ABS Tag & Title

What ABS Tag & Title does

ABS Tag & Title is a privately held, family-owned vehicle compliance services company founded in 1989 in Knoxville, Tennessee, by Bruce and Sherry Shields. The company provides outsourced vehicle title processing, registration management, IRP (International Registration Plan) and IFTA (International Fuel Tax Agreement) filings, toll management, plate storage and distribution, title storage, and out-of-stock vehicle locating services across all 50 states and 1,400+ jurisdictions. Its primary customers are commercial fleet operators, vehicle leasing companies, and car dealerships that require multi-state compliance handling for large or distributed vehicle inventories; secondary customers include commercial trucking and motor carrier operators with complex plate management needs.

The business is built around a services-led operating model rather than a proprietary technology platform. Core infrastructure consists of internal processing systems, a customer portal for transaction status visibility, and integrated toll billing systems; there is no disclosed AI/ML capability, mobile app, or public API. Service delivery is sales-led and high-touch, with dedicated account managers (e.g., Kevin Shockley), toll-free phone support (800-288-6324), and quote-based pricing rather than self-serve or transactional channels. The company also operates a sister business, ATC (Apex Transport Company) Driveaway, created in 2001 to provide complementary vehicle transportation services, and is WBE-certified by WBENC for supplier diversity programs.

Revenue mechanics are driven by per-transaction and per-vehicle professional service fees bundled into multi-year enterprise contracts with fleets, lessors, and dealers. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is customized to fleet size, vehicle types, jurisdictions, and service scope. The company has grown organically from 7 employees (circa 2000) to 200+ across ABS and ATC combined, with no external institutional investors. Recent operational signals — including a 2023 CFO hire and COO elevation, WBE certification, and the launch of a Toll Management module — indicate a transition toward more professionally managed scaling, though the underlying growth pattern remains incremental rather than hypergrowth.

Name

ABS Tag & Title

Legal name

ABS Tag & Title

Website

https://abstagtitle.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

ABS Tag & Title is a family-owned vehicle compliance services company that handles title processing, registration, IRP/IFTA filings, toll management, and plate logistics for fleets, leasing companies, and dealerships across all 50 US states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Knoxville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Fleet Registration Services: Comprehensive fleet registration management for businesses with multiple vehicles, including renewals, title transfers, and compliance across all 50 states.
2. Title Processing and Management: Title creation, transfers, lien perfections, corrections, and duplicate titles for vehicles across multiple states and jurisdictions.
3. IRP and IFTA Filing Services: International Registration Plan (IRP) and International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) filings for commercial fleets operating across multiple jurisdictions.
4. Toll Management Services: Simplified billing and compliance through integrated systems for multi-state toll accounts.
5. Plate Management Services: Secure plate storage, tracking, and distribution for dealerships and fleets.
6. Out of Stock Vehicle Locating: Nationwide dealer network to source hard-to-find vehicles for clients when inventory is limited, backordered, or unavailable locally.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ABS Tag & Title is a full-service vehicle title and registration management company that processes titling, registration renewals, IRP and IFTA filings, lien perfections, title corrections, toll management, plate storage and distribution, and out-of-stock vehicle locating for fleet operators, dealerships, and leasing companies. The company handles end-to-end vehicle compliance workflows across all 50 states and 1,400+ jurisdictions for commercial vehicle customers.

