Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone at a title bureau or BMV has a different idea of what the requirements are? Last fall, went to transfer the Lincoln and the motorcycle since dad is giving them to me. Went to the Arizona title office while we were visiting, and the girl there just had my dad sign the title, and put my name OR my wife's name for the buyer's name. Got ready to leave, realized she hadn't notarized the title, and despite having my mom's name and my dad's name on it, only my dad had signed it. So she notarized it. I asked if my mom had to sign it, she says no, it's not necessary. 
Get back to Ohio, and the girl there says "what's this you OR your wife? We don't recognize OR, so she has to come with you.". Ok, not a problem, I can come back and have her sign her name too. "Oh, your mom didn't sign it, she has to sign it.". Oh, great. "Oh, you have to have the VIN verified since it's an out-of-state title. Can you drive it here?". Heck no, the car is not running, I just had to have it shipped here. "Well, can't you just tow it here so we can verify it?". Um, no. Turns out you can have somebody from the BMV do a VIN verification for a non-running vehicle. After sending the titles back to Arizona for my mom to sign them, I put in a request for the VIN verification. Hadn't heard anything for a couple weeks, so I stopped by the nearby Ford dealer, and talked to the service advisor. Yes, he can do VIN inspection, and totally understands that transporting the car would be difficult, so he was willing to come to my house to do the VIN verification. Great! Right after I had him scheduled, the BMV finally calls, and they can come the next day. Mentioned that I had just arranged to have the Ford dealer do it, and he freaked out saying how he'll pretend he didn't hear that because apparently they aren't allowed to do that. Fine, you can come do both vehicles. He shows up, doesn't even look at the Lincoln's odometer, just writes "Inoperative" on the odometer reading. I asked him about that, since the odometer is functioning, although it has rolled over at least once. "Oh, it doesn't matter since the car isn't operable.". Um, okay. After he leaves, I realize he didn't put my last name on the certificate, so I carefully wrote it in.
Go to the title bureau today, and I get somebody else. This guy immediately notices the OR between the two names, and again says Ohio doesn't recognize OR. Yes I know, that's what they said last time. My wife is here today, just put both our names down with AND. Then he gets to the VIN inspections. "Hey, what's this 'inoperable'?" Ugh, how did I know that would come up. Yes, the mileage on the old title is correct, no, I don't know why the BMV guy didn't look at the odometer and wrote "inoperable", but he insisted it wasn't important. Apparently, it is important. So, the title guy was satisfied that the mileage on the old title is correct, I've confirmed it, but the actual mileage is beyond what the odometer can show. Great! Then he notices that the fields where the printed names of my dad and mom are are blank. "I'll have to check with the guy in charge if you can just put the names on there.". Uh oh, another glitch. Turns out they were OK with leaving them blank, so I was finally able to walk out with two new titles.
I could only think of the line from the movie Apollo 13:
Get back to Ohio, and the girl there says "what's this you OR your wife? We don't recognize OR, so she has to come with you.". Ok, not a problem, I can come back and have her sign her name too. "Oh, your mom didn't sign it, she has to sign it.". Oh, great. "Oh, you have to have the VIN verified since it's an out-of-state title. Can you drive it here?". Heck no, the car is not running, I just had to have it shipped here. "Well, can't you just tow it here so we can verify it?". Um, no. Turns out you can have somebody from the BMV do a VIN verification for a non-running vehicle. After sending the titles back to Arizona for my mom to sign them, I put in a request for the VIN verification. Hadn't heard anything for a couple weeks, so I stopped by the nearby Ford dealer, and talked to the service advisor. Yes, he can do VIN inspection, and totally understands that transporting the car would be difficult, so he was willing to come to my house to do the VIN verification. Great! Right after I had him scheduled, the BMV finally calls, and they can come the next day. Mentioned that I had just arranged to have the Ford dealer do it, and he freaked out saying how he'll pretend he didn't hear that because apparently they aren't allowed to do that. Fine, you can come do both vehicles. He shows up, doesn't even look at the Lincoln's odometer, just writes "Inoperative" on the odometer reading. I asked him about that, since the odometer is functioning, although it has rolled over at least once. "Oh, it doesn't matter since the car isn't operable.". Um, okay. After he leaves, I realize he didn't put my last name on the certificate, so I carefully wrote it in.
Go to the title bureau today, and I get somebody else. This guy immediately notices the OR between the two names, and again says Ohio doesn't recognize OR. Yes I know, that's what they said last time. My wife is here today, just put both our names down with AND. Then he gets to the VIN inspections. "Hey, what's this 'inoperable'?" Ugh, how did I know that would come up. Yes, the mileage on the old title is correct, no, I don't know why the BMV guy didn't look at the odometer and wrote "inoperable", but he insisted it wasn't important. Apparently, it is important. So, the title guy was satisfied that the mileage on the old title is correct, I've confirmed it, but the actual mileage is beyond what the odometer can show. Great! Then he notices that the fields where the printed names of my dad and mom are are blank. "I'll have to check with the guy in charge if you can just put the names on there.". Uh oh, another glitch. Turns out they were OK with leaving them blank, so I was finally able to walk out with two new titles.
I could only think of the line from the movie Apollo 13:
