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[Matt Walker (Chair)]: And we're live, here on Wednesday, 04/01/2026, back in house transportation. We're joined by the deputy commissioner of DMV and continue to work through the bill and the sections. And while you're coming up to the chair, I wanted to let you know that I did a little background last night and this morning on all of the pieces related to the vehicle interaction, the testimony in terms of dealer interaction. And there were two or three slides, your lieutenant was here yesterday talking about some of those pieces, or was it one the deputy directed? Anyway, I don't have the notes right in front of me, except at least one of the top 10 dealers in the state says that everything that you testified about, the huge improvements, the DMV, the dealer management, is absolutely true, and they were very pleased in the direction that it went. So maybe we'll get that on the camera at some point. But I wanted to let you know that my preliminary research was incredibly positive from one of the higher volume dealers in the state of Maine. So with that positive spot, not that we're not where we're going is a positive. Let's get the background and the piece and see where we are. Different parts we can jump into and yeah. So
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Matt Russo, for the record, deputy commissioner for DMV. And we are speaking about section eight, believe it is, on electronic signatures. And this is under the salvage title statutes. This was done in coordination with Copart. Copart is an auctioneer, a national auctioneer who just not long ago, within the past couple of years, opened up their Rutland location, which is new to them. So we're happy to have them in the state. They do a lot of business. And I think what I would like to do is maybe give everybody a little background on what a self title is, so that when I'm referencing it, you know I'm talking about bio fiction. Section. Section nine, yes. Section nine, I'm sorry. I think I was
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: one off. Section nine, yep. Well, we can talk about Section eight at any time, Smuggler's Notch.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: If have questions in between, that's fine.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Section nine to start here.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: All right, so a salvage title.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: All came out of language coming from the DMV.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Salvage titles come about when there's a total loss. So you have total loss, your insurance company is gonna pay out, they're required to get a salvage title from you. Well, they get the title, and they make it into a salvage title by applying for the DMV, then they pay out. The disconnect now is between the auction house and the insurance company. The insurance company is like, Hey, we need you to auction this off for us. We need to get the paperwork to you as quickly as possible. Right now, it's all manual. You're gonna sign off, send it through the mail back and forth. The biggest hiccup is that you now need this this person who had this vehicle to sign off on it. Could be a single family with one car. You're waiting for them to try to find a way to get the information to you or to get there to sign for it. Copart asked us, is there a way that we can make this a streamlined process? So the request was that everything be done electronically in in these instances where e signature is required from the customer. It can be done electronically, no notary required. And that way these documents make it to the insurance company who can pass it off to GoPart and auction the vehicle off seamless and done. Wash their hands with it. And we are absolutely fine with that. We have no questions. Nimvitas, National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, is giving guidance on e signatures now, I'm totally for it. NHTSA, who federally oversees odometer statements, is also giving guidance as of 2019 in favor of of this of e signatures. As long as you're accepting e signatures for other documents, can you use it for an odometer statement. And this has nothing to do with odometer statements, but just for some background. Any questions so far? So
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: how many many of these things happened in Vermont in here? How many were we looking at total loss? Total loss. This only related a total this is only related to a total loss title?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: This is related to any title that is considered a total loss where an insurance company is looking to have a third party auctioneer sell it or auction it off. I don't have statistics for the exact number of total losses or titles that are issued salvage. We'd have to break it down by who applied for the salvage title, but I can get that information. Okay. Representative Wells? Any different rules for bringing an out of state vehicle? You buy one in St. Louis. You gotta reregister it here. It was totaled or has totaled paperwork with it. Any different rules there? Same rules. We obviously require residency. But if the customer is in Vermont and wants to reach to that vehicle, they would go through the title the salvage rebuild process. Process. Was it called? The salvage rebuild process. So you have a salvage title, and going back to Nimbeidis for a second, the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, anybody can obtain that report. And what that report gives you is similar to a CARFAX with just that much more detailed information on titles. And it will list any brands that have been applied to that in the past. So you'll see the change in titles from state to state. And then below that, you'll see all the brands have ever been on that. That salvage brand will always be there. And it's for everyone's protection. So you buy a vehicle, you know that it was a salvage vehicle at one point. You know what you're getting into, it's gonna be less value. The same process, get out of state, you get a title from Ohio that salvage as long as you're going through the rebuild process to make that vehicle rebuilt, inspection, CARFAX will rebuild it and give you a Vermont title.