Product overview

ABS Tag & Title is a full-service vehicle title and registration management company offering a unified portfolio of compliance-focused services. The core offering centers on Fleet Registration Services combined with Title Management Services, which together handle the complete vehicle lifecycle from acquisition through disposition. Supporting these core services are specialized modules including Out of Stock Vehicle Locating (for sourcing hard-to-find inventory), Toll Management (for multi-state billing compliance), Title Storage (secure recordkeeping), Plate Management (centralized license plate storage and distribution), Dealership Services (title transfer processing), Leasing Services (lease portfolio management), IRP Registration (interstate commercial vehicle registration), and IFTA Reporting (fuel tax compliance). The company operates across all 50 states and 1,400+ jurisdictions, serving fleets, dealerships, leasing companies, and commercial vehicle operators with a customer portal for transaction visibility.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fleet Registration Services Comprehensive fleet registration services handling title processing, IRP registration, IFTA reporting, and renewals across all 50 states and 1,400+ jurisdictions for businesses operating multiple commercial vehicles.
• Title Management Services End-to-end vehicle title management including title processing, transfers, lien perfections, title corrections, and duplicate title services for fleets and leasing companies.
• Out of Stock Vehicle Locating Nationwide dealer network vehicle sourcing service that locates hard-to-find vehicles, negotiates pricing, and coordinates documentation, titling, registration, and transportation for commercial clients.
• Toll Management Integrated toll billing and compliance management for multi-state toll accounts, simplifying billing and regulatory compliance for fleets and commercial vehicle operators.
• Title Storage
• Plate Management
• Dealership Services
• Leasing Services
• IRP Registration
• IFTA Reporting

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.7% accuracy rate in document processing
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ATC DriveawaycoreOthersATC (Apex Transport Company) Driveaway is a sister company to ABS Tag & Title, created in 2001 by founders Bruce and Sherry Shields. ATC provides qualified and vetted drivers for moving vehicles and equipment for customers nationwide. Both companies operate under the Shields family's leadership and Christian values. ATC complements ABS's title and registration services with driveaway and transport capabilities.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Dealertrack (Cox Automotive): Dealertrack provides vehicle titling, registration, and DMV workflow solutions to dealerships nationwide — directly overlapping with ABS's core title and registration management offering for dealer clients. As a Cox Automotive subsidiary, it competes at a much larger scale with a platform-based technology stack.
• Vitu: Vitu delivers vehicle titling and registration processing technology for state DMVs and dealer clients, directly competing with ABS in outsourced title workflow services. It represents the more tech-enabled, software-driven approach to the same compliance problem.

Broad incumbents

• Reynolds and Reynolds: Reynolds and Reynolds is a major dealership management system (DMS) provider that includes titling and registration modules as part of a broader software suite. It competes with ABS by bundling title services into a full-stack dealer platform rather than as a standalone service.
• CDK Global: CDK Global is a leading dealer technology and DMS provider offering integrated titling, registration, and compliance tools within its broader software ecosystem. Comparable to ABS in serving dealership titling needs, but with a much wider product portfolio.
• Element Fleet Management: Element is one of the largest commercial fleet management companies, providing in-house titling, registration, and compliance services to enterprise fleet clients. Comparable to ABS because it serves the same fleet buyer with overlapping title/registration offerings, but as part of a much broader fleet services portfolio.
• Holman: Holman (parent of ARI) is a large fleet management and leasing company with internal titling and registration capabilities serving enterprise fleet customers. Comparable to ABS in fleet compliance services, though Holman offers a much wider suite of fleet operations and leasing products.
• Wheels: Wheels is a long-established fleet management company (now part of Ayvens/LeasePlan) providing titling, registration, and compliance services as part of its fleet outsourcing offerings. Comparable to ABS for the fleet customer segment, but operating as a broader managed-services platform.
• Donlen: Donlen (a Hertz subsidiary) is a fleet leasing and management company offering in-house titling, registration, and compliance support to mid-market and enterprise fleet operators. Comparable to ABS in fleet compliance services, embedded within a broader fleet leasing product.
• Samsara: Samsara is a leading IoT and fleet operations platform serving commercial fleets with telematics, compliance, and asset management tools. Comparable to ABS only at the edges (fleet compliance/operations), but represents the broader digitalization trend reshaping how fleet buyers consume compliance-related services.

Emerging players

• Fleetio: Fleetio is a SaaS fleet management platform used by fleets and operators for vehicle, maintenance, and compliance workflows. While it does not directly provide titling services like ABS, it addresses overlapping fleet administration pain points and represents the tech-enabled shift in how compliance work is delivered.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@abstagtitle
• Facebookfacebook.com/ABSTagandTitle
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/abs-tag-title
• Xx.com/ABSTagandTitle

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ABS Tag & Title