Lost Vehicle Title Not in Your Name

So how do you proceed if you’ve got a title for a car from the prior owner, not from the current owner? This is Dave at cartitles.com.

Problem Identification
From was not the legal title owner. They got the title from somebody else and is just transferring it to them. It’s presented by a different person.

Risks Involved
The seller and the owner—there’s risk in taking that car because you don’t know if the legal owner actually signed that title. Maybe it’s a different signature. You don’t know what the circumstances were.

Initial Steps
The first thing to do is find out the reasons why that seller doesn’t have the title in their name already. There’s many solutions. There’s vehicle title solutions and car title solutions that you can use to fix this problem.

Key Advice
The main thing is, don’t lose that document. And as soon as you’re able to transfer it to your name and get that car title solution into your name, then go ahead and do that.

Consequences of Delay
Because if you lose that document, now you have to go back and find a prior owner and track through the chain of title.

Conclusion
So transfer it immediately. Find the solution to that problem as soon as you can. Don’t put it off until you get the car fixed or months later, because if you lose that title or if you lose contact with the seller, it may be more difficult to get that title into your name.

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Lost Vehicle Title Before Transfer Registration

Identifying the Problem
So how do you fix a problem if you lost your title before you transfer the registration to your name? If you have a vehicle that you purchased and before you switch it to your name, you lost that title, you may have found out from the DMV that you have some difficulties.

Assessing the Situation
Let’s start out with this: first, find out how long did you have the car? If you’ve had it a long time and you’d lost track of the prior owner, the seller, that might be a problem. If it’s only been a few days, it might be easier.

Gathering Necessary Documents
Then look at what documents do you have. Do you have a copy of that title? Do you have a bill of sale that’s signed? Do you have the old registration? Those will help progress you down the chain of events to get a title.

Considering Professional Help
It’s very likely you can do this yourself. There are many title agents online charging money for services to fix that problem. The only reason they’re charging money is because they have knowledge of a process that you can do yourself, and you just don’t know about it yet. That’s why we have these videos.

DIY Process and Resources
Depending upon the year of the vehicle, what type of vehicle, and what paperwork you have, it’s a do-it-yourself process. It costs very little, if not zero money. You can ask questions about your particular scenario at consumers title.org.

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Jumped Vehicle Title

So if you have a title for a vehicle and it’s not assigned directly from the owner, you have what’s called a jumped title.

Definition and Impact of a Jumped Title
And what is the jump title or skip title due for ownership? It means that there are in-between owners from you to the last person who was issued a title by a government agency that have not been documented. So Joe Schmoe has a title, they sell it to Sally Smith, they sell it to somebody else, and then it never gets titled in their names. And then finally you have this title handed to you that’s signed over to you. Maybe those people are reflected, maybe they’re not, but now you have a jump title. This creates gaps in the chain of title so that people who have owned that vehicle but in possession of that vehicle have never established themselves as legal title owners.

Consequences of a Jumped Title
How does that affect you? Well, the one thing that can happen is some of those owners can come forward with claims of ownership of the vehicle, especially if there are lien holders. If one of those owners pawned the title or borrowed money against the car, that lien holder may come back and try to claim the car.

Legal and Financial Implications
Now, there’s also legal issues. The DMV requires that if a title is transferred or a vehicle is transferred, that the title be changed within a certain period of time. It could be 15, could be 30 days. There may also be taxes due on any sale of a vehicle or registration fees. This is often the reason why titles are jumped, to try to eliminate taxes or evade taxes.

Risks with Unlicensed Dealers
There’s also curb owners who are unlicensed dealers who buy and sell cars and don’t want to put the car in their name because it can trigger records at the DMV to identify them as a dealer, and they don’t have a license. So be aware that there may be people besides you who have a copy of that title that’s signed over to them or that’s not signed that could affect your ownership if you have a jumped title or skip title.

Getting Help
If you have questions about getting a title for your vehicle, you can reach the other website at cartitles.com.

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Import Vehicle Titles

How do you get a title document for a vehicle to import the vehicle into the U.S.? In many cases, we come across vehicles that are intended to be titled in the United States but that have a prior history in another country.

Import vs. Visiting Process
The import process is different from the visiting process. What that means is if you have a vehicle in Canada, let’s say, and you drive into the U.S. and you go across the border, that’s not importing the vehicle. That vehicle is just visiting the U.S., and when you go through the border crossing into the United States, they check to make sure the vehicle is legal and has a title and a registration from Canada, but they don’t import the vehicle. That means that the car can’t stay in the U.S. as a U.S. car; at some point, it will go back.

Steps for Importing a Vehicle
If you want to bring that car in to be titled and domiciled in the U.S., it has to go through the import process, and there are at least three government agencies involved: Department of Transportation (DOT), the EPA for emissions, and the National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA) also verifies certain items about the car. The car has to qualify to be imported, meaning that it has to be the right brand, has to be manufactured for use in the U.S., all the safety features (things like bumper height) that matches up, things like emissions. There are trade agreements with the country that manufactured the car. All those three government agencies have to verify that.

Requirements and Qualifications
If the car is already in the U.S. and has been visiting for a period of time, it may have to go back to the border or outside the U.S. to go through that import process. Just because it’s in the U.S. does not mean that it has been imported, and not every car qualifies. If it was manufactured in a country that doesn’t have a trade agreement, if it’s a brand that’s not allowed to be in the country, or even if it’s a brand that is sold in the U.S. but that particular car wasn’t manufactured for United States titling, it’s not going to fly.

Simplified Process for Previously Titled Vehicles
The first thing to find out is whether that car was ever titled in the U.S. before. If it is, then that import process was already done. Even if it went offshore for some period of time, it’s going to be a lot simpler process to get a title in the U.S.

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Bought a Car with No Vehicle Title

So what happens if you bought a car with no title? This is Dave at cartitles.com.

Seller’s Title Status
A seller will have a car that they don’t have the title for. What happens if you buy it? Well, the place to start is to find out why the seller did not have the title. Was the title just in their name and they lost it, or was the car never legally titled in their name, meaning that it was printed on the front of the title, their name, not that it was signed over to them, but legally issued to them? What did they tell you about that story? How does that match up with what you’re finding out about the vehicle?

Investigating Vehicle Records
Look for other records in the vehicle. Who is the title owner? An old registration, even things like service records, can help you. Did the seller show you their ID so you can verify who their identity actually is?

Importance of a Bill of Sale
More importantly, did you at least get a bill of sale? A bill of sale transferring the car over to you will at least be some documentation that you actually bought that car. It’s not enough to actually get a title from the DMV in most cases, but at least separate you from a person who just grabbed a car out of a parking lot.

Legal Documentation
Because you, without a bill of sale, are in exactly the same legally documented scenario as somebody who just snatched up a car off the street—you have nothing. So at least get a bill of sale, get ID from the seller, and depending upon the type of vehicle, there may be a “do-it-yourself” process that you can use for a title solution for that car.

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