OK, maybe highER mileage. Average miles per year is somewhere around 12K, so after 6 years, 70-80,000 miles would be average on a 2017.
Private sale with a lien?
- Thread starter Elkins45
- Start date
In KY the buyer holds the title but the lien is recorded on it. When you pay it off you take the payoff letter and the title to the county clerk and she notarizes the lien clearance.
Thinking about it, I've sold two vehicles that I owed money on here in VA and don't recall any drama. You get a copy of your title here so just sign it over and paid off the loan. You can always just both go to the bank to do the transaction or I've heard there are services that can do this using escrow/third party to ensure it's paid off. Really isn't strange/shady to owe money on a vehicle and sell it privately.
I'm sure there is a better way to do this than what you described, right? If im understanding correctly, in the situation you described, to the bank you're essentially just some guy thats helping pay of this dudes(the sellers) loan, and they send a non-lien title to the seller in the sellers name. That doesnt seem any better than giving the seller money blind in the parking lot then praying he sends you a clean title to sign at some point. I've never been a buyer or seller in this situation but I always assumed there was some kind of mechanism IE when you are at the bank(lien holder) with the seller you can have the new non-lien title signed over to you during the process of the loan being payed off and the lien released.
I understand that its not instantaneous in terms of processing and receiving the new lien-free title, I would have just thought theres some procedure that would be available that guarantees the buyer gets on the title, by whatever mechanism or point in the process that would be.
There might be, I'm just not aware of it. If the seller can't pay it off themselves, you pretty much have to pay it off for him directly to the bank. As long you have possession of the car, 9/10th of the law is on your side.
Never do liens. If you can't get the title in your hands at the time of transaction, the deal is dead.
Then good luck buying anything late model from a private seller.
My state has a paper title application, with carbon copies for the buyer and any other interested party.
There's a "registrant" name & address field, and, if applicable, a "lienholder" one.
I would trust the bank to put the original form in with the DMV if they gave me a carbon copy showing me the title was going to be coming in my name to my address. I wouldn't trust some random dude unless we met at the DMV and did the papers at the counter.
I think the point is with a private sale, you don't know what the seller might be up to or if he disappears. With a dealer, you know where they are and they have more accountability.
I guess at some point private sale isn't for everyone and yes, I agree/understand that you can screwed over either way. As I've said, here in VA, you have your paper title, it just says lein on it. You sell the car, sign over the title, the buyer can go reg the car/title it that day but of course it has a lein still on it that is released when the bank loan is paid off by the seller with the proceeds from the sale. I believe the rest is handled by the DMV w/r to a new title that says "no lein". I'm honestly not sure what happens in the case that you have the title but the seller didn't pay the loan off, does the bank come repo your car or go after the seller? I like the idea of these third-party escrow services that handle this and is should make this process easier for both parties or just doing the transaction at the bank (could even be remote now..Zoom call!) to make sure the loan is paid off.
A buyer in MD or probably any other state couldn't register or title a car with a title like that. Find it hard to believe you could do that in VA. I mean, if there is lien on it, the seller doesn't have full right, title and interest in it. The bank does.
Ask for the pay off for the lien and cut a cashiers check for whatever amount you're contributing. Put your name in the remitter and a comment about purchase of vehicle.
Your protection is the sales contract, a copy of the cashier's check from both you and the seller (if he has to come up with some money on his side), a copy of the payoff quote, and the vehicle. The state will mail the clean title to the seller as soon as the bank reports it paid off. Seller will sign and should overnight the title to you or hand deliver it if possible. This is how I sold my 335d and the buyer, who was a hedge fund manager, had no problems with it.
Your own state may do things a little differently. Give them a phone. It won't hurt.
In KY the lienholder doesn’t hold the title, the car possessor does, but the lien holder is listed on the face. To transfer the title the buyer would need the seller to sign it and have it notarized. The buyer would need the payoff letter from the lender to have the title cleared by the county clerk, or would need the seller to do that for them. So I guess I’ve ended up answering my own question in a roundabout way. I would only do it if I could have a copy of the payoff letter at the time of transfer.
This.
OP, please, please research this before you hand over 1 cent.
If the seller has a title in hand and it shows a lien holder, that's not a title you can take to the DMV and get your plates.
There MUST be documentation that the lien is paid off.
