I need to find a way to get this title transfered into my name. I bought a beater a few months ago just to mess around with. Anyhow, I got it all road worthy and I just realized the person I bought it from filled out the title, but never tranfered it in to the name. I cant get it tagged cause the car isnt in my name and to make matters worst, the guy I bought it from moved away. What can I do to get this title into my name with breaking the bank.
sounds like a tough one.. i'd try to track the dude down... you can use www.anywho.com to locate people and addresses.. its a long shot but it may be your best bet.. ' good luck sawzall
If this is a Texas title and he signed it, you should be able to float down to your local tax office and register it yourself. It'll only cost you the tax on the purchase price and probably about a $50 license fee. If he didn't sign it, then either track him down or...well...you know what to do. I'm sure you did it to your report card as a kid. LOL Big Daddy Eric
Well the deal is when he bought it the seller and he ( the buyer) filled it out. So were I would sign it his name is already there. The asshole never transferred it to his name.
Oh, sorry dude. I misunderstood. So you've got a 'passed' title on your hands. So according to the title, you bought it from the 'buyer' who bought it from the 'seller'. In that case, I would approach the original seller and tell him what happened. If he is willing, you can get a 'deal fell through' affidavit (this says that the titled was signed but the sale did not complete) from the tax office, he can sign it and then you are back in business. It will be like the middle man never existed. I have had to do the 'deal fell through' affidavit once but not under the same circumstances as yours. One caution, if you contact the original seller to do this, don't take the car with you to show him or tell him all the work you've done to it. Just play it off like the machine is a POS. This is just in case he is the kind of guy who would hold up your sale to see if he could get his car back somehow now that you've fixed it up. It's not as easy as him just claiming its his car so don't panic but it's best not to invite that sort of behavior in the first place. Hope this helps a bit, Big Daddy Eric
This is a sticky situation. It's known as "jumping the title" and it's illegal in all states. I had the same problem with my Falcon, which had been passed through SEVERAL people without ever having the title transferred. And to complicate things, the guy I bought it from forged the original owner's signature, without notorization. And the original owner was dead! No one would touch it. Not even some of lesser transfer places in the city here. My normal guy actually threatened to turn it in to the state, in which case the car is just impounded and destroyed. I did the only logical thing and went through a classic title transfer place. I forget if I used Broadway or ITS, it's been so long. But this worked out fine and was well worth the cost and effort. If you can't find the original owner, just use a title service. They are legal but getting more difficult to use since some states are changing their title laws.
I had the same thing happen to me on a truck I bought. The truck had been transferred between 3 different people, none of which re-registered the truck in there name. To boot, it hadn't been registered in about 4 years and had not been filed as a non-use. I ended up paying $1200 in over-due registration, penalties, and taxes. Luckily, where I live, the DMV is so out of control, I just went in there with a bill of sale from the guy I was buying it from and they by-passed all of the other previous owners without batting an eye!! I still can't believe they didn't even ask a question. Watch out on the past registration though, it adds up. Mike
FYI, here is the Texas VTR website with all the forms VTR I would go through all of them and see if you can use one. May be the VTR-346 Texas Motor Vehicle Transfer Notification may work if you need to go talk to the original owner. This is a good site for all the forms for those of us who buy cars without titles. Rey
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