Frequently Asked Questions

A West Virginia Digital Title is legal digital evidence of ownership for a motor vehicle. The West Virginia Digital Title was added to the 2024 JD Power Handbook as a valid format of vehicle title. Both instate and out-of-state titling authorities across America are required to recognize the West Virginia Digital Title as legal proof of ownership.

West Virginia Digital Titles are fully legal, verifiable, and transferrable digital vehicle titles – the first of its kind! Other states use electronic title records which are not fully transferrable and require conversion to secure paper to be transactable. Because outside authorities have no access to the state’s current records of ownership, this makes other state’s electronic records unusable for transferring ownership. There is nothing that can be done with other states’ electronic records other than convert the electronic title to a secure paper record so that the title can be transferred, which can take weeks or longer.

West Virginia Digital Titles are verifiable in NMVTIS. To facilitate the ability to verify the validity of West Virginia Digital Titles directly from the state of West Virginia, there is now a Verification Portal on WV.gov. Using this Verification Portal, potential buyers and titling authorities outside of West Virginia can confirm a digital title using West Virginia’s own records system. Paper title records printed on secure paper stock are no longer needed! The WV DMV Verification Portal is a publicly accessible web portal used to validate a digital title using West Virginia state records. The web URL is https://dmv.wv.gov/digitaltitle. To validate a digital title, a user will enter the required title information fields in the spaces provided, using a PDF of the digital title as reference. The web portal passes this information along to the West Virginia titling database, where the data is compared against current legal records. If all the data from the digital title entered matches all the data in state records, the Verification Portal will notify the user that the data has been successfully validated.

When the entered data matches the current West Virginia title record, the Verification Portal will display a success screen with the notification "Valid Vehicle Title."

• Upon success, a title issuing authority will know that according to the State of West Virginia DMV, the vehicle title is valid and legally able to be transferred.
• Titling authorities can also run a NMVTIS VIN inquiry for a second form of title verification.

When the data fields from a digital title are entered and the data does NOT match the current West Virginia title record, the Verification Portal will display an error screen with the notification “One or more fields do not match.” No title data will be displayed.

• This signifies that either a data field has been typed incorrectly, OR the data on the digital title has been updated, and the digital title does not match the current title record from West Virginia DMV’s records.
• Upon failure, a title issuing authority will know that according to the State of West Virginia DMV, the data does not match current records. The vehicle title may not be legally transferred. The holder of a digital title that fails verification should be notified to contact the West Virginia DMV to obtain the most current version of their digital title.

Non-compliance of accepting a legal West Virginia Digital Title should be reported to a West Virginia DMV representative. The digital title holder should be prepared to provide the exact location of the title issuing office which refused the West Virginia Digital Title, in addition to a Bill of Sale or Dealer Reassignment form as legal Proof of Ownership and consent to transfer.

The HASH Value is a unique 64-character alphanumeric value assigned as a digital claim token on every West Virginia Digital Title. The 64 characters are generated by a cryptographic hashing algorithm that's used for message, file, and data integrity verification. Logically, it acts as a cryptographic "key" for West Virginia's Digital Title, to ensure security and stability of Digital Title data. The secure cryptographic hashing algorithm developed by the US Government's National Security Agency.