Private Car Sale Receipts

[tiger862]

Originally Posted by NormanBuntz
Originally Posted by opus1
I've also heard that you want to do the transaction at the DMV/BMV and make sure that the new owner applies for a new title then and there. Until that's done, as far as the state is concerned, the car is still yours.

Personal experience: Dad sold a car private party and 2 weeks later got a call from a neighboring town's PD warning him that if he didn't remove "his" car from a parking lot at one of the businesses there, they'd impound it as an abandoned vehicle.

This is why you get the buyer's drivers license information, have a detailed and signed bill of sale, retrieve your license plates, cancel your insurance and notify your DMV of the vehicle sale. Then let the PD impound the moron's vehicle.

I did all these things except go to DMV never again. Guy never completed transaction and got pulled over for no plates and went to jail. What did I get was a call that storage fees were adding up that I would have to pay which I said no I know longer own it. Low and behold I go to renew license I have a flag for no insurance and storage fees so I go get my copies and got fees off storage but still had to pay 350.00 cause insurance was dropped without vehicle being legally out of my name. If I sale another we can go DMV or title place before he leaves with vehicle and I have copies.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by NormanBuntz
So in Ohio, you would buy a used vehicle let's say for $10,000 to $20,000, and all you'd want to walk out the door is the keys and the executed title. That wouldn't fly in the states I've lived in: PA, VA, NC and FL.
Yes and it happens every day. Smoothly executed private sales of used cars I mean.

You know what else happens every day in the USA? Altered and counterfeited vehicle titles and altered VIN's. Caveat emptor.

 

[exranger06]

Another really good video about selling cars privately; I think this is the video I was originally looking for:

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by NormanBuntz

Good idea. As for buyers not liking a detailed bill of sale, that's plain stupid. They need it to get title and tags. .


Not in Arizona. A signed, notarized title is all you need to prove ownership. Sold a few privately here, when it leaves the driveway I get on the AZDOT site and fill out a vehicle sold notice, done & gone.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by NormanBuntz
So in Ohio, you would buy a used vehicle let's say for $10,000 to $20,000, and all you'd want to walk out the door is the keys and the executed title. That wouldn't fly in the states I've lived in: PA, VA, NC and FL.
Yes and it happens every day. Smoothly executed private sales of used cars I mean.

"Doesn't fly" in other states ? Who cares ? In Ohio, it works and is acceptable to the agencies that are involved.

also in Ohio, the plates stay with the owner, not the car.if you sell your car, and your existing plates still have "time left"( your registration is due on your birthday) you can put them on whatever the heck you want to...

case in point - back in 2010 I bought a car from my brother who lived in TX at the time.
I went ahead and sold my car, drove the car to the buyers house(3-4 doors down my road) and removed my plates.
had a flight booked in about 2 weeks to go get my "new" car. during that time went ahead and contacted the motor vehicle people in both states to find out what i needed to do to keep everything all legal like.

following the advice of the Ohio BMV( it's the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Ohio for some reason, not a Dept...) , I took my plates with me( this was in Feb, my reg. was good until late August)

my buddy and I flew down, when we got to my brother's house, took his plates off, put mine on, and hit the road.

first place I went when i got into town was the BMV/Title Dept building. had to have the BMV inspect it since it was from out of state, then with the inspection slip and the signed TX Title, the Title Dept Issued me an OH Title in my name, then back across the hall to the BMV with the Title, and got my plates transferred to that car...
Easy Peasy.

Infact, if you trade in a vehicle in ohio, the dealer switches your plates over to your new vehicle for you. then when you get your Title (or memorandum Title if Financing), you take that to the BMV with your existing registration to get things switched over.
(if you're not trading anything in, the dealer issues a 30 day temp tag that you use until you receive the title)

 

[Hall]

You can transfer your plates from one vehicle (usually one that you no longer own) to a new-to-you vehicle but you have to go through the proper process. I think the BMV gave you slightly bad advice when they told you to put your plates on the car you just bought. If you had gotten pulled over, especially in Ohio, they could get you for something. I'm not sure what the official violation(s) would be - failure to register, using plates assigned to a different vehicle, etc. Technically, to be 100% in compliance with the law, you would have to either get a temporary tag in TX (no idea if they do temp tags) or trailer/tow the vehicle. I'm not trying to be anal about it either, just talking hypothetically. I mentioned earlier that I bought my sister's car (in OH) and drove on her plates for almost a week. I hadn't transferred the title yet either so I maybe could argue that it's still her car and she's letting me drive it.

Your example of a dealer doing this is different, I believe. They are able to 'register' the car and re-assign the plates. You can't do that in a private sale though.

 

[doitmyself]

I learned the hard way also. After selling my Caravan and doing the proper paperwork, the buyer never went to the DMV to complete his obligations. He installed license plates from another vehicle, gave it to his elderly mom, and she drove it, not knowing it was illegal (no insurance either). When she tried to sell it, the DMV records still showed it as my vehicle. I was able to straighten things out and my lawyer said I would have not been liable for any accidents, damage, etc., but it sure gave me a scare.

 

[ekpolk]

Careful guys. This is a great country, and our 50-state federal system still allows each state great flexibility to run its own affairs (even accounting for the general slide of power toward the federal gov't). The problem is that questions like this one tend to have answers that are state specific. Of course, there are general principles that apply everywhere, but sometimes, even the same exact term will have a significantly different meaning as you cross the state line. My point, simply is that, while a discussion like this is perfectly fine to have, we should all be careful to get answers to these questions that are valid in our state.

An MD will cut your appendix out in Anchorage Alaska pretty much the same way another MD in Miami Florida will. But the law will change a couple dozen times as you travel from Anchorage to Miami. Be careful.

Be especially careful if anything you do involves the state of Louisiana. Unlike the other 49 states, whose laws are based upon English common law, Louisiana's law is based upon the French/Continental tradition. Things can be VERY different there.

 

[DejaVue]

Your state DMV site may have a printable bill of sale template. It's likely not a required form and is probably just for your personal records.

Pretty sure my state is one of the last states to start requiring the buyer and seller alert the DMV upon change of ownership. So now, as of a couple years ago, the seller is required to mail in a form or just fill out the quick online info that is the VIN, date of sale, and the buyer's name. It's "required" to do that, but I haven't seen any listed legal punishments the state can do if you don't. A seller should generally want the state to know the vehicle is now owned by someone else anyway though. So check your DMV site for that kind of thing.

A bill of sale of any kind doesn't hurt, though I'd be content with just taking a picture of the title after both parties sign it. And then taking a picture of the person buying the car, or taking a picture of the car and license plate they drove to get there would be good.

The only as-is I'd worry about is if a person knowingly sold an unsafe vehicle to someone and then something life-threatening happened. I don't know how well "as-is" would hold up in court if a person brags in public that they just sold a car to someone without telling them the huge fuel leak in the engine bay and big engine sparks would probably make it start on fire within a few miles, and then it does. That's the kind of thing I'd want the buyer to sign a note that they've been informed. Dishonest people wouldn't want the buyer to sign that because dishonest people would try to hide the problem.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by ekpolk
Careful guys. This is a great country, and our 50-state federal system still allows each state great flexibility to run its own affairs (even accounting for the general slide of power toward the federal gov't).

I tried to make sure that I prefaced all of my answers/comments with "in Ohio" while some spouted off their state's specific procedures as if they were the fact for all 50 states.

 

[SeaJay]

In common law, as is means exactly what it says, with zero recourse for the buyer based on condition of the object.

Of course, in today's world where judges think it is a good thing for society if they legislate their own brand of justice from the bench, anything can and does happen.