Local Motor Vehicle Division

The Treasurer's Office in the State of South Dakota is under the supervision of the Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division. The Director of Motor Vehicles is Deb Hilmer, 445 East Capitol, Pierre, SD 57501, phone no. 605-773-3541.  The office can place liens on titles if the title is in the owner’s name, cancel all liens on car titles, and help people with duplicate titles for those who have lost their original car titles. The County Treasurer registers, licenses and transfers vehicles among other duties. When coming to the courthouse to do any kind of activity on your vehicles, please be sure to bring your driver’s license along. We are under the Federal Driver’s Privacy and Policy Act and can only give information out on your own vehicles unless you qualify otherwise by filing a form with the Motor Vehicle Division. (See the last paragraph of this subdivision for further details)

Noting Liens on Vehicle Titles:

The Treasurer  is allowed only to place liens on titles that are in the parties’ appropriate name (not on the transfer of a title). In other words, if you have loaned money to someone and taken their car as collateral, this office may note the lien on the title provided we have a SIGNED copy of the security agreement, which agreement must give the owner’s permission to use the vehicle for collateral describing the vehicle with the VIN NUMBER OR SERIAL NUMBER. The county that your customer resides in, is the County Treasurer that you are to send the title to, to have a lien noted. Please be sure if the address is different than the one on the title, that you specify to us that the address on the security agreement is the debtors place of residence. The cost of noting the lien on a title is $5.00.

Canceling Liens on Vehicle Titles:

To cancel a lien on a vehicle title, we must have AN ORIGINAL ORDER TO CANCEL LIEN signed by the appropriate lender in our office along with the original vehicle title. You can do this by mail or in person. Banks which have merged with other banks and are now known as a different name since the loan was given to the customer, must identify yourself as the “former bank”, now known as “the new bank”. If we cannot match your name with the lender’s name on the title, the lien will not be removed from the title until the “order to cancel lien” has been appropriately signed. There is no fee to cancel a lien on a vehicle title

Duplicate Titles:

If you have lost your title, you may receive a new one, simply by filling out an application personally at my office or I can mail you an application or you can download one from http://www.state.sd.us/revenue/forms.htm You will note on the form that there is a place for the lien holder to sign. If there is a lien against the vehicle, but you have recently paid it off and you have a form called “Order to Cancel Lien” signed by the Lien holder, you must attach this form to the duplicate application. If you still owe a lender on the car, then the lien holder must sign the Duplicate Application also. Your signature must be notarized. Please be sure to bring your driver’s license to the courthouse if you are going to do this process personally. The cost for a duplicate is $10.00. Once you have ordered a duplicate and received it, the old title is no longer any good. IF YOU CHOOSE, YOU MAY SEND YOUR DUPLICATE APPLICATION DIRECTLY TO THE STATE CAPITOL YOURSELF. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THEIR WEB-SITE AS LISTED IN THE PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH. THIS IS ACTUALLY QUICKER FOR YOU AND DOES NOT COST YOU ANY MORE.

Federal Driver's Privacy and Policy Act:

In accordance with the provisions of the Federal Driver’s Privacy and Protection Act, a written form must be submitted to the South Dakota Division of Motor Vehicles before certain specific information can be released. This form can be downloaded from HERE I hope this information has been helpful to you, if you have any questions please give us a call.

(1)  SDCL 32-3-34 (2)  SDCL 32-3-45