INTAGLIO AUTO TITLE PAPER SHORTAGE

Supply-chain snarls have hit one of the most boring documents in anyone's filing cabinet—the car title.

When I first heard of this, I said, ‘What?' recalls Bob Wheat, general manager at Village Ford car dealership in Dearborn, Mich. It was just a total surprise to me.

Already, the auto industry has dealt with crimps in supplies of chips, batteries and even the oval blue badges that Ford Motor Co. puts on trucks.

Now, some states are warning that the specialized paper used to print vehicle titles has gotten hard to find. Government agencies are rationing stashes and extending wait times for flummoxed dealers and car owners.

The problem isn't with the states that issue the documents. It is with the companies that make the paper, which contains features such as watermarks and security threading to prevent counterfeiting. Consolidation in the industry has reduced the number of companies making it.

Dealers usually need titles to transfer ownership to buyers, and car owners need them to prove legal ownership when they register them, resell them or trade them in. Insurance companies typically require them to process claims.

These days, Mr. Wheat says, he has to be careful not to buy vehicles from other dealers unless they can produce a title, not wanting to get stuck trying to get one himself. Without a title, the car can end up sitting on the lot collecting dust.

Title paper may be the least flashy paper around. No one says, Oh, I've got to title-wrap some presents. Even title paper's initials, T.P., are already taken—by bathroom paper.

It's one of these things that's like everybody's touched it probably at some point but you don't realize the complexity that actually goes behind it, says Andrew Palmer, director of sales for labels and forms at R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., one of the largest printers of title paper.

State officials in Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma have taken steps to conserve supplies, including giving priority to buyers who require a title to sell a vehicle, and asking dealers to hold off on applying for a title until after a purchase is final, the officials say.

Michigan's Secretary of State, the entity that handles titles, has gotten more paper in recent months and is considering switching to different paper types to avoid future problems, according to a spokesman.

Some two dozen states, including Texas and California, are using more digital vehicle titles, reducing their need for the paper.

Some users began stockpiling the paper, straining mills already struggling to meet orders, says Paul Schweitzer, president of CompleteSource Inc., which prints vehicle titles for several states.

In my 40 years, I've seen shortages and lead times, he says, but nothing like it is now.

To read the complete article (subscription required), see:
Now Driving You Mad at the Car Dealership: A Shortage of Title Paper (https://www.wsj.com/articles/supply-chain-shortage-car-automotive-titles-11670770079)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
COUNTY INTAGLIO PRINTING PAPER SHORTAGE ENDS (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n49a34.html)

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