Thread: stupid question about titles....

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You might be screwed. Even the title you had was suspect, because it was in somebody elses name, and she wasn't the one you had your dealings with. To complicate it, you have thrown another State into the mix.

Every State views titles differently, especially on older cars, but you probably have to start back with the guy you "bought" it from. The question is, how did he have the right to sell it in the first place. You could go to that State and do a search and try to uncover the ladies name and contact her.

Whatever you do, don't spend a penny on the new truck until you have a good title in your name, because you may be giving this truck back. It may work out, but I think even if you hadn't lost the title, you still had some problems with the one you had.

JMO,

Don

Its not a smart thing to not get the title of any car/truck in to your name right away. You can to go to the sec.of state office. I live in MI also. You may be able to fill out a form stating what happened and get a MI title?? At the very least you'll have to get the guy you bought it from to sign it also. If his aunt is still alive you may be up a creek. Best bet contact the sec. state office. Go in don't try doing this over the phone. If nothing else get info from them. Then you can go to a different office with what you learned. Hopefuly you learned to get it in your name before doing anything to it.

We've all done exactly what you did. We are so excited to get that new car into our hands that when we hand over the money the title becomes secondary. We just kind of assume it is ok, maybe give it a quick look over, and then head off into the sunset with our new find. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, and we get into a paperwork nightmare.

Like I said earlier, each State views these things differently. Some require you and the seller to appear in person and attest to the fact this car is legit and sellable. Some States don't even use titles on older cars. But the correct way to do it is know YOUR State's rules, and then before you hand over your hard earned cash make sure the title is exactly as it should be. Is is signed and dated in the right spot, and by the actual person you are dealing with?

Without a title, you have no car, and could be guilty of receiving stolen property, in an extreme case, I suppose. Like I said, you aren't alone in doing this, we all have, and I have had a few headaches in the past trying to straighten out a title after the fact.


Don

You may be in for some trouble, even before you lost it. The guy you bought it from had no legal right to sell it unless his Aunt signed the title and he transferred it over to his name. He would have most likely had to pay some tax money to do this. The fact that they are not talking is a bad deal. Did he transfer the title or not?

Anyway, first I would call KY motor vehicles to inquire about my options. Depending on what they said I would try to seak out the Aunt to attempt to get a duplicate. From what I read she is probably still the legal owner. I would offer to pay her some cash to make it worth her while. I would be very nice to her. You will be at even more risk throughout this as you would pay her up front most likely. If that didn't work I would seek out professional legal help if I thought it was worth it.

Finally if all else failed I would carefully clear the truck of all DNA evidence and take it out to the middle of no-where and leave it for dead !

Good luck. Tell us what happens! Kitz