I was going to buy her car but she can't find the title?
 

I was going to take a three hour bus ride to buy a car last weekend. the lady called me the night before and told me that she could not find the title. I later learned that she was going to go to the DMV and get a lost title application and have it filled out and pay for it.

I'm not confortable with this situation in that if she got a loan on the car, it seems like she might be trying to hide the lean in trying to get a new title. Is this sensable, or I'm I just worrying. I just don't see how one could possibly not retain a title to their own car.

Things get lost.

If she had a lien on the car the lender would be holding the title and when she tried to get a lost title it will show up as being their car, not hers.

If she gets the title I would not be concerned about it. It will take some time though.

Tom W

In MO even if there is a lien, I hold the original title, with a lien recorded on the face of the title, and the lender mails a notarized lien release when it is paid off, so be careful, some states approach it differently than others.

Good advice.

Was this that 2007 Bluetec ? how much money for this thing, and she lost the title (or the title-surrogate thing that they give you when you make payments on a car.

hmm....yeah, people lose stuff, and she probably just doesnt do this often enough to know that she must pay off the liens before getting the title and being able to sign it over to you...I'd still be more than suspicious - no clear title, no deal.


-John

Yeah what that guy said.

I remember looking at aBMW with a friend a few months ago and the owner said somebody tried to buy it from him with counterfeit money. That's the first time I ever heard anything like that! What's the world coming to, anyhow? Back in the day if you wanted to cheat somebody, you'd write a bad check or something. now people are resorting to counterfeiting . . .

I wouldn't take a check for a car, you come with cash.

Try to write me a personal check and I'll tell you to go cash it and come back.


Unless its a $50k car, but if its sub $20k I want cash.

I took a personal check for a 1990 SAAB 900s about a year ago, the guy was retired military, in his 50's and seemed earnest enough...it cleared just fine, but as a general rule, cash is king.

Not in WI. I have a title for my car and it says under the Lien section that the ABC bank has interest in the vehicle. When the lien is perfected, I get a certificate that says so and I give it to the DMV and can get a new certificate without it on there. Years ago, when I sold a car with a lien on the title, the buyer refused to buy it until I went to the DMV and got the lien removed and was a clear and free title.

Took me an hour of waiting at the DMV.

ahh.......nobody is going to show up with a check to buy a $200. car.:D

I saw a T shirt in Sausalito, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.


It had a picture of a woman with her mouth open in horror, and her hands up to her face. And this caption:


Oh, F*** !!!! I left the baby on the bus!!!!