronic title application, including information
from a manufacturer&#8217;s certificate of origin or certificate of ownership
and any information required by the Department in accordance with &#xA7;
46.2-623. The records of a nationally recognized motor vehicle title database
may be searched prior to transfer of vehicle ownership. The Department may
impose a reasonable service fee in accordance with fair market prices for the
use of digital signature services as part of this program. Such fees shall be
used to defray the costs of the transaction to the Department. Any transaction
fees imposed and collected by the Department shall be paid into the state
treasury and set aside as a special fund to be used to meet the expenses of the
Department. Upon receipt of a completed electronic application, the Department
shall refrain from issuing a certificate of title in paper form and, instead,
shall create only the electronic record of such title to be retained by the
Department in its existing electronic title record system with a notation that
no certificate of title has been printed on paper. The owner of a motor vehicle
will be deemed to have obtained and the Department will be deemed to have issued
a certificate of title when such title record has been created electronically as
provided in this section. An owner listed on a title record so created may at
any time request and the Department shall provide a paper certificate of title
for the vehicle.

B. Upon receipt of a completed electronic application, the Department shall
permit the online registration of a motor vehicle by participants, and is hereby
authorized to issue a temporary certificate of registration to participants. The
temporary certificate of registration issued by the Department to participants
shall expire when the permanent license plates have been affixed to the motor
vehicle, but in no event shall any temporary certificate of registration issued
under this section be effective for more than 30 days from the date of its
issuance.

HISTORY: 2012, c. 650; 2022, c. 701.