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Yeah. The title in our bill here says salvage certificates of title, forwarding of plates and titles of crushed certificates. So all salvaged vehicles on Crush.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: We don't use the Crush brand. We will accept it from other states. In Vermont, Crush, we won't retitle. But we will rebuild them if they come from out of state. So if a salvage yard in Vermont reports it to you and beat us as a jumped vehicle, you'll never see the title again. It's been crushed in Vermont. If it's coming from out of state, a lot of those could be misbranded. And if it's able to be rebuilt and roadworthy, then we'll rebuild it. So Salvage to Vermont is encompassing of many different other brands. Every state has a unique brand they use that may not be nationally recognized. For instance, Vermont uses Bonded. That's not a nationally recognized brand specific to Vermont. Not all states use those. The same goes for Florida. They use a specific brand for salvage vehicles that when it comes to Vermont, we consider it a salvage. We don't use that brand.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: I'm still confused because it says forwarding of plates and titles of crushed vehicles. Why does it say that? I mean, I just assumed that
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Yeah, because that's just included in the section. So this is specific to salvage certificates of title.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Oh, got you.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: This section includes the vehicle's being crushed. We need your plates and your title and everything so that we know that it's no longer gonna be on
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: the title.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Got Sorry, I was a little confused. It. I wasn't sure if I missed anybody else. Will just represent Wally for that?
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: Yeah, there's salvaging there's salvage, basically. There's different kinds of has different meanings in different contexts and in different states. And in Vermont, salvage means you're done.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Salvage means that the vehicle has been a quote unquote total loss.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: So if
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: it comes out from out of state with a junk brand, we're considering a salvage, and you're gonna go through the same process as you would for a salvage vehicle.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: But in other instances, salvage refers to a vehicle that can be redeemed in some way, rebuilt or forever. And you guys follow some specific objective process for making those determinations. Sort of an apple is an apple. Correct. That kind of thing.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Okay. Statutory is a process for us to be able to rebuild it. Yes. So we're looking to salvage. Those fall the other states' brands fall into the same categories as what already happened statute. So
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: it's like a sort of common language among other states. Okay. Right. Just seems like this is potentially a bigger and bigger problem with cars that are damaged by floods and they end up coming here.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: And that's where an envious is really important. It's unable to be advertised kind of
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: like CARFAX is, and they
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: have commercials and everyone's aware, everyone knows what CARFAX is. Nubitas is unable to do that because of the Department of Justice, but it acts in the same way. And we promote it on our website. Hey, make sure you get this report so you know exactly where your vehicle came from and you're protected.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: I didn't understand the comment about brand.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: What context do you use in that word? Branding is a key on the title that denotes anything that's ever happened to that vehicle. So if we'll say somebody So this is Had a salvage event. Right. Or it was on the seacoast and it was saltwater damage. We'll we'll mark it salvage and then saltwater damage.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Okay. So brand is a reference to what happened to the vehicle, like brand on
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: a cow
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: or something. Exactly. Exactly. Okay.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: That's gonna let you know where that what the history of that vehicle was. Now it is. Yes. Okay. Thank you.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Other states allow electronic signature?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: So right now there are only five states that do not. Louisiana is one of them. As far as I know, Politburo is never gonna go anywhere. It's in their statute, it's not allowed. The other states, Washington is one of them. They're currently working with them. They're working with the other four states, Vermont included, and it's already in the process of moving forward. The only state that they're not working with and they're unable to is Louisiana. So eventually all sites will allow you signatures. Except for the Napoleonic codes. Exactly. That's something I'm going say that I know of that's not moving forward.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: On the end of the section C at the end, an insurer shall indemnify and hold harmless department for any claims arising from the insurance of surety. Second of title pursuant to this section, you're saying, so you issue a title that is based on electronic signature and it turns out there was some kind of issue with it. They can't come to you and say there's a problem. Correct. Is this a bigger liability thing than what our committee would how big of an issue is I identify as not something that I have a lot of experience with. It's almost like commerce, yeah. Those are sort of my thoughts instead
