Why are there so many cars on craigslist with No title?
 

I am baffled as why there are so many cars in our local Craigslist without Titles.:confused:

In Missouri it is illegal to sell a car without a title;... and to create a title in Missouri is such a hassle it is almost impossible for an ordinary citizen.
Where do all the titles go?

I wasn't aware that this was the case. It certainly is suspicious though. The criminals probably have ways around it. That's what they study.

In Texas you can't even sell a car for scrap iron without a title.

The law says you cant, but its done every day.

Lots of them here, too. The ads always make it sound real easy. "All you need is a 30 dollar title app from the DMV".

Uh huh

Thanks for the correction, well maybe not a correction, but added information. Like I said about the title situation in general, crooks find ways around everything.

Maybe they gave the title to a 'title loan' place; can't afford to pay back the loan...so get rid of the car for more cash.
Or the family, grandpa or brother moved away/died & left the car behind.
Some of the ads will say;..."No Title, so don't ask"....
I mean, why can't a person "ask"?

For newer cars?

CT is a non-title state for cars older than '81. You just need to show the link between you and the previous registered owner.

Seen quite a few of them here too.


Haven't personally purchased one, but am told that it is as simple as purchasing it, filing a lien, and then waiting...

AZ's laws are well known for ease of washing titles . . . hence the reason a lot of storm flooded cars end up on the market with AZ titles

Craigslist is where I sell all my stolen cars....:D

It's a pain but can get retitled. Old vehicles are easier-I was able to get my barn find 81 bike on the road without a title.

I had a van. For whatever reason my parents never got the lien released from the bank when it was paid off. The bank was absorbed by another bank and the title is history. They never really worried about it. Fast forward years later when I was driving it, it broke down and I needed to sell it. I had no title and it wasnt worth the money to get it. I sold it to a junker and made sure it was never to be on the road again. And it wasnt. Its probably a toaster somewhere now. A title-less toaster...

I have been enlightened in this thread. I had no idea that this was such a widespread situation. With the widespread and rapidly accelerating rate of societal decadence, I suppose people just expect it. VERY sad!

yes, "societal decadence" was nearly unheard of before . . . :D

It is the nature of social conservatives to be troubled by change, whether good or bad.

Often has nothing to do except title is lost or car was bought without title for various reasons few stolen cars ate sold on CL.

1 - Get Title Application Packet from the BMV.

2 - Fill Out 3 page application for title packet with BMV. Fax it in.

3 - Wait up to 15 business days.

4 - Receive Letter of Denial from BMV (They always deny you)

5 - Take Letter of Denial and the other half of the packet you got from the BMV to the Civil Court Filings Office.

6 - Pay $35.00 for file for a title. $36.05 if you pay with a Credit Card.

7 - Go upstairs and wait in the Judges Office (longest part of the process)

8 - Explain how you got the car to the Judge and show him paperwork, etc. He will sign one of the forms in the packet.

9 - Take form back downstairs to the Filings Desk, they will photocopy it and give you an official copy of the signed Court Order For Title.

10 - Take photocopy to the BMV.

11 - Give them $17 plus applicable sales tax.

12 - Take your title home.

Done it twice, not hard at all.

Note, you cannot see a Judge until you have been formally denied by the BMV, so no you can't skip waiting out the BMV initially. The rest of the experience takes about 2 hours including driving.

Easiest way to find out if a car is stolen is to ask the seller for a signed bill of sale. A "**** no" or CLICK over the phone will give you a good answer. Also if you're skeptical ask for the VIN and call the BMV, they will tell you.

What I posted is how Ohio does it, Ohio is trying to get away from title by abandonment.

Oh the huge manatees!!!

Epically Delightful Family Entertainment

Hey - it can only get better. We move on to Pink Flamingos next. It's all downhill from there.

Uh.... I don't think that a rapidly rising rate of car theft is upsetting to anyone simply because it is CHANGE. I would like to think that any decent human being of any political opinion would be troubled by it. If rising theft does not trouble most people in this country then we are most definitely in deep shlt!

Larry, could there be other rationales for increased auto theft statistics, as you claim, other than moral depravity and societal decline?

Scrapping a car without a title is easy. An hour with the sawzall and its now a pile of car shaped metal.

The moral here is *THIS*
 

All you boys SHOO AWAY from Craigslist!

SCAT !

You have to go back to 1963
 

Yes, flouride in our drinking water and all-digit telephone numbers we now have to dial, and the other various & sundry Communist plots that plague and bedevil us to this day.

F'n communists.

From what I read, auto-theft rates are actually down over the past decade. Possibly because newer cars are much harder to "hot-wire."

Speaking of all digit numbers, I saw a bulletin board today in a small town upstate -- "To advertise here call (845)GL X-XXXX. Strange, because the 845 area code came into being well after the US moved to all-digit dialling.

not in the movies!just grab under the dash and yank.and when you yank you conveinently strip the exact wires back that you need to start the car.it's just too easy to steal these new cars.

Lol, having lived in springfield MO, I ran into the same thing. My conclusion is either most of the titles are in those payday loan and title loan places all over town, or people simply lose them due to disorganization. Farmers especially seem to instantly lose titles, an seem to own all kinds of super rare cars. :D
Then after a title is misplaced, and often times someone flipped a car and didn't sign over th title in the first place, you now have two degrees of separation, and just putting the car on craigslist and trying to sell it sans title is easier than going through the the title paperwork hassle.

