>Do You Know Who Owns Your Car?
>
>On February 10, 1987, Tennessee Department of Revenue Operations Supervisor
>Denise Rottero told Judge Geer how Tennessee's auto registration works.
>
>The process begins with the "surrender" of the Manufacturer's Statement of
>Origin (MSO) by the auto dealer to the Department of Revenue in exchange for
>Certificate of Title. Asked if a MSO is proof of ownership -Legal title -to
>the automobile. Ms. Rottero said, "Yes"
>
>"Are you telling me that the ownership of an automobile is NOT title; it's
>merely evidence that title exists? Your car's legal TITLE is the MSO, which
>the dealer surrendered to the state?" Ms. Rottero said the MSO is put on
>microfilm for permanent keeping, the original destroyed.
>
>After the trial, spectators expressed shock that their personal automobiles
>were actually owned by the state. "No wonder state law officers stop people
>for no reason!" said a housewife. "If your car's got a Tennessee plate, it's
>theirs, and they can do anything they like to you." That's the law, but it's
>volutary, No one but Judge Greer has dared say that if you don't surrender
>your car to the state in exchange for plates, you go to jail.
>
>Ed. Note : This is true not only for Tennessee, but for the other 49 states
>as well. When purchasing a new automobile, the buyer is required to sign
>fine print which authorized the dealer to obtain plates and registration for
>the vehicle. Purchaser need only to read this fine print to see that by
>doing this they are authorizing the dealer to act a power of attorney, and
>by doing so the prospective buyer is signing away his rights to that
>vehicle. When buying a used vehicle, the title already has been signed over
>to the state.
>
>-From The Investigative Reporter, October 1996
>