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: of electronic signatures. It's just so easy to set up an email address.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Is there like a downfall to do electronic?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: So you just need to make sure that you're set up for identifying that the signature is valid. They track IP addresses when you're when you're doing this. They use NIST. Yeah. So you you just have to make sure that you're set up to know how to verify that an e signature is is real. And other than that, I can't think of any other issues.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: Thank you. So when you're talking about this e signature, did you say Nest? Is it like DocuSign in terms of
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: This is the national standard for
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: electronic signatures. Is that similar to DocuSign?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Yeah, would DocuSign, the company. They would use NIST standards.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: Okay, got it. Thank you. And the process for getting a salvage certificate. So I wreck my car. I have it towed to an auto body shop, they say it's a full loss. I then get some paperwork from them, send it to the DMV.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: So you
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: would first contact your insurance company.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: They would
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: more than likely say, Let's get it looked at. They would either come out or offer that you go to a body shop to get it evaluated. If it is a total loss, the insurance company takes care of everything. They will obtain the title for you, or if you already own it and you have the title, you'll submit it to them for the payout. Anything beyond that is not by the insurance company in coordination with the auctioneer or whoever they're selling into.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: And so where does the salvage document come in?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: So the insurance company will use the salvage application to apply for the salvage title once we produce that salvage title for them.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: Okay, so they just kind of need it for their records.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Exactly.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: They'll pay me.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: They want to verify that this vehicle is a salvage, and that it's not going be on the road until it's rebuilt. And if they're paying out for it, they want to secure that.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: Okay. And then say I take my car in to get inspected, and they say, I'm told this is unfit for later driving, take it off the road. Is that a salvage?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Is that due to an incident? Salvage would have to be due to a car crash, for instance. Or an event, I'll call it an event. It can't just be regular wear and tear.
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: Okay. Thank you. So
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: my understanding, a hurricane comes through the South, got thousands of vehicles that are insurance claims. They get paid for their it's no good. They pay them. A lot of those vehicles end up here. And there's a couple of dealerships in a particular area driven by Flora that my understanding of the story is they're all coming from potential water damage. The insurance companies have paid out that claim to somebody might be down in
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: that hurricane area. They are salvaging it and then putting
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: it back out. Are all of those vehicles on that a salvage title in that scenario?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Those would all be salvage titles. Yep. And I can think of one dealer that specifically does that kind of repair that does a really great job, but I can't speak for all dealers. Right. And or outside of Vermont.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: So that scenario of a dealer that built their business office or somewhat, they're getting the insurance companies down there, hey, they're trying to get a title to that vehicle so after the work they've done for it, they can then sell it. This is where this title comes in.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: This is where this title would come in.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: The DMV has issued it to them and then they're gonna sell it. But that person that buys it would be able to see in this, the program that I've run out, they'd look it up, the CARFAX agreement, that this has happened. So there's a piece through there. Does the title by itself that the title itself is the reason that salvage in
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: some Yeah. It would still say salvage. So the reason that you'd wanna still run on the NVIDIA's report is just for any history that may have fallen off inadvertently on the title, but you still will receive the title. And that's the reason that those brands never fall off is that you can track what's happened to it. You can see that it had a salvage event. You can see that it was rebuilt specific to saltwater damage or water damage. I mean, that affects the electrical. So you wanna make sure that you're buying it from somebody that can show you the receipts and these are the things that were fixed. We replaced all the electrical. Those things that are great to have on your title or on Vetus. So you can track that kind of information and know that you're getting a vehicle that was actually built with the right parts. And the consumer can tell that it's a sale. If the
