Alabama Revokes Vehicle Titles Sent in Error

The Alabama Revenue Department said it has corrected about 15,000 Alabama car titles that were erroneously sent to vehicle owners instead of vehicle lienholders.

The state Revenue Department’s motor vehicle division reports the mistake happened during four days in late April and early May, and it was the result of a computer upgrade glitch.

Motor vehicle division manager Brenda Coone said in a memo that once the mistake was caught, vehicle owners and lienholders were notified. The affected title certificates were revoked, reissued and mailed to the appropriate lienholder.

Department officials told the TimesDaily that the initial fear was that some people would take the titles and try to sell their vehicles or obtain a loan even though they didn’t own the vehicles, but there is no evidence to suggest that happened.

Department officials said if people try to use the revoked titles, the Electronic Title Processing System used by car dealerships, banks and pawn shops will reject them.

The department issues about 1.4 million titles annually.