# Can you submit a title in Mass. without registering?

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/can-you-submit-a-title-in-mass-without-registering/33857>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [July 23, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/can-you-submit-a-title-in-mass-without-registering/33857 "2009-07-23T17:12:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![awall422](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@awall422](https://community.cartalk.com/u/awall422)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/can-you-submit-a-title-in-mass-without-registering/33857/1 "2009-07-23T17:12:10Z")

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I want to buy a project car to work on and I know it won’t be able to pass inspection for awhile. Do you have to register a vehicle right away if you don’t want to have it on the road?

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**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/can-you-submit-a-title-in-mass-without-registering/33857/2 "2009-07-23T17:46:59Z")

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I don’t know of any state that requires you to register a car…Including MA. Registration is only for a car that is to be driven. Many farm equipment is NEVER registered. My wifes uncle owns two F-150 pickups that aren’t registered. They never leave the farm.

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**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/can-you-submit-a-title-in-mass-without-registering/33857/3 "2009-07-23T17:52:05Z")

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Ask your local motor vehicle authority about this.

As far as I know you only need to register it if you want to license it and drive it. As long as you have the title the car is yours.

Not sure what you mean by “submit a title.”

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**Author:** ![jayhawkroy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jayhawkroy/32/33_2.png) [@jayhawkroy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jayhawkroy)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/can-you-submit-a-title-in-mass-without-registering/33857/4 "2009-07-23T18:07:38Z")

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I assume what you mean is that you need to transfer title of the car to your name, but not register it for motor vehicle use purposes.

In Missouri and Kansas, there are means of doing this, to transfer title and get a “non operational vehicle” title, to preserve ownership on the record (and sometimes tax roles), but not require to license & register the car until it is operational. In these two cases, you have to get a new title for an operational vehicle, at the time of registration for on-road use. Also in both states, failure to re-title a vehicle after sale or transfer causes penalties to accrue when you do actually get the car titled and registered.

I would suspect Mass has such a procedure and that is what you need to find out from them.

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**Author:** ![grampy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9adbd/32.png) [@grampy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/grampy)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/can-you-submit-a-title-in-mass-without-registering/33857/5 "2009-07-23T23:54:21Z")

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Call the RMV,or your insurance company