How about a buying a car without a title thread?

I keep seeing cars here and elsewhere being sold with a bill of sale.  Can some of you share success stories of how to get it titled?  Sounds too risky to me, but I have bad luck in this category.  Bought a car from a dealer and it took 2 years to get the title.  Turned out he was selling the cars to his employees and the bank held the paper on them.  I paid cash and ended up working with a state police detective to get the title.  So how many of you did this and got the paperwork in the end?  How long did it take and how much did it cost?  That '08 maserati for under 4 grand looks very tempting!

It's going to depend on the state. 

In SC there is no path to rehabilitate a car without a title unless it is pre-1976. Even then it is a bit of a nightmare and there is always the chance that some inspector or paper pusher could say no. 

For me, no title = parts car and worth next to scrap value.

The easy answer used to be Vermont, where you could register the car, get tags even without being a resident (just pay the sales tax), but that loophole was recently closed. I have heard that it may be possible to do this in other states but don't know for sure. But that was the easy way as it eliminated going back and forth for months with your local MVA. 

In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :

I did this with 100% success a few times. Last was in 2021, I was unaware that it was closed.

Illinois - nope

In Illinois you can pay to get a bonded title. I looked into it after getting screwed on a deal, but decided it wasn't worth it and sold the car.

I would tell the owner to get the title figured out, otherwise, walk away. There usually is a reason it doesn't have a title, and rarely is it a good reason.

In Texas they do bonded titles. How much do you want to spend?

porschenut said:

That '08 Maserati for under 4 grand looks very tempting!

This biggest failure of this whole post is...  A '08 Maserati for $4k is not a deal, even with a title.  

As noted varies state by state.   NJ has a process, its paperwork intensive but not difficult, just a lot of hurry up and wait.  I titled 2 cars that way when I lived there.

NC does a bonded title process.

Similar to the old VT rules I hear the new way to game the system (something I prefer not to do) is to register an LLC in Montana.  My vague understanding is you can register an LLC to a PO box in MT and they'll register a vehicle there.

It's doable in Indiana. I've done it several times. There are a bunch of forms to fill out, but the fees are reasonable. The key part is the car has to be here in Indiana for the law enforcement to inspect the VIN tag and run the numbers to make sure it is not stolen. You better be confident that it is not stolen, because if it is, they immediately call a tow truck to impound it. I almost had that happen to a race car that I bought that was built from a "body in white." Since there were no VIN tags, the assumption was it was stolen. Fortunately the patrol officer who came to look at it was willing to look at the documentation I had about the car from when it was built, and agreed to have the head of the division for stolen vehicles come check it out. That one I had to title as an assembled vehicle, or kit car, since it wasn't a lost title, but where it never had one.

I did a little reading-up on the subject recently...saw a sportwagen w/no title.  In Florida you can pay to get a bonded title...but there are restrictions. It required the vehicle be older than 2013 or 2011 (I can't remember which).  You'll need to pay a company to issue the title bond.

If the discount is steep enough I'll definitely consider it at some point.

Georgia doesn't issue titles on older cars, so I've often wondered how easy that is when buying from other states.  There aren't many rules in Florida (no safety inspection ever (unless it's a salvage being reconstructed)...but some vehicles do require a VIN inspection when registing.

They recently arrested a guy with a stolen 930 Tubo who managaged to get it registered using a different VIN.

While Georgia doesn't title cars over 25 years I believe, they will require the title from the state it came from if that state issues titles on that year vehicle. You just don't have to get a title in Georgia.

I did the vermont loop hole twice on vehicles.  Once was intetional, the other I didn't have a choice.  And I bought two integras once, one running without a title, one destroyed but had a title.  Combined them into one vehicle through some less than legal method, and scrapped the titleless car.

VA - How about a "nope not doing that" reply. Unless it's a parts car and going to the junkyard once complete not worth the time or hassle, you'd never be able to drive it legally and if you were to you wouldn't be covered by any sort of insurance.

