Car without title

Any one here ever buy a car without a title?

It's cheap and thinking of turning it into a track car anyways.

Did a vin check and came back clean and not reported stolen.

Yay or nay?

Depends on the state, is my guess. I know mine is picky about such things, for tax purposes.

FL, and they are picky... I guess?

Guy bought it, never transferred name, looses paper title, can't find original owner, guy decides to sell.

Its all electronic now gotta pay for a printed copy in fl. Just get an official bill of sale and go to the dmv. File for lost title and your done. Or just get a bill of sale and track it.

In reply to Jaxmadine:

Really? That easy?

Just walk into the DMV and ask them. I've had great success asking the ladies what I'm supposed to do in a particular situation before I do it. Often times there's a particular paper that the seller is supposed to sign stating something or another that makes the process a lot easier. Unless your intention is to ball the car up someday, it's pretty much always better to have a title for when you go to sell it, and the easiest time to get it straightened out is when you're buying it, not in five years when you want to sell it.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Good point, maybe ill visit the DMV tomorrow and see.

Yes that easy.

They've always been so much nicer to me when I ask them what to do before I do it. Hand me the right forms, highlight the boxes that are supposed to be filled out, make sure I understand the process. All they really seem to want at the DMV is for people to do things the right way, and they get really really grumpy only when I screw something up.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Funny, never made the correlation of them being grumpy and me royally screwing up every time I go in there! Lol. You have opened my eyes. This time I'm going to start on the right foot.

They also used to love it when I came in with a stack of papers in one hand and a baby in the other.

mazdeuce wrote: They also used to love it when I came in with a stack of papers in one hand and a baby in the other.

You do that too? I think my favorite was the time I did a title transfer and renewed 3 registrations with my recently walking 1 year old in tow. They loved me for that.

Ohio hates this, no title, no way.

aussiesmg wrote: Ohio hates this, no title, no way.

^^this

Probate courts and lien checks and Next of Kin searches and a lot of useless fun that results in higher blood pressure 100% of the time, and a new-to-you car 50% of the time.

My Cavalier dirt track car has no title. When I'm done with her, she is getting chopped up. I have a bill of sale from the previous owner that I elaminated to ensure finger prints are still there. VIN showed not stolen.

4cylndrfury wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: Ohio hates this, no title, no way.

^^this Probate courts and lien checks and Next of Kin searches and a lot of useless fun that results in higher blood pressure 100% of the time, and a new-to-you car 50% of the time.

And this is why you bother getting a title if you live in state where you can make it happen. If you don't, then you eliminate whole states of buyers when it coms tme to sell.

My Father in law has in his posession a 1984 Ranger with 1700 original miles on it. Still kinda smells new inside. Lived in a garage its whole life.

Long story short, Wifes grandpa took possession of the truck somewhere near 1986, and "supposedly" had a handwritten bill of sale (theres hint of some sideways legality concerning how the previous owner went about selling this thing to grandpa...). Grandpa never titled the truck. He passed away a few years back, and the original owner of the truck is long gone. My FIL became executor of his estate, and basically is the owner of the truck, but no title. Its a real time capsule, and our family would love to do something with it, but the fear of the hassle surrounding getting a clear title is too daunting for my FIL to even begin. I would LOVE to be the guy who goes thru the hassle, but theres some family sentiment tied to this thing, so who knows...

There's a lot of DMV red tape you can cut through at a probate court. I had the same deal with an old Dodge truck as the Ranger story and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. Pretty much just wrote up an affidavit as to the facts as we knew them, the state checked it not reported stolen, and the judge told the DMV to issue me a title.

Beyond that though, no title pretty much means it's only good for selling on Atlanta Craigslist.

jdbuilder wrote: Guy bought it, never transferred name, looses paper title, can't find original owner, guy decides to sell.

I don't get the whole "don't bother to transfer title" thing. For an investment of $20 or $40 or whatever it is at your DMV, why risk it? I bet the guy cost himself a hell of a lot more in resale value than it would have cost to just get the damn title in his own name.

The only time I would forgo getting a title in my name would be if I was buying a car that I already had another buyer in line to sell to.

Duke wrote:

jdbuilder wrote: Guy bought it, never transferred name, looses paper title, can't find original owner, guy decides to sell.

I don't get the whole "don't bother to transfer title" thing. For an investment of $20 or $40 or whatever it is at your DMV, why risk it? I bet the guy cost himself a hell of a lot more in resale value than it would have cost to just get the damn title in his own name. The only time I would forgo getting a title in my name would be if I was buying a car that I already had another buyer in line to sell to.

Most folks do it to avoid paying the taxes.

I've gone through the no title thing twice now in NJ. At first glance it seems like a lot of hoops to jump through but really its just the wait time between the hoops that's an issue. The whole process takes only a few hours of your actual time to complete, there's just some waiting in between.

Here in Georgia if it is older than 1987 who cares if it has a title. Ask the local police to run the VIN to make sure it isn't stolen, write up a bill of sale from John Doe to yourself and then head to the DMV to pick up your tag. It is that easy.

Newer than 1987 is a little tougher and requires a bonded title, but that only costs $300 or so and a few weeks of your time.

I did that once - bought a "racecar" without a title. It was fine until I tried to sell it. After 2 years on the market I ended up trading it at a loss just to get it out of the driveway. NC has a process to get a title but I couldn't locate any of the previous owners to clear it up. Carfax was clean. I won't buy a vehicle, or trailer, without a title again.

in TX, you call the DMV with the VIN to make sure its clear.

Then you have to apply for a bonded title. You put a deposit in place and the state issues a temporary title. After a period of time, if no one makes claim they will reissue a clean title.

Make sure to get a Bill of Sale that has the VIN, and engine serial numbers if available. Don't forget any and all contact information of the seller. In TX there is also a Form to fill out that is supposed to be like a Bill of Sale.

Does the seller know who he bought it from? If you can find the name you can look them up, write a letter and request them to sign off for a new title.

FL is picky but only if you want to get rid of the car. We bought two '94 celicas for our LeMons/Chumpcar build. I REALLY wish we had built the non-title car (not bought in that order) as we had to cut it into 4 pieces to be able to scrap it. We had stripped all of the goodness out of it but that shell took a lot of gas and time with the cutting torch.