Technical Buyer wants to see the title, is this a scam?

The potential buyer is saving money by not having the vehicle inspected. Color copy the title and print void across is , making sure you block out part of the VIN and your address. Take an image of it using the lowest setting on your camera to insure it is very grainy if blown up. Covers him trying to duplicate it for another vehicle.

 

I'd obscure the last few of the vin to be sure....but you'd be surprised how many guys say they have a title...and when the time comes to produce it...they can't find it or have an application for duplicate title or a pile of forms....

 

The buyer and seller can agree on 2 prices before any traveling is done. For example: $2000 with a good, clear title, $1000 with no title or a "problem" title.

 

Cover the vin, then take a picture on an angle so 1 side is bigger than the other.

A scan could be manipulated, an angle photo - much more difficult.

 

I ended up making a photocopy of the title so that "VOID" appeared across it, then used Photoshop to make a JPEG with my address and a couple digits of the VIN and title number blocked out. He was fine with it and the car was sold! I got the deposit immediately, and he pics up the car next week when he brings the balance in cash. Done deal! Or so I hope


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It makes no sense to block out the vin # and electronic reproductions are not accepted when changing owners. I'd be more concerned that the vin on the car and on the title match.


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The way I see it, it is the first and the most important thing to make sure the seller has a clear title to the car.
Title is a crucial item for an overseas buyer. I cannot get the car exported from US without a valid title, neither I cannot ever get it registered over here without clear title from the seller.
I've bought and exported five cars from USA to EU during past 10 yrs and the first thing is to make sure the title is clear and available. For the ones I bough without an agent I asked the seller to send me photo or scan of the title to confirm it's ok and they did - no questions asked.

It is perfectly ok with me if the title is photographed from an angle or if the copy is void by a "watermark", but I need to see the seller's name and the car vin on it. I cannot imagine how i could take false advantage on a scanned copy of an US title from over here, obviously the sellers did neither, because they sent the copies without wiggling.

If the seller would tell me he will NOT show me the title before making the deal - I'll walk out.

 

I recently purchased a car out of stateI always start by asking the seller if the car has a clean no lein, issued title in sellers name.I always ask for a picture of the title along with the vin tag to confirm. IF THERE IS UNWILLINGNESS TO DO SO,RED FLAG!

I was considering a car and when I asked for pics of the title and vin,the vin tag had no spot welds on the tag and the stampings looked like a roller coaster.They are reproducing tri 5 vin tags and he used one and epoxies the tag without the factory spot welds the factory used.NOT a good sign. I passed on the car.

 

What about when a seller has a title that is in the previous owners name. He doesn't register it in his name but the previous owner has signed it for transfer. Anyone have problems with this?

 

..................Isn't that considered an "open title" and as such illegal in most states?

 

Does he have the bill of sale from the previous owner?

The DMV can be such a pain that I've created a better bill of sale and taken it to a different DMV, especially after buying a car from out of state. Sometimes the people at the DMV are a pain in the ass just for the sake of being a pain in the ass.


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Don't know, The title is in two names and they both signed it on the transfer(seller) lines.

No bill of sale just a title from the early 90's. Years ago I was buying a mobile home and the DMV guy told me to take it to the previous owner and have him sign it. After explaining I have no idea who or where he is etc. he repeated, take this outside and have the owner sign it. Being a little thick I finally caught on and signed it myself and all went well.

 

Sometime back I did a little research on just that question and what I learned was that if the seller has failed to re-register the vehicle in his name with the proper authorities he can't legally prove that he owns it and therefore cannot legally sell it. The exception would be that he has a NOTARIZED bill of sale executed by the previous owner whose name appears on the title.

 

I once bought a 40 chevy coupe here on the classifieds. I should have asked for a photo of the title AND the numbers on the car...on a small stamped steel plate screwed to the passenger side floor on a 40 chev. A 40 chev serial number has 1/2 the numbers belonging to the cars' body and 1/2 the numbers belonging to a stamped pad on the original engine. The title sent to me had the engine numbers right but the car body numbers on the title belonged to a black tudor sedan! The car was a blue coupe.
Somebody had taken the engine out of the tudor sedan and kept the title with that engine...put the motor in a coupe and never changed the title numbers to reflect the swap.
Good thing I had a cooperative DMV inspector...

