Question about removing lienholder from TX title (Wylie: 2014, insurance)

[pappy97]

Paid off my car in 2014. I should have been diligent and immediately removed the lienholder from title, but sadly I did not. (Definitely learned my lesson now though!)

Same car was damaged in the hailstorm in Wylie on April 11 and insurance will total it out. To cut me a check, however, they need clean title. (my ins is Allstate) They ran their own VIN search and it showed that I have TX title, but the lienholder is still on it. So I am scrambling to clean my title so I can get my ins check and move on.

This link explains how to remove the lienholder:
TXDMV.GOV - Add/Remove a lien on a vehicle

It says I need:

To remove a lien, you will need:

1.) the vehicle title,

2.) a release of lien letter and/or other notifications from the lienholder(s) currently named on the vehicle title, and

3.) a completed Application for Texas Title.

#2 and #3 are no issue. In fact, I contacted my lienholder and they sent me the letter (because I lost the one they sent back then). And obviously I can fill out an Application for Texas title.

But the problem is, I don't have the original title (that had the lienholder's name on it) in hand! Do I really have to apply for duplicate title, and get that in hand (which could take a while!), and THEN go to and do the process of removing the lienholder? If so, that's going to take quite a while (am I correct that it will take quite a while?) and the insurance company is already getting antsy with me. And I just want to hand over car and get my check ASAP. They said there's no way, no how will I get my check without giving them clean title (makes sense, since they will simply sell it at auction).

Seems as though I should be only required to do #2 and #3. Can anyone give me a definitive answer on this and help me out here? I am going to call Monday, but it's a bit confusing, so I fear they might not understand what I am asking, and I thought maybe some helpful souls here can assist.

Thanks in advance!!

[pappy97]

Actually, nevermind on this. Turns out I have clean title...in California (where I used to live), and it is paperless. Now hopefully it will be easy to transfer that to Allstate, even though I am in Texas.