Open Title Purchase

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

Grit dog wrote:


I think the proper terminology is “may” be.
I’ve bought vehicles/toys with titles that were not in the sellers name and waited years to title in my name. No issues with fines or late fees.
Same with titles in the sellers name.
Same with things already owned when we moved here and not re-titling them with a WA title for months or years.
Haven’t found it to be a big deal.

Just relaying actual experiences which may differ from others’ experiences I suppose.

Bottom line, I don’t care who’s name is on a title as long as it’s a valid title and it’s signed over (or magically gets signed over before hitting the dmv…;)

Not so much with toys, but a guy that drove 1 of my trucks decided to buy his own. He got a good deal, but truck needed work to do the kind of work he expected to do. I swapped him bigger rearends and transmission for a pick-up. He worked on it nights and weekends for about 3 weeks, before he went to DMV, could not get tittle/plates. He had bought it with open title from son of registered owner. Another son had applied for lost title, got that tittle transferred to his name. Seller refunded what he was paid for truck, but all the work and parts where lost.
For some reason mods do not like my personal experience having open titles.

ScottG wrote:


If you were a dealer, you'd have been fined.

In my state, there a places on the back of tittle for dealers. Don't think works same as open title

Grit dog wrote:

ScottG wrote:
Where I live, if you wait too long to transfer title, you will be fined.

I think the proper terminology is “may” be.
I’ve bought vehicles/toys with titles that were not in the sellers name and waited years to title in my name. No issues with fines or late fees.
Same with titles in the sellers name.
Same with things already owned when we moved here and not re-titling them with a WA title for months or years.
Haven’t found it to be a big deal.

Just relaying actual experiences which may differ from others’ experiences I suppose.

Bottom line, I don’t care who’s name is on a title as long as it’s a valid title and it’s signed over (or magically gets signed over before hitting the dmv…;)

If you were a dealer, you'd have been fined.

Bucky is so right. I almost got burnt because you must register in 30 days? or less or the fines start to mount. It was going to cost over $300 to just get a title in my name. I took that mess to another state and with no fuss and $10 I had my title in my hand. No sense in it being as complicated as in NC. Its all about the money.

Some states require notarized signatures for title transfers. NC where I live is one of those states. It's a royal PITA when selling something to another NC resident when NCDMV is closed, but if the buyer is out of state Micky Mouse can be the buyer.
I would still balk in this case until the title is in the sellers name.

When you think about it the title holder and the 3rd party buyer that assumes all the risk. The middle man takes the money and has no paper trail to the vehicle!

Its different in every state and I think none are the same. So odds of someone in Washington knowing the law in WV, SC, or FL are slim and none. And what you read on their web site may very well be different when you arrive on site.

Grit dog wrote:

ScottG wrote:
Where I live, if you wait too long to transfer title, you will be fined.

I think the proper terminology is “may” be.
I’ve bought vehicles/toys with titles that were not in the sellers name and waited years to title in my name. No issues with fines or late fees.
Same with titles in the sellers name.
Same with things already owned when we moved here and not re-titling them with a WA title for months or years.
Haven’t found it to be a big deal.

Just relaying actual experiences which may differ from others’ experiences I suppose.

Bottom line, I don’t care who’s name is on a title as long as it’s a valid title and it’s signed over (or magically gets signed over before hitting the dmv…;)

You suppose correctly. Actual experiences differ from state to state. I have been fined for not registering a vehicle past the date deemed by the DMV to be late. And not titling after registering is another fine, also determined by how long you waited. I believe the amount now is $25/month to a max of $250.

In my state the person who's name is on the title is the legal registered owner and remains that way til the title is transfetred to another person. Whether the signed the back or not.

StonedPanther wrote:
It appears there are quite a few Internet forum armchair attorneys confusing registration legalities and requirements with ownership legalities and requirements in this thread. Two different things.

Not a lawyer, but over the years I have bought and sold more than a few vehicles. Lawyers have told me that until my name is on the title, I don't own it. And unless I had dealer license, the title must be transferred to my name before I could sell. (More than few times I have made the 300 mile round trip because did not want to hold a vehicle long enough to use local DMV/mail)

I know there might be times when the real owners name might not be on the tittle, but understanding the state get funding from the paperwork, I bet very few of those times will the tittle be open.