Well first off I am from the great state of Kansas. I will go on record of having rescued many an ole beater from the crusher over the years. My latest being a 64 Bel air station wagon. I have never had trouble with bill of sales on cars with no title; 35 years old no problem. At least I thought! When the highway patrol vin inspector ran the vin they found a title on record. Having found the title on record meant that the bill of sale I got was worthless because the title is in some other dudes name. I did some research to find this car, before spending 20 years in a fence row was title jumped several times. The state wanted me to do a quiet title but that's 900 bucks and 8-10 weeks. I..... believe it or not found a gentleman who had the title and it was signed by the owner at the time of sale 27 years ago. Anyway after negotiating with him I paid back taxes and penalties was about 50 bucks. He put the title into non-highway status now the title will come back in his name and I can legally by it. I guess the purpose of this rant is: if your like me you may have a few projects sitting around make sure paper work in order.
I always check for the Title and VIN and make sure the seller is the name on the title or next of kin. That title holder could have easily said NO.
I also live in Kansas and don't spend anything on a car until I have title in hand. The owner with the title could have claimed the car since he had the legal title.
With me yut preaching to the choir, I have passed up several cars I desperately wanted but no title in South Carolina it's not worth the trouble and akin to the kiss of death! HRP
I know that SCAREY !! but my point is to make it known to other gear heads out there that are under the impression that they have a clear bill of sale on a vehicle over 35 years old with No supposed title. Don't hold off to avoid paying taxes get it checked out. If you are like me I forget those computers have been around for a while now and they have good memories of legal ownership. Title jumping is a no no but we did it alot back in the day.
Very easy to get a bonded title in ioway, the last bond cost me $250. It is figured by car value. And I have no idea who that is!!!
Used to be able to get a title with a bill of sale, now you can still get one on pre 1949 car with a bill of sale. I've titled several pre 49 cars off a bill of sale over the years but never tried to title a post 49 car. I've passed on several projects over a title, as you discovered if there is still an open title it is a problem.
Same here in NC. No title, no deal, no way. Been down that road once, not going back. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Strange that this post turned up today-last week I bought an imported motorcycle from USA on ebay-not the first I have bought ,lucky for me! The seller sent the bike on a pallet (missing a frame cover ....:-( ) and then sent me the NOVA number by email .I have the direct email address of HRMC (the people who give you the NOVA number once vat and import duty have been paid)so as the frame cover was missing I thought ..........aye he is a bit dodgy ,I emailed the HRMC with the bike details and the NOVA number just to be on the safe side ,the reply came back -sorry that is not a valid NOVA number for that vehicle !! now had the frame cover not been missing , I would have restored the bike ,safe in the knowledge that I had a NOVA number to get it registered (vehicles here need to be roadworthy-ish to get registered for the road ) and no doubt the seller would have changed his ebay ID and vanished leaving me with a bike that had no record of import into the UK .ALWAYS CHECK THE PAPERWORK !
I sold an OT Corvette to a "muscle car dealer" here locally in Maryland many years ago. They never got it titled in their name. Sold the car on to the next guy and went belly up. Guy contacts me trying to get the car titled in his name. I don't remember all the ins and outs, but I signed some papers for him stating I owned the car before the dealer and that the deal was legit and all. I don't know if he was ever successful in getting it in his name. I hope it worked out for him, I never heard from him again. I've got a buddy going through all this nonsense in Delaware with what is a rough Model A right now. Previous owner is dead and has no family apparently. It's a real nightmare. All over some stuff 999 out of 1000 people wouldn't want anyway. Just not worth buying a car if there's no title.
Wow, hope the title owner is being cool about this. If not, you essentially just built him a nice Wagon.
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