Toyman! said:

It's going to depend on the state. 

In SC there is no path to rehabilitate a car without a title unless it is pre-1976. Even then it is a bit of a nightmare and there is always the chance that some inspector or paper pusher could say no. 

For me, no title = parts car and worth next to scrap value.

 

 

Troof^^^^.   However, if you know the right person, amazing things can happen.  SC also doesn't have bonded titles.  I love how people say they have lost the title and won't be bothered to apply for a lost title, but say it will be easy to get a title.  

I just wouldn't bother to deal with a car without a title.  Lots of cars for sale that do have proper titles...

Stephen Harrison brought his Porsches to Saratoga Auto Museum,   80% of them had Montana plates.  A one of a kind car worth $4.2 million goes through an LLC in Montana, no taxes and registered to the company.

In reply to 914Driver : as you just mentioned, that's not likely getting a title from a car that either lost theirs, floated the title, or stolen, it's almost purely a tax evasion method.

I have a pretty decent Subaru Forester in my garage that I had agreed to buy for $300 with a bad engine. The young man signed the title in the wrong spot, then scribbled out the name and then signed IN ANOTHER WRONG SPOT. I gave him $100 for the car and told him to strainghten out the title and I would bring him the rest of the money. Car was already on the trailer so it came home with me, no biggie I have space. Three weeks later no word from dude. I call him, text him, FB messenger him, he is in the wind. Start sleuthing and find out he's in jail and going to be for a long time. I can pay about $1200 to get a bonded title or just part it down and make a dedicated race car out of it. 

Dad Bod Hot Rod 2 it is.

Iowa and Nebraska have some pretty in-depth provisions; In Iowa, if you have a vehicle you've bought with a VIN but no title and no report it's been stolen, if you run an ad for a "Found vehicle" in the area it was sourced for a month it's legally considered "enough searching" and it's yours- they make you a new title.

Both states also have remanufactured title capacities, where you've changed the base vehicle so seriously that it's considered a different car altogether. I've been told it was because in the past, Nebraska used to have pathetic title and ownership laws which led it to being a sort of "chop shop" state, and other states pressured them so much over it eventually they made some seriously comprehensive laws.

In reply to johndej :

No, he got Titles for barn find 356s.  I talked to Stephen about the 911 Targa in my garage and he offered to get 'er done for me.

Massachusetts is not too barn-find-don't-know-where-the-paperwork-went friendly. Need a previous title to get a title, or need a bill of sale + last registration if you're bringing something in from a state that doesn't issue titles for old cars. There is a process for "undocumented bonded vehicles", where you post a bond equal to 1.5 times NADA clean trade-in value, supply a notarized affidavit about the history of the vehicle, submit to a VIN inspection, and provide any paperwork about the ownership history of the car (bills of sale, canceled checks, etc), and at their discretion, the RMV may issue you a title and registration. 
 

Make sure you get your paperwork done within 30 days if you're bringing in from out of state, though. My $650 Porsche cost me serious $$$ in terms of taxes, penalties, and interest because it took a couple of months to get the car to me due to delays in shipping - and that was with a clean title...

The Montana LLC thing is more of a tax/cost of registration thing. IIRC you still need a title so your Montana LLC can register the vehicle.

There's some wording on the WV DMV website that might indicate that it might be possible to get a title for a vehicle tht doesn't have one, but it's about as clear as mud to me. There is an "abandoned vehicle" process to get a title, but for that you need to be a shop, dealer or towing company.

My take is "buddy, if you're telling me it's easy to get a replacement title, why don't you do it and I'll come back once you have the documents". No title (or open title), see ya later.

Ohio doesn't have a formal way to deal with lost titles, technically if it's untitled, it can't be registered, but I think last time I dug around, there was some verbiage about if you don't have the title, bring it in and we'll see what we can do, but that just seems like some kind of trap.