Do not use Broadway Title Service

A word of caution to my fellow Hambers. My name is Big Kev, I Purchased a very rough 56 two door sedan in 2008 (no engine or trans) intending to build a Gasser for the street. Three years later after lots of work and money i have a 6-71 blown big block in a nice black primed body. Now the suprise. I get a letter from the illinois state police saying they do not recognise Broadway title of Alabama as a lawful company. Therefore i have to return my plates and title to the State of illinois. This is after having them for two and a half years. Broadway title will not answer their phone so i am stuck between a rock and a hard place. DO NOT USE BROADWAY TITLE FOR A LOST TITLE. Thanks Big Kev.

 

Thanks for the tip. I know they've been around for some time, but I always wondered about the legality of their methods. What are you going to do now?

 

that sucks!, I almost used them once but the amount of jumping through hoops they wanted me to do to get an Ohio title was ridiculous. Luckily for me after threatening the guy I bought it from with bodily harm it magically appeared. Looks like you need to sell it to someone in Georgia then buy it back. Or move out of Illinois. I was just there a few weeks ago visiting family. To hell with that 9.8% sales tax there now!

 

Did they give you any options? Nice that they waited 2 + years to tell you.

 

I take living in Georgia for granted sometimes. Anything older than 1986 only needs a bill of sale to get registered in your name. Broadway was taking advantage of Alabama's even laxer registration laws and I think other states didn't like it.

 

Sounds like you have money into the car.Time to lawyer up,find one who is a DMV specialists.

 

That's Illinois for ya....

 

I would be pissed at the state of Illinois, not Broadway Title. You paid them money, they got you a title 2 1/2 year s ago. Just because the state does not recognize them is not Broadway title's fault.

 

You are right to be pissed at Broadway. They do not inspect anything, basically it is a surprisingly legal process whereby they "purchase" your car, register it in Alabama, and "sell" it back to you with their paperwork. I'm surprised it took this long for other states to stop recognizing titles from there.

 

Most of the title service places do it the way you described.

 

go to the dmv and get a bonded title
have the vin verified by the sherrif
new title will be issued to the bond
you'll be driving in no time...like 8 months...but still driving
tk

 

Didn't they go out of business for this very reason, they shut thier doors when some of the states stopped recognizing thier work with Alabama. If you need a title there are states that let you register your car through the mail as a nonresident, but you have to go through alot of the same process as if you were to get a bonded title from your own state... like a vin inspection (which is no big deal).

 

Dumb question, but: Why didn't you just register it with the numbers on your car? I know that alot of people try to avoid the "tax" thing while building a car, but if you car has numbers....then why didn't you use those?

Oh yea, and on the "tax".......it's a PAIN, but just send them pix of your pile and it will get reduced ALOT from my experience.

 

The Broadway way of doing it just seems like a setup that is ripe for funny business (again, I'm not suggesting Broadway is doing anything not legal, but some of their clients COULD be), and other states not recognizing this type of situation seemed inevitable.

Back to helping the OP, check out the info on the SEMA site regarding rules for titling state by state. There has to be some sort of legal recourse for you, since you followed the rules presented to you at the time. I don't see how IL can retroactively penalize you when they accepted your paperwork originally. (and yes I realize how messed up IL government is now)

BTW a guy down the street from me went through the re-titling process in WI on a motorcycle, and it really wasn't that big of a deal. They have very clear pdf forms online even. After paperwork was created, he just needed a police officer to inspect and verify the numbers.

 

We had a guy around here that used Broadway Title too. The state revoked his registration and now he has to have the car inspected.

 

Bingo we have a winner. In the past, at least in the late 70's and early 70's more than one car that was stolen from another state got registered in Alabama and then driven on to still another state with seemingly clear papers.
With most if not all states being able to access the databases in other states and in seconds check the information on title numbers and vin numbers the easy and somewhat bogus title outfits may be on the way out completely and titles run through Broadway or other similar operations may all be suspect to some degree.

