If you had a loan on the vehicle the title may still be at the credit union or the bank. They don’t automatically send it to you when it’s paid off.
In Minnesota you get the title but it has “security interest” listed on it so people know that has to be satisfied first. Once you get the lien release from the bank, you take that to DMV and they’ll send a new title with out the security interest on it. It’s $10 or $15 for a new or duplicate title and takes a few weeks-or used to before their $100 million new computer system.
If you are the actual owner you can legally sell without the title, assuming you can find a buyer foolish enough to purchase a car without a title.
If successful, the new owner may not be able to register the car for road use, depending on where he lives.
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+1
It’s a variation on the old… “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” spiel…
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Thank you for all of the replies.
The DOL recommended that I don’t get a duplicate title because all I really needed was an affidavit of loss or something and it was cheaper. I filled that out and they said that would be like a stand in for the real title.
What does DOL stand for and how did you get an answer on a week end .
You may not like this . . .
There’s still no way I would buy the car from you, if you didn’t have a title in hand
And you’re going to run into buyers just like me
Even though it may be cheaper to get that “affidavit” . . . your chances of selling the car will increase dramatically if you just get that duplicate title
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And without the title it’s probably not as easy to establish the fact that you sold the car. No way I’d do it.
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He just has to buy it 
You holding a gun to his head Maybe I’m missing something but in Virginia (don’t know about Washington state) you can just walk into the DMV and get a replacement title. Wash. won’t do that Sorry about the marks but my keyboard is losing keys one by one.
It’s true in California that you can fill out a “lost title” statement and the buyer can take that to the State office, but there’s no assurance that the records in the State are showing the same owner as the statement, so it’s a risky thing. Most rational buyers will be very unlikely to do the transaction. If you go to the Motor Vehicle office with the buyer, do the transfer and exchange the cash all at the same time, right there in the office, that would work.
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I am looking to buy a used car right now, and I am amazed how many people offering cars for sale have all kinds of excuses why they don’t have the title, or why the title is in someone else’s name. Oh, and even with a valid notarized title, I still need to run the VIN through the state’s lien search website to see if there are any hidden liens which would prevent ME from transferring title and registering the car.
I have looked at more than one vehicle, where the seller claimed to have a valid notarized title, but then when I did the lien search, there were lien(s) against the title. And of course, the sellers played dumb when I texted them the screenshot showing the lien search inquiry.
Let’s think about who WOULD buy a car when the seller doesn’t have the title. Nobody smart, or wanting to make sure things were done legally. This is another HUGE reason not so sell it this way.
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Department Of Licensing which is Washington State’s version of the DMV.
Starting last month here in OK they started requiring that license plates stay with the owner in perpetuity.
Sell a car without a proper transfer and what happens if this person decides to rob a liquor store and someone gets a plate number, gets drunk and plows into a school bus and bails out on foot, or whatever. Guess who the cops will be paying a visit to.
There’s no way in the world I’d buy a vehicle of any sort without a clean title; unless it’s an antique Harley. It’s pretty common for old ones to be sans paperwork and mainly because of the parts interchaneability and no VIN on the frames.
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Actually something like that happened to me. Several years ago we traded a vehicle in at a major dealership. They sold it to someone who never changed the title and robbed two people at a lake side park. The tag number was reported and an arrest warrant was issued for me. It took a lot of work to prove I had not been the one in the vehicle.
DOL is the Department of Licensing in Washington State. There, an Affadavit of Lost Title is every bit as good as having the original. I would have no worries about getting that when buying a car. I have done it.
Not a good idea, but you can sell the car. However, until the title transfers, you’re on the hook for damages if the pending owner has an accident. Also, the car can’t be insured or registered without a title transfer. IT’S STILL YOUR CAR!
No, that is not correct. Once you sign the title over, it’s no longer your car. If what you said was true, that new car you just bought and drove home from the dealer would still belong to the dealer.
The problem comes from PROVING you no longer own the car. That is why a smart seller also executes a Bill of Sale stating all of the facts regarding the transfer of ownership. I make out two copies and all parties sign both. That way, we each have an original signed copy. I also take a picture of the signed title. Once the exchange of cash and title occurs, you no longer own the car and are not responsible for it. Some municipalities offer affidavits in official forms that can be filled out to inform the regulating bodies that the exchange has occurred so even if the buyer fails to execute the title transfer, it’s on their records as well.
Quite often cars are sold with no title and no bill of sale. Only promises that the title will be produced soon. That’s where the problem lies.This even happens on eBay now and then.
Several decades ago the bank in my small town got robbed on a Monday after a weekend town celebration. Manager and teller were duct taped to the chairs and off the robbers went. The car that was used was found in a small town about 13 between here and OK City. Apparently they used this one for the heist and had a backup car waiting.
Come to find out that beater car had been purchased on the cheap and the title was unchanged. Since this was an FDIC bank the Feds were involved. They paid a visit to the seller of that car and the seller had to do some fast talking to avoid getting hauled in. His neighbors remembered the guys who bought it and a surveillance camera at the convenience store where the getaway car was abandoned showed that the seller was nowhere around. The robbers were never caught.
Probably the same ones who hooked up a chain to an ATM in another small town near here and dragged it 10 miles out into the country before cutting it open. No cops makes it a bit easier.
Affadavits as to sale of the car sounds like a good idea that should be implemented everywhere. A cheap way of heading off problems.
What you said is true, but you were talking about selling without a title. Bill of Sale is a good idea. That with a duplicate title should suffice. There usually is a form attached to the back of the title that goes to the DMV when you no longer own the car. As for your comment on a new car: The dealership does own the car. If you finance it, the title passes to the finance company. You become the registered driver, but not the legal owner. You don’t pay, they repossess it. I bought a new car and the dealership gave me a temporary ownership title. 3 wks later, they gave me the plates, and the title backdated to the day I purchased it.