well i found a 03 that i like and everything is good with it price is perfect but the only question i have is the seller owns a bodyshop and sells cars on the side, he bought the car from a customer and has the title and bill of sale but the title is not in his name. he said he didnt wanna pay TTL cause he wasnt the one driving it. is it true that he can get the title put in my name?
help please!!!
DOPER.
You should be fine. I have sold cars before I got a title transfered to my name before, and since I never put my name on anything it was like the person I sold it to was buying it form who I bought it from. If they already put his name on the title then you wouldnt be able to do this since he signed it it would have to go into his name first.
.
.
ok so i need to find out if the guy that im buying it from signed it?
DOPER.
Shouldn't be a problem just make sure you go to the courthouse and it can be swapped over before you pay the guy. if he owns a body shop and the price is good id be more worried if it was in a previous accident or if it has a salvage title.
Yeah, like when I bought a car last year, I had him put the miles, and sign and date it, and then I took the title home and was gonna fill in the milage when I went and got it plated. Well, I ended up selling the car because it broke like that night the engine blew ( 98 Eclipse GS-T , so of course it didnt last til I got home ) and then I had to sell it for like 500 bucks with a blown motor, so I never titled it. There were a few other times this has happened ( not blown up, just sold the car ) in the last year or so trying to find something I really wanted, I was trading cars all the time. I ended up with another J and I love it, but I had Camaros, Eclipse, 73 Nova, etc. lol. But yeah, since I never knew how long id have it, I never transfered anything, just kept the bill of sale with me and put insurance on it.
.
.
Yea it really doesn't look like it was wrecked. Title is clean. Hope all goes well
Also its a mechanic shop sorry not a paint and body shop
DOPER.
yes it can be done. but he is avoiding paying tax on it, which is illegal. its called tax evasion. truthfully if you like it enough have him transfer the title into his name and then buy it. if has car lot on the side he is cheating eveyone out of tax money. kind of a reason taxes keep going up. plus if you have problems with the car you can not legally go back on him for it either because legally he never owned it.
The BMV people said it was fine that way and didnt express and issues with it, I always call them or go up and check before I do anything since a lot of titles have been out of state and things like that. I asked them and they said it would be fine. The cars taxes will be paid for when it is registered. Also, you should be able to get it switched just fine.
As far as you getting it switched just to be able to blame the guy you bought it for with any issues wont matter, as you would be pretty much screwed with it no matter what, used cars are sold as-is with private dealers, so make sure you check it out pretty well. I usually take cars Im looking at to the shop and get it on the lift and take a look at the frame and check for bondo work with a magnet, run a compression check if you can. Check out any check engine lights. People can screw you over with cars ( I have been on the eclipse, but most the time its legit ) so as long as it doesn't have any issues and the price isn't extremely low. I would go with it.
Also, making up a low price when buying a car to get cheaper taxes is tax evasion, not titling a car within 30 days and reselling it isnt, and if it was.. Im sure thats not the reason taxes are so high on everything. Id didnt ruin the economy. Also, he isn't asking about ethics, he wants to know if he can put it in his name, and he can as long as the title wasnt signed by the other party.
First thing I would do when you decide you want the car is check that its what you want, and put insurance on it so you can go get it. Then go get it and the title and sign it and take it to the BMV. However, if he did sign it, you will have to get the guy to suck it up and pay the title fees to get the title in his name, he can have it done express for extra cash, that way he can get it in a few days and you can have him sign it over to you.
.
.
ok thanks for all of the fast help guys
DOPER.
karnage- i disagree on the tax evasion. some states are different on laws of that sort. most fall close to the same. 2 things to keep in mind here also. one is that just because the person behind the counter says its ok does not mean it is ok. i had two cars i put in my name that were gifted to me become audited and they tried to collect taxes on. so yeah the lady behind the counter said it was fine but the people above them said no. luckly they were family. the second is that yes you can come back on people that sell you cars especially small lots. its some kind of consumer protection law that if whom ever is selling the car or product and knows there is a fault with it that they have to buy it back. its something like a lemon law. i don't know the laws exactly since i am not an attorney. don't forget this is the country that you can sue someone for spilling hot coffee on yourself. lol
Yeah, I would def. check to be sure because you would always want to be on the safe side. MrThompson is right. There are a lot of ways to get yourself in trouble, so this situation has worked out for us, but if you arent in a huge rush, id go ahead and transfer it over to save yourself from any issues. I wouldnt want to tell you something and have you get in trouble. I wouldnt try to do anything wrong and it was completely innocent in my case but him having a lot like that, he should have quick access to the resources to get it done quickly. So, id make him stick to what is safest for all parties and get it swapped over, if you cant come to an agreement, my car was 4k and taxes were only 280, so assuming its close to that price, I wouldnt let it be a dealbreaker.
