How to Put a Lien on a Car in Virginia: Filing and Release

To put a lien on a car in Virginia, you record your financial interest on the vehicle’s certificate of title through the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. The exact steps depend on why the lien exists. If the owner consents — usually because the car is collateral for a loan — you file Form VSA 66 and pay a $15 fee. If you’re a mechanic, tow operator, or storage business owed money, you follow a separate statutory process that doesn’t require the owner’s signature. If you’re a judgment creditor, you can’t add yourself directly at the DMV at all; you need a writ of execution from the court.

Figure Out Which Type of Lien You’re Placing

Virginia recognizes three routes onto a vehicle’s title, and the paperwork is different for each.

A supplemental lien is voluntary. The owner agrees to add you as a lienholder, typically because they’re borrowing against the car or refinancing an existing auto loan. Because the owner has to sign, this route requires their cooperation.

A mechanic’s or storage lien is statutory. Virginia law gives mechanics who perform authorized repairs a lien on the vehicle for their reasonable charges, and the mechanic can hold the car until paid.¹ Towing and storage businesses have a similar right. No owner consent is needed; the lien arises from the unpaid bill. Once the invoice is 10 days past due, you can begin enforcement.²

A judgment lien is different from both. Winning a money judgment does not let you walk into the DMV and add yourself to someone’s title. You need a writ of execution, and an officer levies on the vehicle by physically seizing it and reporting the levy to the DMV, which then records the lien. That lien is subordinate to any security interests already on the title. If the owner tries to fraudulently transfer the title between the levy and the officer’s report to the DMV, that’s a Class 1 misdemeanor.³

Filing a Supplemental Lien With the DMV

If the owner is on board, this is the standard path. You’ll need Form VSA 66, the Application for Transfer and Supplemental Liens, available on the DMV website.⁴

The form collects three groups of information:

Owner information: full legal name, DMV customer number or Social Security number, phone number, and mailing address
Vehicle information: VIN, year, make, model, body type, title number, and plate number
Lienholder information: your name, lienholder code if you have one, mailing address, and the lien date

The vehicle owner and any co-owner must sign. Without those signatures, the DMV will not process the application.⁴

Submit the original certificate of title along with the form. The one exception is when the new lienholder is the same as the existing one and that lienholder participates in Virginia’s Electronic Lien Program.⁴

Where to File and What It Costs

You can file in person at any DMV customer service center or mail everything to the Titling Work Center, P.O. Box 27412, Richmond, VA 23269.⁴ The fee is $15. By mail, include a check or money order to the Virginia DMV. In person, the DMV also takes Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cash.⁵

Placing a Mechanic’s or Storage Lien

The mechanic’s and storage lien process doesn’t use VSA 66 and doesn’t need the owner’s signature. It begins with Form VSA 41A, the Mechanic’s or Storage Lien Transcript Request Application, which asks the DMV for the vehicle’s title transcript.⁶ The transcript identifies the registered owner and any existing lienholders so you can send the required notices before selling to recover your charges.

To use this process, your invoice must be at least 10 days past due.⁶ File the VSA 41A at any DMV customer service center or by mail to the DMV Customer Records Work Center.⁷

How You Actually Collect: Selling the Vehicle

Once notice is given, how you enforce the lien depends on the vehicle’s value:²

$10,000 or less: sell at a public auction for cash after advertising the time, place, and terms in a public location, on a government website, or in a local newspaper.
$10,001 to $25,000: petition the general district court in the jurisdiction where the vehicle is located for permission to sell.
Over $25,000: petition the circuit court instead.

Sale proceeds go to your unpaid charges and the cost of the sale. Any surplus must be paid out within 30 days, first to any other lienholder and then to the owner. Sit on the surplus longer than that and you owe a penalty of $50 per day.²

One cap worth knowing: if you performed repairs at the request of someone using the vehicle under a financing agreement rather than the actual owner, your lien is limited to $1,000.¹ You can still claim against any leftover sale proceeds after prior security interests are paid, but the possessory lien itself stops at that figure.

After the DMV Records the Lien

When the DMV processes a supplemental lien application, it issues a new certificate of title showing you as the lienholder and mails it directly to you rather than to the owner.⁸ The recorded interest is itself notice to the public — other creditors, potential buyers — that you have a claim on the vehicle. No separate recording in city or county records is required.⁹

The practical effect: the owner can’t sell the car or transfer the title without dealing with your lien. A careful buyer will see your name, and the DMV won’t issue a clean title until the lien is cleared.

Electronic Titles Instead of Paper

Many institutional lenders take part in Virginia’s Electronic Lien Program, which replaces the paper title with an electronic record. The DMV transmits lien and title information to the lienholder digitally, and once the loan is paid, the lienholder sends an electronic release, prompting the DMV to print and mail a clean title to the owner.¹⁰ Individual lenders who aren’t in the program receive the physical title.

Releasing the Lien Once the Debt Is Paid

After the borrower pays off the debt, Virginia law requires you to mark the title satisfied and surrender it to the person entitled to receive it within 10 days. Failing to do so is a Class 3 misdemeanor.¹¹ The owner can’t get a clean title without your cooperation, and stalling exposes you to criminal liability.

For mechanic’s and storage liens, the timeline is tighter. If the owner reclaims the vehicle and pays the debt, the bailee must notify the DMV within five business days.¹²

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 43-33 – Lien of Mechanic for Repairs
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 43-34 – Enforcement of Liens Acquired Under 43-31 Through 43-33 and of Liens of Bailees
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-644 – Levy of Execution
4
Virginia DMV. Application for Transfer and Supplemental Liens (VSA 66)
5
Virginia DMV. DMV Fees (DMV 201)
6
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Abandoned Vehicles / Mechanic’s and Storage Lien (MSL) Vehicles
7
Virginia DMV. VSA 41A – Mechanic’s or Storage Lien Transcript Request Application
8
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Liens on a Title
9
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-638 – Certificate as Notice of Security Interest
10
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Electronic Lien Program
11
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-643 – Surrender of Certificate of Title Required When Security Interest Paid
12
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-644.03 – Enforcement of Liens Acquired Under 46.2-644.01 and 46.2-644.02