Ownership transfer — claiming, transferring, and resolving conflicts

TemplateVault records are vehicle-centric: the full service history lives under the VIN and travels with the car. Ownership Verification is what makes that work — every claim, transfer, and dispute is written to an immutable audit log.

1. Why ownership matters

Most platforms tie records to a customer or to a single shop. TemplateVault ties them to the VIN. That means:

• If you sell the vehicle, the complete service history can travel with the car — proving to a buyer it was actually maintained.
• Shops know they're looking at the real, full history for the vehicle in front of them — not just the visits to their own bay.
• Recall and TSB alerts go to the current owner of record, not the previous one.

For all of that to work, the record needs a verifiable owner. That's what claiming a VIN does.

2. Claim a VIN as the owner

1. Open the vehicle in your garage (or decode the VIN and save it first via the Getting Started guide).
2. Click Ownership → Claim this VIN.
3. Upload a piece of evidence — a clear photo of the current vehicle registration, title, or insurance card. The image is checked for VIN match.
4. Confirm the claim. The claim and the supporting image are written to the audit log and timestamped.

3. Transfer ownership when you sell

Initiate a transfer before you hand over the keys. The new owner accepts the transfer and the full service history transfers along with the VIN.

1. From the vehicle page, click Ownership → Transfer ownership.
2. Enter the buyer's email. They'll get an invitation to accept the transfer (they can sign up for a free Owner Free account if they don't have one).
3. Optionally include sale date and odometer-at-sale (those are written to the record permanently).
4. Click Send transfer. Until the buyer accepts, the vehicle stays in your garage with a Transfer pending badge.
5. Once the buyer accepts, the vehicle moves out of your garage and into theirs, and your ownership record is closed (preserved in the audit log).

4. Receive an inbound transfer (buying a vehicle)

1. Open the transfer email and click View transfer, or sign in and look for the Pending transfers banner on your dashboard.
2. Review the vehicle details and the closing odometer reading the seller submitted.
3. Click Accept transfer. The vehicle drops into your garage with full prior service history attached.
4. Optionally, click Decline if anything looks wrong — the seller is notified and the transfer is cancelled (and logged).

5. Resolve a conflicting ownership claim

If someone else tries to claim a VIN that's already owned in TemplateVault, the second claim is held in a conflict state and routed to admin review. Most conflicts are honest mistakes (typo in a VIN, ex-owner who forgot to transfer, a shop trying to claim a customer's car) — almost none are malicious.

1. Both parties receive an email explaining there's a conflict and a link to upload supporting documents (title, registration, sale receipt, insurance).
2. An admin reviews the documents on both sides — typically within 2 business days.
3. The admin makes a decision and writes the rationale to the audit log. Both parties are notified.
4. If the second claimant is correct, ownership flips and the prior owner's claim is closed. If the original owner is correct, the new claim is rejected.
5. Either party can re-open the case with new evidence at any time. The audit log keeps every step of the history.

6. View the audit log

1. Open the vehicle and click Ownership → Audit log.
2. You'll see every claim, transfer initiation, transfer acceptance, conflict, and admin decision tied to that VIN — each entry timestamped and signed.
3. Entries are immutable — no one (not even an admin) can delete history. Corrections happen by appending new entries.
4. Click Export PDF if you ever need to provide a chain-of-title summary to a buyer, insurer, or attorney.