I've always seen in any situation where you try do do short cuts because you don't want to jump through a few flaming hoops or don't quite have all your ducks in a row it ends up burning you in the long run.

It might be worth someone in Ohio's time to really take time to do the research and put together a step by step set of instructions that guys there can follow and legally get their vehicle through the proper inspections and checks with the least hassles all around . You would have to include all forms that would be needed with simple and comprehensive instructions on how to fill them out along with possibly a worksheet that that the owner of the car could use to check off each item he needed to have or thing he needed to do before applying for a title.

 

The 9.8% tax rate you mention is for retail sales in some localities, especially in the cHicago metro area. It is not the rate applied to motor vehicles, which is base state rate of 6.25% plus up to an additional percent or so for "home rule" taxes applied by some municipalities.

No argument from me though that Illinoiis is a tough place to title a '48 or earlier car, an "assembled from parts" vehicle or an out of state "bill of sale" car. Between the Dept. of Revenue and the Secretary of State's Office it would give anyone a major headache trying to comply with the "rules". It can be done.....but expect to pay sales taxes on the value of the vehicle and/or it's parts.

Ray

 

I don't think the issue is the Alabama title per se - the issue is Broadway in general and from what I have read, business practices that don't do a reasonable (By legal definition) search as to the legality of the ownership and therefore title that they present. In that case other states do not have to recognize that title.

 

Barry, 3 posts total, 2 of which offer your title service. Smells like pork product...

 

AND he wants ONLY $500 to do the title service! Plenty of profit there.

 

Title services have basically been the same for many years, you sell your vehicle to them on paper, they register in either Alabama, New Hampshire or Maine, I cant remember which one and then they sell it back to you ( on paper). Coddington did it this way for many years and then California got wise and so did a few other states.

 

We're in for thousands of situations exactly like yours. Broadway Title isn't exactly the "red flag", they are pulling ALL titles previous to 1948. Nobody is grandfathered in whether they issued plates, title, registration or anything. Wish I could go back and fix the mistakes I've made at someone else's expense. It's a win-win for the state. Generating revenue from the pockets of hobbyist.
I had my title pulled a few months ago, and have yet to send my stack of papers in with the checks I need to write. Really makes me disgusted to even look at the car I worked my ass off for a year to build.

 

ya paid your money and the state of illinois (crooked bastards they are) are trying to screw you for their cut so why not find a fellow hamb member in a different state register the vehicle and after that states title is issued tranfer it into your name into the state of illinois?

 

They want EVERYONE with a pre48 title to bond unless you can prove the title matches the car origionally. I had a clear title transferred in 1924 and they asked me if I bought the car in 1924. I said "no, but people do have cars sitting around for many years with clear titles" since I didn't "see" the guy sign the title over in 1924 they threw it out. I didn't push the issue because I built my chassis.

 

yep, I think a decent lawyer will be able to fix this pretty easy...

 

This is true... Illinois is verifiying the titles on all cars pre-1948. If you live in Illinois and you have questionably obtained paperwork or a title that doesn't match the vehicle number on the body or chassis you might want to get proactive about a lawful solution. Sooner or later you will probably receive notice to have a police officer verify the title and car numbers match and he has to take photos and fill out some paperwork to submit to the SOS.

 

I don't blame Broadway Title for Illinois being dicks, or for you switching numbers. Missouri took my money and an Alabama bill of sale just fine. Knock on wood, they saved me a ton of paperwork.

 

It's ridiculous what you have to go through to get a car titled. It should be as easy as running the numbers to make sure they are clear and issuing a title. It's a money thing.... Stupid.

 

Do your homework before using a title company.Minnesota will not accept a title from 7 different outstate title companies.Broadway is one of them.Call your local DMV(whatever state you live in)before spending the cash

 

I had the same problem as you did. the state says you can get a tittle using a bonded title but a bonded title is 1.5 times the apraised valuse of the car, and the has to running and driving before you get it apraised. so they screw you pretty bad. if the car is apraised a $5000 the bond for the title is $7500. better off just cutting your losses.