Maine Motor Vehicle Title Bond

What a Maine title bond does

When you hold a vehicle but cannot produce a properly assigned certificate of title, Maine will not issue a new title on your word alone. Under 29-A M.R.S. § 659, the state accepts a surety bond in place of the missing proof of ownership. The bond, which Maine calls a title surety bond, promises that anyone who later proves a better claim to the vehicle (a prior owner, a lienholder, a subsequent purchaser) will be paid their loss up to the bond amount. On the strength of that promise Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Title Section issues a title in your name. It is a real title: you can register, insure, drive and sell the vehicle. The only difference is a brand on the face of the title that lapses when the bond term runs without a claim.

Three parties sign on. You are the principal. Maine Secretary of State and every potential claimant are the obligees. Surety One, Inc. is the surety that guarantees your claim. If the surety ever pays, it looks to you under the indemnity agreement in the application, which is why we ask for evidence of how you came to possess the vehicle before issuing.

How much bond do you need in Maine?

Maine fixes the penal sum at 1.5× vehicle value. We round up to the next $1,000 because sureties issue in whole thousands and the DMV never objects to a bond that exceeds the requirement.

At $20 per $1,000 that $13,000 bond carries a premium of $260.00, plus the $85 administrative fee, for a total of $345.00 covering the full 3-year term. Nothing renews and nothing is refunded; the premium is fully earned when the bond is executed.

Where the value comes from. The value of the vehicle as determined by the Secretary of State (Bureau of Motor Vehicles); the statute names no guide, so the BMV fixes the figure.

How to get a bonded title in Maine

1. The applicant executes MVT-18 with a surety authorized in Maine (a countersignature is required if the surety is not a Maine company).
2. The bond lists the year, make and VIN and indemnifies prior owners, lienholders, subsequent purchasers and security-interest holders, including attorney fees, with the surety's liability capped at the penal sum.
3. It is filed with the title application and terminates early if the applicant later fully complies with § 654.
4. Vehicles more than 25 model years old are exempt from titling under § 652(13), so no bond applies to them.
5. Section 655 offers a bond-free qualified title route at BMV discretion.

Once the bond is in hand, file it with the title application at Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Title Section. The executed bond carries the surety's power of attorney, is signed and witnessed as the state requires, and matches the vehicle description on your application exactly. Any discrepancy between the bond and the application (a transposed VIN digit, a name that does not match your ID) is the most common reason a bonded title is rejected.

Maine title bond FAQ

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Written and reviewed by C. Constantin Poindexter, MA, JD, CPCU, AFSB, ASLI, ARe, AINS, AIS, CPLP, founder of Surety One, Inc. and CEO of Janus Assurance Re, with more than thirty years of surety and reinsurance underwriting experience. Author of The Contractor's Guide to Surety Bonds. Reflects state law and DMV practice as of November 5, 2026. More about the author →