Yesterday WATDA published 2 notices regarding the Illinois Secretary of State’s decision to require Illinois dealers and auto auctions to stamp the front and back of all titles of vehicles sold to out-of-state dealers and wholesalers. Expectedly, WATDA received a number of questions from concerned and rightfully so, confused dealers. We did some follow up investigation and hopefully, this notice answers some of those questions.
SITUATION
Illinois Secretary of State, issued a mandate to Illinois dealers and auto auctions, requiring them to stamp the front and back of titles of motor vehicles sold to out-of-state dealers and wholesalers. The stamp must be in no less than 36 point font and must state on of the below:
"NOT FOR RESALE WITHIN ILLINOIS"
or
"NOT FOR RETAIL SALE WITHIN ILLINOIS."
Wisconsin dealers cannot sell a vehicle with an Illinois stamped title to an Illinois resident or wholesaler. The reason for this is, Wisconsin law prohibits dealers from titling inventory in the dealership’s name and the stamp on the title will prohibit any Illinois buyer from retitling the vehicle in Illinois.
The Wisconsin DMV has indicated that Wisconsin dealers can sell vehicles and process stamped titles to Wisconsin purchasers. However, at this time we do not know whether you can process a stamped title in another state (i.e. Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, California, etc.)
Because Wisconsin dealers cannot sell a vehicle with an Illinois stamped title to Illinois residents and possibly other state residents, WATDA recommends that when advertising those vehicles, the dealer should include a disclosure that the vehicle is not available to out-of-state purchasers.
MSO’s will not be stamped. Therefore, you should be able to conduct dealer trades with Illinois dealers, however, a best practice would be to confirm with your Illinois trading partners that they have not stamped the MSO, prior to agreeing to the trade.
READ ILLINOIS BULLETIN
HERE
