(1)   

      (a)    The department shall maintain a record of each application for certificate of title received by it and, when satisfied as to its genuineness and regularity and that the applicant is entitled to the issuance of a certificate of title, shall issue and, except as provided in par. (b), deliver a certificate to the owner of the vehicle.

      (b)    If there is a perfected security interest in a vehicle, the department shall deliver the certificate of title to the secured party having the primary perfected security interest in the vehicle.

   (2)   The department shall maintain a record of all applications and all certificates of title issued by it:

      (a)    According to title number.

      (b)    According to engine or identification number.

      (c)    Alphabetically, according to name of owner.

      (d)    In any other manner which the department determines to be desirable.

   (3)   The department shall charge a fee of not less than $2 for conducting a file search of vehicle title records.

   (4)   

      (a)    The department may maintain any certificate of title or other information required to be maintained under this section in an automated format and may consider any record maintained in an automated format under this paragraph to be the original and controlling record, notwithstanding the existence of any printed version of the same record.

      (b)    Records maintained by the department under this section are the official vehicle title records.