In reply to Evanuel9 :
Whomever does motor vehicle things in your state should have it spelled out on a website somewhere along with a various forms that you might need. Here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, that stuff is all done by the County Clerk and I've called them on the phone or just walked into the office and asked them what I needed for this or that type of transaction.
As far as checking for liens, I'm not entirely sure how to do that other than looking to see if it's printed on the title. As far as I am aware, I have never dealt with a car that was encumbered with a lien from one of those title loan places, so I don't know how easy/hard it would be to have a title that doesn't reflect a current lien. When you attempt to transfer it, however, the state's computer will tell you for sure. Another good reason to have the seller meet you there.
One thing to remember is that you're going to be dealing with people that may not have sales experience so they might be under the mistaken impression that they're doing you a favor. I get a chuckle out of the folks that think that they can put something up for sale and not expect that they're going to have to do any sort of work to sell the thing. Now, that doesn't mean that I think it's okay to abuse a seller or waste their time, but if you need more pictures, want to shop that car against other cars, or want to meet somewhere to verify the paperwork is in order, then they're going to need to accommodate that if they want to sell a car. I wouldn't go to a private seller to look at or test drive a car that I had no intention of buying the same way I might go test drive a car from a dealer, for example. But if the seller is unwilling to meet you somewhere public or to meet you at the place where titles get transferred, I'd consider that a red flag. Either they're doing something shady or they're an a-hole.
Inspections are going to really depend on the car and how much we're talking about. If it's a "nice car" for "nice car money", then checking all the fluids is a good start, hooking up a code reader to see if the MIL bulb has been disconnected or if the emissions readiness isn't set yet, asking for and looking at maintenance records, definitely looking for rust and signs that there was any sort of accident, searching for evidence of leaks or leaks that have been recently cleaned up, looking at the suspension, steering, and chassis to make sure nothing is worn or broken, listening for any sorts of noises, and that sort of thing. I'm wary of any car that I go to look at that's been warmed up already - I think it's important to see what it's like from a cold start. Tire wear is a good thing to look at as well - that's one of those things that if they're running around eating up the inside of a tire either something is bent or they're not noticing or caring that the alignment is either way out or has been a little out for a long time; that's a sign that they might not be so good with the maintenance. Honestly, for most cars that's what I'm trying to get a good sense of - has this thing been maintained or do they just put in gas and go with an oil change every few whenever-they-feel-like-its. If there are open recalls, that's not a big deal to get done but the fact that they didn't bother says that they don't care very much.
Before you go look at a car, do a little internet sleuthing to see if that car has a common problem so you can check for that and/or ask if whatever remedy has already been applied. And if they don't have the paperwork to prove that it just got a "new crate engine" 5,000 miles ago, assume they're lying.
If you're looking for a E36 M3box for E36 M3box money, then different rules apply. A $3,500 car needs to be able to give you $3,500 worth of time out of it. If you can make it last a year, your car payment is $300/month so work backwards from there to decide how much inspection it needs and what you'll accept.