How do I title this car?

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

I'm buying a 1995 Impreza tonight, if all goes well. Need some info on how this works.

Seller bought the car from his neighbor. Car had a Kansas title. Neighbor signed the title, current seller didn't. Neighbor moved to South America. Current seller has the car, and a Kansas title for the car with the neighbor's signature on it.

Seller doesn't want to title the car and pay taxes and fees on it, so he wants me to tell DMV that I bought it from the previous owner. He's had it 6 months, which means the title was signed 6 months ago by the previous owner. So I guess the DMV is going to ask me why I've had the car for 6 months and never got it titled. (his suggestion is that it wasn't running, so I wanted to wait until I got it running before I insured and titled it)

If I do buy it, I'm going to make sure he signs something saying I bought the car from him, btw.

I called the DMV this morning and explained the situation, and it said that he needs to title the car before he can sell it to me.

So how is this going to go down in reality?

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 11:45 am

Kevin Allen wrote:

I called the DMV this morning and explained the situation, and it said that he needs to title the car before he can sell it to me.

So how is this going to go down in reality?

I highlighted how it will go down. Sorry, but there is really no way around it. - AB

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 12:38 pm

(his suggestion is that it wasn't running, so I wanted to wait until I got it running before I insured and titled it)

It's been done that way a thousand times if it's been done once. I have a friend who has over 100 cars with open titles on his property. And thats how they'll be sold also.

TomFreeman · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 12:41 pm

Yep...AB is right. I went through this myself when I was selling a car when I was still in NC. I had never titled the car when I sold it, but had to do it for him to title it and put it on the street.

JohnByers · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 12:47 pm

With my E30 I had to pay the fee twice. Seller didn't want to pay and used it as a bargaining chip. I paid for it to go into his name and again into my name. But I only paid $300 for the car anyways :lol:

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

So if I buy it and take the title with me, and this guy disappears, worst case is that I have to pay the title fee twice? Or I have to track him down and make him title it in his name, then sign it over to me? I'm ok with paying twice, as I'm not paying very much for it in the first place. But I don't want to deal with the other way.

It's a cheap POS that I'll rallyxing, but will be driving on the road also. So a license plate would be a good thing to have.

John, exactly how did your situation go? Did you have to drag him along, or did you just take the title to the DMV and pay the fees?

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

afaik there's no requirement that you have XX days to retitle/register the car in your name, if it takes six months so what. at most there may be a small penalty for the delay. maybe the seller signed it off six months before selling, maybe it didn't run and you spent six months fixing it, maybe you're just a lazy procrastinating SOB. you have a title signed (and notarized?) by the person whose name is on the front right? that's all you need, fill out a MVR-1 and make it yours. if the current seller's name doesn't show up anywhere he's irrelevant. i've done this more than once - bought a car and not titled/registered it, then sold it a few months later by handing over the previously signed title. and i've bought cars the same way.

JohnByers · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 2:47 pm

Kevin Allen wrote:

John, exactly how did your situation go? Did you have to drag him along, or did you just take the title to the DMV and pay the fees?

Luckily for me I knew the guy real well (my brother

) and I had to drag him to DMV, pay for it. Wait for it to arrive to him, have him sign it over to me, then go and pay again. A pita for sure, if you don't know if you can "trust" this guy to go thru that I can see your hesitation. perhaps tell him you will pay for the title transfer when you buy the car from him, he just has to front the money to do this step now kinda thing.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Give him half the money and write up a bill of sale saying he'll get the other 1/2 when he comes to the DMV with you. I did this with the WRX while the guy took a month to get the title from Ohio.

Worst case is you get a cheap car, then you can retitle it with the right paperwork and an indemnity bond (will probably cost $200?), and a visit from a cop to check the car out and your story. I did this with the 1978 Honda CT90 -- it was bought at a garage sale in MI a dozen years ago, no idea who the owners were. I had it retitled here. The indemnity bond pays out actual value to a legitimate owner if he/she ever shows up with documentation. I think the bond has to be set for 90% of tax value or something like that. A $250 (?) bond for the Honda cost me $75. You also have the option of paying the bond in cash at the DMV, then coming back in 2 years to reclaim it if there were no claims on the vehicle. But the thought of going to the DMV in 2 years and asking for my $250 back was a little comical, so I shelled out the $75.

TomFreeman · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 3:25 pm

JohnByers wrote:

Luckily for me I knew the guy real well (my brother

) and I had to drag him to DMV, pay for it. Wait for it to arrive to him, have him sign it over to me, then go and pay again.

I did something like this with another car, but the buyer and I went to the central DMV office in Raleigh. They were able to generate a title for me on the spot, so I then signed/notarized the new title over to him, no waiting.

This was about 10 years ago, so I don't know if they'll do that kind of "one stop shopping" any more. They did say that doing it in Raleigh was the only way they could have done that. A normal DMV office couldn't turn it around like that.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 3:58 pm

TomFreeman wrote:

JohnByers wrote:

Luckily for me I knew the guy real well (my brother

) and I had to drag him to DMV, pay for it. Wait for it to arrive to him, have him sign it over to me, then go and pay again.

I did something like this with another car, but the buyer and I went to the central DMV office in Raleigh. They were able to generate a title for me on the spot, so I then signed/notarized the new title over to him, no waiting.

This was about 10 years ago, so I don't know if they'll do that kind of "one stop shopping" any more. They did say that doing it in Raleigh was the only way they could have done that. A normal DMV office couldn't turn it around like that.

Definitely go to the main DMV office on New Bern Ave for title issues. They can usually fix stuff while you are there.

Ryan Hill · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:09 pm

From my experience, as long as the title has been signed and notarized, you can get it switched to your name at the DMV office, no matter what the date is, you could say it had been dated and signed for a previous attempt at selling it that fell through. I don't know if it being out of state will make any difference. If it's not notarized, I hope you have a notary friend.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:25 pm

Jason Tower wrote:

afaik there's no requirement that you have XX days to retitle/register the car in your name, if it takes six months so what. at most there may be a small penalty for the delay. maybe the seller signed it off six months before selling, maybe it didn't run and you spent six months fixing it, maybe you're just a lazy procrastinating SOB. you have a title signed (and notarized?) by the person whose name is on the front right? that's all you need, fill out a MVR-1 and make it yours. if the current seller's name doesn't show up anywhere he's irrelevant. i've done this more than once - bought a car and not titled/registered it, then sold it a few months later by handing over the previously signed title. and i've bought cars the same way.

I thought both signatures had to be notarized at the same time?...guess not--that makes things easier!

JohnByers · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 6:02 pm

I forgot about the main office in Raleigh. Yep, instant title absolutely!

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2011 6:54 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

Jason Tower wrote:

afaik there's no requirement that you have XX days to retitle/register the car in your name, if it takes six months so what. at most there may be a small penalty for the delay. maybe the seller signed it off six months before selling, maybe it didn't run and you spent six months fixing it, maybe you're just a lazy procrastinating SOB. you have a title signed (and notarized?) by the person whose name is on the front right? that's all you need, fill out a MVR-1 and make it yours. if the current seller's name doesn't show up anywhere he's irrelevant. i've done this more than once - bought a car and not titled/registered it, then sold it a few months later by handing over the previously signed title. and i've bought cars the same way.

I thought both signatures had to be notarized at the same time?...guess not--that makes things easier!

Nope, the notary is only notarizing the seller's name.

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