Open Title Purchase
I was looking at a trailer online and it was reported to have a clean title. The seller explained he had the title after purchase from a family member original owner who signed the back of the title....
Forum Discussion
We bought a small RV to take to Alaska. Bought from a dealer who had it on consignment. When we paid (cash) for it, I received all the title and stuff. The stuff were newsclippings. It seems the RV was owned by an older couple. She and her husband RV'd and when he died, she kept it hoping to continue. Then she died. It sat at their place for a couple years, I understand, while the estate was settling, then the neighbor who dabbled in used cars offered to buy it. So he did, but he never had the title transferred.Don't remember how it was signed on the back or if it was. He gave it to the RV dealer in partial trade and asked them to sell it for him. This was all in Michigan.
We see it advertised in RV Trader magazine and go look. Decide to buy. We were fulltimers from South Dakota. The title was in the dead couple's names, hence the newsclippings of their demise. Talk about a mess. We didn't know any of this till we paid for it. We operated in good faith that the dealership had all the proper documents. South Dakota rejected the application. The dealership we bought from were mortified, but said they would buy it back if it couldn't be straightened out. They tried to contact the guy they bought it from but he didn't respond. But it was never in his name anyway.
So I started doing some detective work. The newsclipping listed survivors and where they were from. Believe it or not, I found their daughter on FB and contacted her via email. Bless her heart. She knew the entire history of the vehicle and what's even better, she worked for a trucking company and handled titles and documents all day long. She said, "I know exactly what you need." She sent all the necessary papers,including a power of attorney, etc. We sent all that in and BINGO, it worked. Got our title and had the rig for 10 years till I just recently sold it.
Thankfully it all worked out, but the dealership, which is very small and only handles a couple of high profile coaches a year, was very honest and would have taken it back plus the upgrades we had already done, mainly tires and an oil change. It is more of a hobby for a couple of guys who love the older high dollar coaches. So it all worked out and I'm glad it did.
Dale
We see it advertised in RV Trader magazine and go look. Decide to buy. We were fulltimers from South Dakota. The title was in the dead couple's names, hence the newsclippings of their demise. Talk about a mess. We didn't know any of this till we paid for it. We operated in good faith that the dealership had all the proper documents. South Dakota rejected the application. The dealership we bought from were mortified, but said they would buy it back if it couldn't be straightened out. They tried to contact the guy they bought it from but he didn't respond. But it was never in his name anyway.
So I started doing some detective work. The newsclipping listed survivors and where they were from. Believe it or not, I found their daughter on FB and contacted her via email. Bless her heart. She knew the entire history of the vehicle and what's even better, she worked for a trucking company and handled titles and documents all day long. She said, "I know exactly what you need." She sent all the necessary papers,including a power of attorney, etc. We sent all that in and BINGO, it worked. Got our title and had the rig for 10 years till I just recently sold it.
Thankfully it all worked out, but the dealership, which is very small and only handles a couple of high profile coaches a year, was very honest and would have taken it back plus the upgrades we had already done, mainly tires and an oil change. It is more of a hobby for a couple of guys who love the older high dollar coaches. So it all worked out and I'm glad it did.
Dale