.
.
Well, I guess the laws by you guys are different. I have bought cars to fix, and re-sell them. I never changed the title over because, just like the guy told the OP, I wasn't going to drive nor keep them very long. I have done this with two cars (a 96 Thunderbird and a 97 Cadillac SLS) and neither of them were resold in my name nor was there any issues for the new or the old owners. But I also gave the old owner a Bill of Sale that me and them both signed, and I did the same thing with the new owners. As long as the title is signed by the previous owner, all should be fine. All the op needs to do, is just go to the DMV, with the singed title, and change it to his name. It is literally like the previous owner sold it to him. Nothing wrong with that. And here in Illinois, they dont care how much (if any) you paid for the car, the tax is based off the year of the car. And I was not going to pay for plates and title change (Over 200 by the way here in Illinois) for a car I was not planning on keeping longer then I needed too. Case and point, the Thunderbird went a buddy I know, and he had no issues with the title transfer, and the Cadillac went to another friend I knew and he never had any issues with the title change. So if that was tax evasion then oh well, but its pointless for me to title and plate a car that was not going to see the road with me behind the wheel, and then wait 1-2 months for Illinois to send me the title back with my name on it. If I were going to keep the car (which one car I did that I bought for 100 bucks and spent almost 300 getting the title and plates changed to me) then I would have titled it, but it was pointless for me to change all the stuff around, be stuck with the car for 1-2 months waiting on a title, and pay more then I paid for the car just to get the title changed when I was not going to drive it. But to the OP, as long as the title is signed by the previous owner, then you will be fine. Just take the title to the DMV tell them you just bought the car, want to title it, and be done. No more no less. Either way goodluck.
EDIT: Oh and MRThompson again, not sure what state ur from, but here in Illinois, If the new buyer signs a Bill of Sale stating its a AS IS CONDITION/NO WARRANTY it does not matter if the car breaks down 5 blocks from the place they bought it from, its the new owners problem. When buying a used car that is. Not saying this has happened but it did happen to a friend (he bought a 98 GTP and 2 days later the engine locked up, nothing he can do, since he signed a paper saying it was in AS IS Condition. So if I sold someone a car and they were full aware it was used and in as is shape and signed a paper saying that, there is nothing the new owner can do. Now if he buys the car, and does not sign that saying that, then he MAY have a very very slight chance, but in used cars, the new owner never wins if something breaks on a car they just bought.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Friday, February 04, 2011 12:50 AM
mike that sucks u have to wait 2 months on a title. ohio prints them off right in front of u. yeah i'm not even sure of all the laws of ohio. i just know there are consumer laws protecting people and when u buy a car you don't have to tag it but at minium title it. they really frown upon skipping titles. i think the reason why is alot of people bought a car and 30 day tag drove it till the tag expired then traded it off. not say you couldn't do it, because you still can. its just that u can get in trouble for it.
Thats true, and I understand where your coming from. Yeah Illinois you have to turn in the title from the previous owner, then the DMV sends it to Springfield then prints one out for you, and the sends it back to you in the mail. They dont have 30 day tags here. If you buy a car, and want to tag it, then you must purchase new tags for it. If they had the simeple thing like your speaking of, then I would have no issues doing that. But just with the wait times for the new title and such, it was pointless for me who was just going to flip it anyways. Sitting 2 months on a car just for the title, then sitting on it longer to wait for it to sell is just me sitting on my money and it just wasnt feasible for me. Plus in Illinois if you sell more then 11 cars in a year, and they notice it, you then must purchase a dealers license and to do that, you gotta jump through wayyy too many hoops to just get it going. But either way, Im willing to bet that the OP will be just fine.
Mike - yeah I see what u r saying. They have the same thing here in ohio about the dealer license. Its only 5 or 6 cars tho.
As long as the title is signed by the person who's name is on the title, and it doesn't say it was sold to the mechanic, you should be good to go. Yeah, it's not exactly legal, but as long as the mechanic didn't put his name on it, he won't get caught. I've done it with a few things before.
2000 Ford F-250 7.3 Powerstroke 4x4 - Not stock
1973 16' Tahiti Speedboat
1983 200 HP Mercury BlackMax
1997 Chevy Cavalier with 275K miles
