Check your vehicle’s age before you ask about a bond

Connecticut does offer a real bonded title — unlike states such as Virginia that have no bond-for-title provision at all. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-176 lets the DMV require an applicant to file a surety bond, on Form H-113, as a condition of issuing a certificate of title when ownership can't otherwise be confirmed. What trips people up is that most Connecticut vehicles never need this bond in the first place — the 20-model-year exemption under § 14-166 removes the title requirement entirely for older vehicles, and a simple lost-title replacement (Form H6B) covers the most common "I just misplaced the paper" case without any bond at all. The H-113 bond is real, but it's the third option, not the first.

Check your vehicle's age first: a vehicle more than 20 model years old needs no title under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-166. For a newer vehicle where you only lost the paper title, file Form H6B for a replacement. Only when DMV cannot confirm your ownership does it require the Form H-113 surety bond under § 14-176, set at twice the DMV-determined vehicle value for a five-year term.

Neither. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-166, "the acquisition of a certificate of title shall not be required for a motor vehicle older than 20 model years." Your vehicle is "non-titled," and your registration certificate stands as proof of ownership instead. To register or transfer a non-titled vehicle you use the prior owner's registration plus a Supplemental Assignment of Ownership (Form Q-1) and, if needed, a Bill of Sale (Form H-31) — no bond, no title fee tied to a bond. You can still request a title voluntarily under § 14-166 if you want one (DMV will issue it for the standard title fee under § 14-192), but it's optional.

Almost certainly not. If the title is already in your name (or was properly assigned to you) and you simply can't find the paper copy, that's a straightforward replacement, not a bonded-title situation. File Form H6B (Application for Replacement Certificate of Title) along with Form Q-1 if ownership needs to be reassigned. There's a $25 duplicate-title fee, and no surety bond involved. The H-113 bond only comes into play when the DMV can't verify your ownership at all from the documents on hand.

Connecticut's Specialized Registry Services / Vehicle and Business Regulation Division requires the § 14-176 bond when it cannot confirm your ownership through the normal replacement process — most often because you never received any title from the seller, the last titled owner can't be found or won't sign off, or there's a break in the paper trail the standard H6B/Q-1 process can't fix. In that scenario, DMV sets a vehicle value, you or your surety company complete Form H-113 for twice that value, and the bond (plus any accompanying deposit) is submitted to DMV at 60 State Street, Wethersfield, CT 06161 before a title issues.

The bond amount itself is fixed by statute at twice the DMV-determined vehicle value — not a range you can shop down. What you pay is the premium a surety company charges to issue that bond, typically 1-5% of the bond amount depending on your credit profile, similar to other title-bond states. The bond term is longer than most: Connecticut holds it for five years (or until the vehicle is deregistered and a valid title surrendered), where states like Texas, Florida, and North Carolina release theirs after three. That extra two years matters if you're planning to sell before the notation clears.

If no one has filed a claim against the bond and the vehicle is still registered in Connecticut, the bond and any accompanying deposit are returned at the end of five years, and you can apply for a standard, unencumbered title. If you sell or deregister the vehicle before five years are up, you can get the bond released earlier by surrendering the valid certificate of title to the commissioner. Either way, until one of those two things happens, the bond stays active and the surety remains on the hook up to the bond amount for any valid ownership claim.