 

You and a couple others have proven that some people are honest. I still believe there are others who are dishonest people out there. Can a title be forged like a $20 bill based on a copy of an original? bet it can be done.

 

Why is everybody so worried about giving the VIN number, on any newer vehicle all you need to do is take a picture of the VIN tag in the windshield. I have sent copies of titles to buyers but I only copy the front of the title. If I buy a car I want to see the title first.

 

A signed title in another person's name other than seller is called title jumping.dmv does not like it because of loss of tax revenue.dmv can refuse to title vehicle.

 

Makes sense, it's usually about revenue.

 

Newer vehicles have a minimum of two, and often three VIN locations on the body which all can be cross-referenced. They would all have to be altered to change the identity of the vehicle.

Additionally, the VIN on everything from roughly the late 90's up is coded into the on-board computer, or computers. You would have to change all of that, too, if you have that capability.

Now, how many VIN's are on a Model A? I'll answer that for you. That number is ZERO. They JUST have a serial number. If it has the original engine, it will match what is on the frame. If not, only the frame counts. You would only have to unlawfully stamp one serial number, in one place, to alter the identity of that vehicle.

 

THE SCAM IS NOT HAVING A TITLE OR THE TITLE IS NOT IN THE SELLERS NAME. i always ask about the title, probably 1/4 the cars out there don't have a legit title, and none of this open title crap, the title is in your name or i'm not going or going home with a empty trailer

 

I used to physically 'reprimand' them, but that was PC prior.

 

Yup. Seen that too many times....

 

And here in Wyoming, it is a criminal offense to do so, and all 3 parties can be charged, including the original owner for passing on an open title. I have heard that a notary who notarizes a title without the buyer and seller present can also be charged with a crime.

 

2 out of the last 3 cars I've bought in the US had titles that didn't match the seller. Including one where the seller drove the car for more than a decade without transferring the title, and I assume that means he just ran an illegal plate, no insurance etc. Totally mind boggling to my law abiding mind. In both cases the seller had to get their titles organized before the deals were done.

In my experience, there are more shady sellers with bad titles than buyers who are trying to scam. All you guys who say you would never send a title will never sell a car to me.

 

Lets be real. No VIN does not make my bank happy when I am borrowing 10-15K on a car on the other side of the USA. Maybe some of you have that kind of money in your sock drawer but I usually have to go see my banker. Red flag to me is those that will not sent a copy with vin to my banker. Kansas is title friendly. Not a big deal to get a title if one is missing. Not having a VIN is deal killer for me.

 

My last Morris Minor came with a signed open title. I took it to the Tn. DMV and they said I would have to find the original owner and get a new title. I did and paid him to go to the DMV and because the car had not been registered in 20 years it had been kicked out of the system. He couldn't get a title and his name was on the title.
So I took the car to Ga. and sold it to my buddy for a dollar and had it inspected by the police. Put insurance on it and registered it in Georgia. He then sold it back to me with a bill of sale . Ga. is a non title state for old cars. Walked into the Tn. DMV with the bill of sale and the registration and they issued me a new Tn. title and tag.
Not the way I wanted to do it ,but Tn. told me I would have to have a hand built car title with receipts for every part and the VIN# of the car the engine and transmission came out of. The donor car had been crushed and I had no way of getting the VIN.
Be wary of a signed open title. When the car has been passed through several hands.

 

So it is illegal to sell a car in the U.S. If the name on the title is different from the seller's?
I had to get titles to be able to export cars from the U.S., but I don't think they had the sellers name on them. Maybe I was just lucky.

 

We are looking at a car to bring back to NZ at present , it has a bonded title in the sellers name with date of issue 2015 . But it's on an aftermarket chassis and the is no vin on the body or frame to connect it to the title paper. I can see issues at the port.

 

The problem comes when you register the car to get a license plate. States that have sales tax require that the owner listed on the title sign the title and write the selling price and the buyers name on the title. The buyer is then supposed to register the car to get a title in his name and pay the sales tax on the selling price as listed on the title. Only someone with a dealers license is allowed to transfer ownership without getting a title in their name.

 

I had a car dealer try to get a copy of the registration document on my correctly registered O/T car so that he could use it to sell an incorrectly registered model to a buyer in Japan.