I am purchasing an SRT6 from another state next week. I have sent the seller some earnest money and the vehicle is being held for me. I am flying down to make the purchase and drive the car home.

I am paying cash for the car, but the current seller has a loan on it. Here is how he has explained the transaction will go.

1) We will go together to his bank, I will payoff the lien and the bank will provide me with a loan payoff document showing the release of the lien.
2) The bank will send a release of lien to the bmv in the seller's state.
3) I will leave with a signed bill of sale, the lien release document and the car.
4) the bmv will mail the title to the seller within two weeks, he will sign and mail to me..

Does this sound ok? Anyone else done this? Is there a way I could get the title and leave with it? Sure would make me feel better. Why couldn't we just take the lien release to the bmv from the bank and get the title on the spot?

Anyone got any advice for me? Thanks.

 

I'd use a cashiers check from my bank.
Other than that, I think that with keys and signed & notarized papers in hand you should be OK.

 

Bhays, I would go to your bank and give them the cash to hold, and have your bank give you a "Letter of Credit" for the sellers bank.
This way the sellers bank has some incentive to hurry up and produce the title so they can get paid.
Your bank could also get in touch with the sellers bank ahead of time, so everything should go smoothly.

 

I live in OH and bought my Crossfire in IN. I was in the exact same situation you are in. As long as you have the papers to prove the lien is paid off, you have a bill of sale, the keys, and the CAR, you are good. It took me about 3 weeks to get the title. What was amuzing was the lady had to scrape up enough of her own money to help pay the loan off - easy to get upside-down in these cars if you bought new.

Also I gave her a self addressed stamped envelope to mail the title to me so I know it would make it to my house.

The problem was I couldn't insure the car until it was in my name. So it sat in the garage for 3 weeks.

James

 

Well, that's a problem. I have to drive the car home from Texas to Indiana, have to be able to insure it.

 

Call your insurance agent. Usually you are insured (liability) to drive any car depending on your policy. I am, but wasn't going to take the chance. I had no problem driving it home, that was a legit drive to get it home.

James

 

Insured for liability or also for damage to the vehicle?

 

The last time the subject came up, years ago, it was for liability only. You need to speak to your agent and take notes.

James

 

As far as the title goes, we sell used cars all the time at dealerships that we don't have titles for because they haven't come from the bank yet. You should be able to get the seller to sign some type of a title application (varies by state) as the seller and a limited power of attorney that will allow you to sign for the seller (only on this single transaction). At that point you can go to the bank & have them mail the title directly to you. Another option is a quick title - many states have that option. Go pay of the car & get a lien release, then drive to the DMV, get a quick title, have the seller sign it over to you & Bob's your Uncle - you are good to go!

 

With NationWide, you're automatically insured for the first 30 days of ownership.
The reason I suggested having your bank deal directly with the sellers bank, is because it usually "speeds up" the title exchange process.

 

I believe ownership means your name is on the title. It is doubtful he will have a title in his name to take home with him.

 

James, I purchased a car at an auction in Sanford Florida, (no title for 30 days) but had to leave it at the auction "storage" lot for a week before I was able to pick it up.
Later that night I was staying in Orlando, when a really bad storm blew through, and I heard on the news in the morning that the storm caused "golf ball" size hail to fall in Sanford.
As it turned out, I didn't get back to Sanford to pick up the car until 2 weeks later, and I was greeted with a 4 year old car that looked like somebody took a hammer to it.
When I got back to Ohio, I called my agent, and explained what happened, and all he asked me was what was the date of the storm.
They verified the storm date, took one look at the car, and wrote me a check before I ever got the title. (Which I had to put into my name when I finally received it).
Bhays just needs to check with his agent. There really shouldn't be any problems I would think.

 

You should be able to get an intransit tag or 20 day non resident tag from the state where you're buying the car. Then you can take out insurance in that state and still drive the car for 3 weeks or so. I don't think you'd need the title for that since you're not registering the car.

 

Bhays some of that is true if you go into the branch in person and provide a cashiers check they can give you what's called a 227 form (lien release form) you can actually take this to that states DMV and get the title transffered to your name so you don't have to wait for it to be sent in the mail. Then once you have the title you can drive it home and register it in your state.

 

On the insurance you should be able to call your agent give them the VIN-mileage and tell them you want to add it to your policy it shouldn't be an issue. I work at a Credit Union here in San Diego, if you have specific questions pm me and I can tell what will be involved.

 

Thanks for the form 227 tip, that sounds like a winner.

I am also told that I can just take the plate from my former car and drive home with it as I have 30 days to register the replacement car?

 

The bank will have the title, not the department of motor vehicles. If you pay off the lein of the seller, the title should be released or mailed to you directly from the bank. A limited power of attorney would allow you to sign the title when you get it.
You then would take the title and bill of sale to your home state's department of motor vehicles and the new title would be issued from your home state and taxes and other fees will be collected.
I would call the bank ahead to see if they would release the title at the time of the payoff, they may not even have it in the bank that you go to. It may be a branch bank, ect. Also, be sure they can send the title directly to you. A local dealer in Texas or your home state should be able to provide you with a generic power of attorney.

 

I'm not sure about how IN works, but I know that in TX the plates follow the car not the driver. I know in IL its the opposite. So you should check into that before putting your plates onto the new car...just in case you get pulled over.

227 sounds like a good plan...

I was gonna suggest letter of credit like was previously suggested. Let us know what you end up deciding to do.

 

In most cases such as my own credit union which has about 26 branches over 500,000 members holding titles is not something that they do, so they have what is called a paperless title so this is where the lien release 227 form comes into play. This shows DMV that the bank has released the lien on the title and has signed it over to you since the title is paperless DMV then creates it, hands it over to you and your the new owner. You can call the bank and explain the situation and say look I'm coming in from out of state with guarenteed funds to purchase one of your members cars. Then say you heard you can get a 227 form for them to release the title once you have it paid it in full, so that you can have the title signed over to you at DMV. If they have the titles on hand then that's even better because then they can just mail directly to you. You'll need the title before you can register the car in your state.

 

Lots of good advice here covering quite a few scenarios. My experience, having purchased quite a few cars using eBay and various online searches, is that since you're making a cash purchase, you've eliminated the need to have a lien attached to the car. That step usually makes the remaining steps much easier.

As long as you have the paperwork in hand (i.e., Bill of Sale, existing lien payoff from seller's financial istitution, etc.) then you're okay with driving the car home even without any tags. And it's always better to drive without tags than to use a tag that is registered to another vehicle. If pulled over & the tag isn't linked to car, cops turn ugly and right off suspect vehicle is stolen. You don't wan tthat kind of heat!

Call your insurance carrier and provide them the VIN, vehicle description, etc. They'll start proceedings to include car on your policy and you're coverage starts right then, even without a title. In fact, I've never had an insurance carrier in any state I've lived in ask me for a title number. They only want to know if their is a lien on the car because by law they have to list that financial institution on the policy and send a copy to show that coverage exists to protect the insurance carrier in the event of a claim or loss.

I do recommend that you protect yourself since the title may not be in your hands for several weeks. The suggestions preceding that discussed Letter of Credit between institutions is a really good one and I might use this next time I'm in this kind of situation. Otherwise try to 'hold back' some funds assuming the purchase price is greater than the lien payoff.

My $0.02.