PHILADELPHIA — VINtek recently announced it has expanded its operations in California and opened an office in Sacramento to tackle a range of auto collateral needs in one of the country's highest volume titling states.

The office is designed to enable auto lenders and borrowers to take advantage of the benefits of online vehicle registration, as well as gain real-time support for auto collateral management needs.

This will be VINtek's third location in addition to Philadelphia and Las Vegas.

The new office can also assist lenders as they prepare for the Jan. 1, 2012 electronic lien and title deadline, which mandates that all lenders in the state switch to an e-title process. Currently, the California DMV hosts a voluntary ELT program, which accounts for almost 10 percent of titles issued with liens in the state.

"The opening of our California office is a reflection of VINtek's continued growth, our commitment to the state of California, as well as the rising volume of electronic titling transactions in automotive lending," explained Larry Highbloom, president of VINtek.

"As more lenders come to understand the numerous benefits of using electronic titles over paper, and more efficient Web-based services over time-consuming manual processes, we are witnessing a shift to paperless in the way the industry handles lending and collateral management," he concluded.