NOTICE: The information below was obtained directly from the Division of Motorist Services website. Links are provided so you may access the content on the DMS website.
FAST FACTS
Due to federal and state odometer disclosure requirements, you, the dealer, may only act as attorney-in-fact for your customers under two circumstances:
- The unit you are selling is exempt from odometer disclosure requirements because:
- It is a towable;
- The title shows the odometer as exempt because it is either 10 or more model years old or is over 16,000 pounds gross vehicle weight; or
- You will exempt the odometer on the title because it is either 10 or more model years old or is over 16,000 pounds gross vehicle weight.
OR
2. You are accepting a unit on trade and the title is either with a lienholder or the customer has lost or destroyed the title and the customer will appoint you, the dealer, as attorney-in-fact using Form HSMV 82995.
If none of the above exemptions apply and the title is not present at point of sale, the customer must appoint a third-party (who is not an employee of the dealership) as his or her attorney-in-fact using Power of Attorney Form HSMV 82053, which means you are prohibited from signing on behalf of the customer on the title.
Reference: DMS Procedure TL-02
There are two types of Powers of Attorney provided by the Florida Division of Motorist Services:
- Secure Power of Attorney (Form HSMV 82995)
- Non-Secure Power of Attorney (Form HSMV 82053)
The first, the Secure Power of Attorney (Form HSMV 82995), may be used when you accept a vehicle in trade and:
- the title is physically being held by a lienholder, or
- the customer has lost or destroyed the title, or
- the title is electronic.
Click image to enlarge
In this sample deal, customer Thomas Jay Ruger has traded a motor home to Allen’s RV Sales and Service, Inc. Mr. Ruger does not have a title because the paper title is being held by a lienholder. Under these circumstances, the customer may lawfully appoint the dealership as attorney-in-fact to authorize the dealership to complete the odometer disclosure and reassignment on the title when it is received by the dealership.
When the title arrives at the dealership, an authorized representative of the dealership (it may be anyone authorized by the dealership; it does not have to be the same person who signed the power of attorney with the customer) may transfer the information that appears in Part A of the Secure Power of Attorney (Form HSMV 82995) to the bottom front of the title. That same dealership representative who transferred the information onto the title will complete and sign Part C of the Secure Power of Attorney (see example above). The original of this Power of Attorney must accompany the title when it is reassigned to another dealer or transferred to a retail customer.
This is how it would look when the reassignment on the title to the trade is completed based on the Secure Power of Attorney:
Click image to enlarge
Remember – when signing as attorney-in-fact, you print the person’s name then write “by POA” and sign your name. Never sign the person’s name.
Reference: DMS Procedure TL-02
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What if during the time you are waiting to receive the title from the lienholder you have a customer who wants to buy the above motor home that was traded? Would you be able to sell it legally since you still don’t have title in hand? The answer is YES! Federal law allows this because odometer disclosure was made on a secure form (HSMV 82995) by you and the seller and the subsequent buyer is able to see the recorded odometer reading from the trade.
Here is the key point on this transaction: If you sell the motor home before you receive the title from the lienholder, you and the customer would complete Part B of the same power of attorney form (HSMV 82995).
However, once you receive the title from the lienholder you and the customer who is buying the motor home would have to make the odometer disclosure and the reassignment directly on the title because the power of attorney form would not be authorized at that point.
Here is how the Secure Power of Attorney (HSMV 82995) would look if you subsequently sold the trade while waiting to receive the title from the lienholder:
Click image to enlarge
Now the information added to this power of attorney in Part B must be added to the title so you may transfer title into your customer’s name. The information from Part B would be added to the first reassignment on the back of the title. Here is how it would look:
Reference: DMS Procedure TL-02
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Now we will discuss the Non-Secure Power of Attorney (HSMV Form 82053). This power of attorney form may be used when:
- The vehicle you are selling is exempt from odometer disclosure requirements (over 16,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, or 10 or more model years old and the odometer has already been exempted on the title, or you will exempt the odometer on the title for this transaction, or it is a towable). In this case, you the dealer, may be appointed as attorney-in-fact.
- The vehicle is not exempt from odometer disclosure requirements which means the customer must appoint a third-party (a person who does not work for the dealership) to act as his or her attorney-in-fact.
This is how the Non-Secure Power of Attorney (HSMV Form 82053) would look when the dealership is appointed as attorney-in-fact:
Click image to enlarge
This is how Power of Attorney (HSMV Form 82053) would look when the customer must appoint a third party (someone who does not work for the dealership) as attorney-in-fact.
When a third party acts as attorney-in-fact for the customer, that third party must come to the dealership to complete the reassignment on the title when it arrives. This is how it would look:
Reference: DMS Procedure TL-02