In short, the answer is laziness and disorganization compounded by the national pastime of avoiding sales tax on flipping cars which disaccociates the seller from the state recognized title holder. :D

Im not worried about my car being stolen. I worry about some DB breaking my window or putting a screw driver in the keyhole just to get nothing.

Ta Da!:D I thought it was something like that.

I have seen this a no. of times - I have to date seen 5 cars with titles but the owner never transferred it - as in 2 years of not transferring it, TX has a grace period of 30 days from the date of sale - after that its 20 or 25 bux per month fee. In summary your car becomes a basket case upside down.

I'm seeing more of those title-loan places open up shop in the suburbs - I don't think they'd be doing it if there wasnt a demand.

I blame all the people with political views that don't match mine :)

-John

Easy to get a legitimate title online

Used-car dealership buys car at auction, the couple who consigned it to the auction never signed a release of interest to the auction, used-car dealership sells car off the lot via CL to an out-of-stater. Buyer then has to threaten used-car dealership with a complaint to the State Attorney General in order to obtain title, which finally arrives a month later, after used-car dealership somehow tracks down both original consignors, who have since divorced.

Old titleholder is mentally not all there, son and daughter-in-law gain power of attorney and sell car, titleholder dies before title is found, title cannot be transferred until will is probated.

Car is sold by mechanic repair shop to cover titleholder's past due bill, car has no engine, advertised price is 1/7 of Kelly Blue Book because shop is tiny and they are desperate to get it out of there to make room for paying customer cars. State DMV questions the low sale price but titleholder has since moved out of state and therefore, even though title was produced and signed, buyer still cannot obtain title without paying tax on the full Kelly Blue Book value.

These are three problematic title scenario's which have happened to me recently. Oregon is very easy to obtain a title in with minimal documentation, Washington is tough.

Been there - experienced that, the guy literally was seen sleeping behind a dumpster of a gas station after a few months.

In Oklahoma you can sell a car with a Bill of Sale. You can then take this to the Tag Office and start the Title process. This takes forever.

The only place you can quickly sell a car with a Bill of Sale is to a metal recycler. Not a wrecking yard; a recycler. They will run the VIN through the DMV and if it is not on the hot car list they will pay you scrap metal prices and crush it.

To get a real title you have to have a storage lien. This is easy to do. Then you have to set an auction date and time. This is normally some day during the middle of the week at 03:00. Then, if anyone shows up, you have to have an auction. You can set the starting price for a junk car, and since you are the one receiving the storage fees you can set the starting price at what you are owed. Say, $15,000?

Then you pay the Auction guy for his trouble and he signs off that the car was auctioned off to the highest bidder which was you. Of course, if someone pays the $15,000, then the car is theirs but there is really no downside to this!

If you buy a car from an out of state city abandoned car auction and receive an application for a new title then there is no way to title the car in Oklahoma. They do not recognize the paperwork from any other state on city auctions and there are no exceptions.

A bonded title ,its the way to do it here in Texas ,you basically fill out a form with the vin and the person you bought it from ,the explanation for the lost title, theirs and your ID ,some will allow for photo coping ,some will not.They do a search for any red flags on the car then transfer a new title from the state.I believe it cost $200. but it has to be done at one of the main dmv locations.The lost title companies do all the leg work in this case and charge you $800 and up.If no title and a non willing seller to participate in you getting a title ,walk away ,its not worth the grief .Its most likley a used car lot sold vehicle and guess what ,the scum bags will report it missing while your holding the bag so to speak.

Links to a place in Bangor Maine, one of my old stomping grounds. No titles on anything older than 15 years. Rust is the justification.

I bought one of my Mercedes in Seattle WA. with California plates, from a guy of European decent, he let me know he was moving next week to Hawaii, and this car wouldn't fit in the container, he was already putting in his ML and his wifes XC90. Right before I gave him the $$$$ he pulled out a bunch of paperwork but No title, He said this was a Cali car and they have whats called electronic titles...HUH???????????, I have bought a few cars from Cali before and they all had titles to go along with them, so I said, "well, I guess I drove 170 miles for nothing", then he said, well how much will you give me? I swear all the paperwork is in order, so what I offered him was not much past scrap value and he "reluctantly" (glad to be rid of it) accepted. when I got home I called a couple of my friends that live in Cali and they said they had never heard of a Electronic title, so I started seeing images in my head of going to the DMV with my car and paperwork and the DMV person telling me to hold on a moment as they are picking up the "red phone" to make a call.
So instead of my car and VIN# getting RED flagged at the DMV, I called the Cali Hwy Ptrl to make sure the car wasn't stolen (probably should have done that before I paid for it) and all was good, so then I went to my friend who owns a towing company and had him put a lien on it and resold it to me, so then I had all the correct lien paperwork to take to the DMV.....potential problem solved, as time went on I ended up Carfaxing it and It came back squeaky clean.
One good experience among a sea of Horrible ones.
Probably wouldn't do it again though, my good luck doesnt tend to come in the 2's, Bad luck sure does though, the 2's and 3's:D