                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATE OF TITLE AND REGISTRATION CARD (§ 46.2-603)

A. The Department, on receiving an application for a certificate of title for a
motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer, shall issue to the owner a certificate
of title and a registration card as separate documents.

B. Subject to all applicable federal laws, the Department may 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 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
subsection. An owner or lienholder 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. Except as provided in &#xA7; 46.2-603.1, all transfers of
vehicle ownership shall require a paper certificate of title in accordance with,
and subject to, all applicable federal laws.

C. The Department may issue an electronic registration card to an individual who
holds a valid physical registration card that the Department is authorized to
issue. If the Department issues an electronic registration card, the
registration card shall be issued in addition to, and not instead of, the
underlying physical registration card for which a person is eligible. No
electronic registration card shall be issued unless the applicant holds the
corresponding physical registration card. The possession or display of an
electronic registration card shall not relieve a person from the requirements of
any state law or regulation or local ordinance or regulation requiring the
possession or display of the physical credential. Any provision of state law or
regulation or local ordinance or regulation that may be satisfied by the display
or possession of a physical registration card may be satisfied by displaying or
possessing an electronic registration card issued pursuant to this section at
the discretion of the person to whom it is presented and subject to the
conditions of this section.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 46-68; 1958, c. 541, § 46.1-68; 1989, c. 727; 2005, c.
305; 2012, c. 650; 2022, c. 183.