Vehicles: duplicate or substitute certificate of title or license plate.

(1) Existing law prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicles from issuing a duplicate or substitute certificate of title or license plate if, after a search of the records of the department, the registered owner's address, as submitted on the application, is different from that which appears in the records of the department, unless the registered owner applies in person and presents additional specified documentation, that includes, among other things, a facsimile of specified documents if the facsimile matches the vehicle record of the department. This bill would authorize the use of a photocopy of those documents in lieu of a facsimile. (2) Under existing law, the prohibition described above does not apply under certain circumstances, including when an application for a duplicate or substitute certificate of title or license plate is submitted by a dealer. This bill would make that prohibition also inapplicable to an application for a duplicate or substitute certificate of title or license plate that is submitted by an agent of the dealer. (3) Under existing law, the prohibition described above does not apply under circumstances when the vehicle is registered under the International Registration Plan or under Permanent Fleet Registration, or the vehicle is an implement of husbandry. This bill would make the inapplicability of the above circumstances subject to the discretion of the department. It would also make the prohibition described above inapplicable, at the discretion of the department, when an application for a duplicate or substitute certificate of title or license plate is submitted by a licensed registration service representing specified persons or entities.