How to Put a Lien on a Car in Georgia: Forms, Filing, and Priority

To put a lien on a car in Georgia, you record your financial interest on the vehicle’s certificate of title through the Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR). The exact route depends on the source of your claim: a court judgment, unpaid repair work, or money you loaned as a private seller. Each path ends at the same place, the title record, but the paperwork and steps to get there differ.¹

If You Have a Court Judgment

Start at the courthouse, not the tag office. Ask the clerk of the court that entered your judgment for a Writ of Fieri Facias, usually called a Fi.Fa. Only the issuing court can produce it, so if you won in magistrate court, the magistrate clerk is your stop.²

Next, record the Fi.Fa. on the General Execution Docket kept by the Clerk of Superior Court. You can record it in any county where you believe the debtor has assets.³ Recording creates a general judgment lien, but it does not yet attach to a specific car.

To reach the vehicle itself, submit a completed Form MV-1 (Title/Tag Application), a certified copy of the Fi.Fa., and the $18.00 title fee to the DOR.² If the title already has a lienholder, do not send those documents to the DOR. Send them by certified mail or overnight delivery to the existing first lienholder, with a cover letter explaining the filing. That lienholder forwards the package to the DOR, which will add you as a junior lienholder.¹

If You Are a Mechanic With an Unpaid Bill

Georgia gives any mechanic who repairs, services, or supplies materials for a titled vehicle a special lien on that vehicle for the unpaid balance.⁴ You do not need a court judgment.

The easiest way to assert the lien is to keep the car. Every repair contract is treated as automatically including the right to retain the vehicle until the bill is paid, and as long as you hold possession, the lien exists without paperwork.

If you release the vehicle before being paid, the lien survives, but you have to record it. Follow the standard security interest process under Georgia Code Section 40-3-53: submit a completed Form MV-1 or Form T-53 (Notice of Security Interest) with the $18.00 title fee to have the lien noted on the certificate of title.¹

Foreclosing and the Deadlines That Kill the Lien

If the owner still refuses to pay, you foreclose by filing an affidavit in a court with jurisdiction. The affidavit sets out the facts of the lien and the amount owed. The court then serves notice on the owner, any recorded lienholders, and any lessee, who have five days to request a hearing. If nobody asks for one, the lien is treated as valid and foreclosure proceeds.⁴

Two clocks run against you. Foreclosure must be started within one year from the date the lien was recorded or first asserted by holding the vehicle.⁴ Miss it and the lien is gone. Separately, the owner can make a written demand that you foreclose. If you receive that demand and do not begin foreclosure within 30 days, the lien is forfeited.

If You Financed a Private Sale

Selling a car and letting the buyer pay over time is the classic consensual lien, and it works the same way a bank secures an auto loan. Complete Form MV-1 together with the buyer. The buyer’s information goes in the owner section, yours goes in the lienholder section. Submit the application with the original title (signed over to the buyer) and the $18.00 title fee. The DOR issues a new title showing the buyer as owner and you as lienholder. If you are not enrolled in the Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) program, the physical title is mailed to you, and you hold it until the loan is paid off.¹

Forms and Fees

Form MV-1 (Title/Tag Application) is the primary form for any title transaction, including adding a lienholder.⁵
Form T-53 (Notice of Security Interest) can be used in place of MV-1 when the vehicle already has a Georgia title.¹
A judgment lien filing also requires a certified copy of the Writ of Fi.Fa.²

The DOR title fee for adding a lienholder is $18.00.⁶ Recording a Fi.Fa. on the General Execution Docket carries a separate Superior Court recording fee that varies by county, running around $25.00 in many jurisdictions. Both forms are available on the DOR website.

Where to Submit

Where your paperwork goes depends on the state of the title:

No existing lienholder on the title: file with the DOR by mail, or bring your paperwork to the County Tag Office in the county where the vehicle owner lives.
Existing lienholder on the title: send everything by certified mail or overnight delivery, return receipt requested, to that first lienholder along with a cover letter. That lienholder forwards it to the DOR.¹
No Georgia title exists for the vehicle: file with the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the owner lives, following Uniform Commercial Code procedures rather than DOR title procedures.¹

What Recording Actually Does

Once the DOR processes your application, the title record shows you as a lienholder. If the filing goes through the ELT program, no paper title prints and the record lives digitally.⁷ Otherwise a physical title is printed and mailed to the first recorded lienholder, who holds it until the debt is satisfied.¹

The lien is a public record. The owner cannot pass clean title to a buyer without paying you off first, and if the car is sold or traded, proceeds go to lienholders before the owner sees a dollar. The lien stays on the title until you release it.

Priority When Others Have Claims Too

When more than one creditor is on a vehicle, order of recording generally controls who gets paid first. The first recorded lienholder has priority; anyone added later is junior. That is why the DOR routes your filing through the existing first lienholder when one is on the title.

Federal tax liens follow a different rule but a similar logic. Under federal law, the IRS loses to a security interest holder, mechanic’s lienor, or judgment lien creditor whose interest was already recorded before the IRS filed its Notice of Federal Tax Lien.⁸ If the IRS got there first, its lien takes priority over yours.

If the Debtor Files for Bankruptcy

A bankruptcy petition triggers an automatic stay the moment it is filed, freezing most collection activity, including efforts to perfect or enforce a vehicle lien.⁹ If you have started the lien process but not finished it, you generally cannot continue without asking the bankruptcy court for relief from the stay. Proceeding anyway can result in sanctions. If you learn the debtor has filed, talk to an attorney before doing anything else with the lien.

Releasing the Lien Once the Debt Is Paid

When the debtor pays in full, you are legally required to release the lien. If it is held electronically through ELT, you release it through the system; the DOR will not release an electronic lien for you.¹⁰

If you hold a physical title, complete the “Release of Lien or Security Interest” section printed on the title by signing, printing your name as shown on the title, and dating the release. If the title is not available at that moment, give the owner a completed and signed Form T-4 (Lien or Security Interest Release) so they can obtain a clear title from the DOR.¹⁰ Delaying a release after being paid creates real problems for the owner, who cannot sell or refinance until the title is clean.

1
Department of Revenue. Recording a Lien and Security Interest on a Title
2
Georgia Magistrate Council. FAQ for Perfection of Lien or Levy on Automobile
3
Fulton County Magistrate Court. Writs of Fieri Facias
4
Justia. Georgia Code 40-3-54 – Mechanics Liens How Asserted and Foreclosed
5
Georgia Department of Revenue. MV-1 DOR Motor Vehicle Title/Tag Application
6
Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicles Fees, Fines, and Penalties
7
Georgia Department of Revenue. Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) Program
8
Internal Revenue Service. Notice of Lien Determinations
9
United States Bankruptcy Court – Central District of California. Automatic Stay – Section 362 – Relief – Personal Property – Automobile
10
Department of Revenue. How to Release a Lien and Security Interest on Title