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: title is always going be marked that way?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: They'll always have that information if they pull a report or it should be right on the title. By law, it's supposed to be on the title.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Okay. So the request here in the language is to allow that when that process is happening inside of the mailing of documents back and forth that you'll be able to accept an electric.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Right. It's something we we do accept electronic signatures. This is just to codify it specifically for this situation to make it easier for them and streamline the process. So this is a request from insurance companies? This is the issue a request from Copart. Oh, oh. Copart, the auctioneer. Oh,
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: the auctioneer.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: It was an issue for them getting people to sign and and making this seamless so that people their payouts.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Representative Casey? So if I go to salty Bob's used cars and I buy a car, is he obligated to tell me that He is. It's all salty?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: By law, he's he's required to and and it's on our form to mark the box. Okay. This was salvaged. Perfect.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: This is gonna make the process of selling off the salvaged vehicles faster. It's gonna
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: make the process faster for all parties involved. From the customer who is waiting for that check to the insurance company who's waiting for the auctioneer to get that and be able to sell it legally, because a lot of times, every time, they're requiring ownership documents before they can even auction it off. And without that, they can't do anything. And you're saying
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: the insurance company holds up the payment to the original claimee?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: The insurance company would No, they wouldn't hold up the payment. I guess it would depend on the situation if it's being auctioned, if they're paying out based on the damage. This is we're able to get this even from the customer electronically signing it instead of having to snail mail
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: it. Okay. And we gather electronic signatures are handled similarly throughout state law. What's the downside to doing this? Not doing it. Other than it exists the way it is today. From my point of view? From yours or the agent? What is there? Or I'm gonna
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: I don't if you're asking me to hear me.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Yeah. I'm sort of doing both, I guess. I we need to hear from, is there a downside to doing this? What's is there an opinion from the department on what what their mayor? What's the downside of continuing to live with this today?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: I I the downside of continuing as we do today is that there isn't any backup for the situation in statute. Something that could change down the road. Right now we are accepting electronic signatures. The request is that we codify it so that there is something for them to fall back on for the streamlined process.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Are catching up the law to the practice? Correct.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Yep. We're modifying what's already in practice. My assumption is that there were enough incidents and situations where things were held up because somebody wasn't able to get their design, and this will secure that for them.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: I
[Unknown Member (House Transportation Committee)]: am wondering, are these rebuilt cars a source of some affordable, more affordable vehicles for motors?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: You could say that. All those are done correctly?
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Any other questions or concerns about the section? Do we need to hear from anybody else? They're already doing this in practice, that's all I need to hear. Yeah.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Think the the thing that was holding people up was Nimbeetas. All states are a member of Nimbeetas. So getting some guidelines from them, as well as NHTSA. NHTSA had guidelines restricting e signatures, and maybe even since 2019.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: So they were rejecting
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: some them? They said, well federally with NHTSA, you couldn't, it became a bigger issue. And as we move further and further towards better technology, I think they probably had to release some guidance saying, Hey, if you're gonna do it, this is how you should do it. In 2019, that's what they did.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: So they have been doing it, then they said, Oh, if we wanna continue this,
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: They said if you're if you're already doing esignatures and you're accepting them, if you're doing them according to federal standards, then statements are also okay.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Okay, well I guess unless there's other spots that people have questions about or where we need to go, or anything else that we need to hear? You wanna tackle any other areas right now?
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: Answer any questions. I have the answer.
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: Excellent. Well, then it's not an April fool's joke, in the last couple weeks of war times and issues, etcetera, we are adjourned until tomorrow morning at 09:00.
[Matt Russo (Deputy Commissioner of Motor Vehicles)]: 09:15, I'm not sure what
[Matt Walker (Chair)]: we