Should You Even Buy A Vehicle Without A Legal Title Certificate?

Common Questions About Buying Vehicles Without Titles
ONE of the most common questions we get is about buying a vehicle without a title. Obviously, if you already have a vehicle with no title, you want to proceed with title recovery and some of the methods that we talk about on our website in order to get a title for it. If you already have the vehicle, what about if you don’t have a vehicle and you’re looking to buy one and you’re not going to get a title when you buy it? Should you do that? Well, officially we don’t recommend purchasing a vehicle without a title.

Why We Don’t Recommend Buying Without a Title
HERE’S why. All of these methods for getting a title that you see on our website for title recovery, court order title, bonded title, VT transfer, prior and a contact, all the different methods that are available work most of the time. Sometimes though, there is something about the vehicle that would prevent you from ever getting a title.

Scenario 1: Stolen Vehicles
FOR example, an obvious situation is if the vehicle is reported stolen, can’t get a title.

Scenario 2: Junk or Parts-Only Vehicles
WHAT about other possible scenarios? What if the vehicle has been reported as a junk or parts only vehicle? Sometimes if a vehicle has been owned by an insurance company where they paid out a total loss claim, they have reported it to the federal government as a junk or a parts-only vehicle. Now, don’t think you can just look at the vehicle and see what kind of shape it’s in and know that it’s not a junk vehicle. Many times, these vehicles are completely in good condition, but the insurance company has reported as parts only because of liability purposes.

Scenario 3: Open Liens
ANOTHER scenario is if the vehicle has an open lean against it. Now, leans sometimes can be removed. There’s a process for doing that. You can see on our website at cartitles.com, there’s a lean release removal process. Usually that works. But if the person who borrowed the money for that vehicle has been actively deceiving the lender and it’s an active default, there may not be an easy way to remove the lean.

Scenario 4: Delinquent Taxes or Registration
ANOTHER scenario where a title could be impossible is if the vehicle has been delinquent on back taxes or on back registration. Some states, if their registration fees or taxes are not paid, paid on the vehicle will freeze that VIN number. they will freeze that title so that nobody can get a title for it.

The Risk of Buying Without a Title
SO, as you’re looking at buying a vehicle, you’re looking at buying something without a title, remember that there is some chance that you may never ever get a title.

Limitations of VIN Checks
AND you might say, “Well, gee, can I do a title search? Can I run a VIN check? Can I check the VIN?” Well, yes and no. All of these VIN checks that you see online, Carfax, VIN search, all these different online consumer searches don’t check for everything. Even if you look at their terms and conditions at the bottom of their site, it’ll tell you this isn’t a real 100% government VIN search. It’s a just a kind of a basic online database. Many times it doesn’t even show up if it’s stolen. It doesn’t show any leans. It might say it looked for leans, but most states don’t report leans outside of their DMV.

DMV Limitations
AND you might say, “Well, can I go to the DMV and check this?” Well, you might be able to go there, but you’d have to go in person with your photo ID. They won’t do it over the phone. They won’t do it by email. They don’t do it online, certainly. But here’s the other thing. The DMV probably only has records for their state. So, if there’s some record in another state which would prohibit you from getting a title, it’s not going to show up.

Due Diligence Limitations
SO, you can perform some due diligence in advance to try to see if maybe there’s something obvious that would prevent you from getting a title, but you’ll never be able to know 100% if the vehicle is eligible for a title before you buy it.

Official Recommendation and Risk Warning
SO, officially, we don’t recommend purchasing a vehicle without a title. Obviously, if you have one already, you want to try to get a title. nothing you can do then. But if you want to go ahead with a purchase because you want to take the risk, remember that whatever you’re paying for the vehicle, even if it’s a great deal, is totally at risk until you get the title certificate from that government agency. And until that new title shows up in your name, you are at risk of losing all your money.

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