This should be a sticky buying a car without a title

[696pack]

After seeing another thread resurrected from over 2 years ago about a questionable RR V.I.N. it has prompted me to post this.

This is something I wrote and posted years ago on other boards. I was in the car business in one form or the other for over 30 years and i have seen every title/V.I.N. problem senario there is so this is not something I just pulled out of my a$$.


Some states never had titles from the very beginning such as Alabama. When a car was sold new in those states the MCO went to that state and a REGISTRATION for the car came back to the owner rather than a title. So, most people don't see a problem with buying a car without a title these days because of several title companies that operate in the different REGISTATION ONLY states offering there services to generate a title for such cars. This sounds like the "fix" to that type of problem doesn't it? Well, here is the problem with that logic:

If the car was sold in a TITLE state new OR was at any time TITLED in a title state then there IS still a title of RECORD out there for it somewhere. If you buy one of these cars without a title and get a title from one of the above type companies and THEN out of the blue a guy shows up with a title of RECORD PRIOR TO YOURS, he has legal right and ownership to your car.

After you have bought a car that needed a total restoration, spent thousands of dollars on it and take it to a car show for it's first showing some other guy could drive it home and you might never see it again AND you can kiss ALL of the money you spent for and on it goodbye.

There are a few things you can do to HELP protect your self when buying a car without a title:

1. Call a police officer with the V.I.N. and explain that you are considering buying this car that has no title and ask to check if it has ever been reported stolen.

2. Ask the seller to sign a document that states he will reimburst you for your purchase price of the car AND all money you spend on the car IF the above stated senario comes true. Good luck with this one unless the sell is for some reason ABSOLUTELY sure there is no previous title of RECORD out there for this car.

3. Secure a BONDED title for the car that will protect you against the above senario. This may or may not be available to you depending on the circumstances of the said car.

4. Buy the car with the intentions of parting it out and you will have none of these problems and if in the mean time you are able to track the car back to the owner of the title of RECORD or are able to secure a BONDED title. Either way I don't recommend that you spend anymore money on such a car until one or the other is done.

I hope that there are not many of you out there that have a bad feeling in the pit of their stomach from hearing all of this but those are the FACTS.

 

[Bruzilla]

Just to amplify a bit, the first and best course of action is to make a visit to your local DMV or tag agency to find out what you can and can't do in your state before considering the purchase of any vehicle without a title.

The general rule of thumb is a car is legally owned by the person holding the current title until that title is transferred to a new owner. If owner A sells the car to Owner B, and for some reason Owner B never transfers the title and loses it, then sells the car to Owner C, Owner A is still the legal owner. And if Owner C contacts Owner A for a duplicate title, Owner A is under no obligation to provide that title and can either reposess the car or charge you whatever amount they want to to supply you a title, i.e., sell you the car and make you pay for it a second time.

As 696pack mentioned, if you can't contact or find the last registered owner, you can apply for a bonded title, but you must secure a bond good for at least the appraised value of the car or higher (some states require a bond of 150% of the value). Also, every state I know of will only supply a bonded title where the car and the new owner are both located in the state, so if you live in one state and are trying to title a car from another state, you're out of luck.

Always check with the DMV first!

 

[Budnicks]

Very interesting, good thing I almost never leave Calif. to buy a car...

 

[pabster]

Thanks for the sage advice, 696pack.

The title issue can get pretty wacky. I bought a used car from a dealer recently, and was driving it across bridges... had forgotten to register the car for an electronic toll tag. Because the dealer lagged on transferring titles, the owner before me who sold the car to the dealer got bills for my bridge tolls. The dealer called me up, flipping out and demanded that I pay them the tolls... about $30. I told them to suck it and file the transfer ASAP next time.