Title jumping

I am in a process of buying a 1968 car. The present owner parks that car as a garage queen for more than 7 years and has title in hand.

 

However; he does not register the car with his name at DMV over the years and the car title is still under his previous owner who owned for more than 20 years. That previous owner already signed to release the interest of the vehicle to the present owner.

 

As a buyer, what kinds of measure I shall do to ensure a smooth transfer of ownership at DMV?

 

Is it even legal to skip the ownership registration in California??

 

Thx for ur input in advance!

 

Eddy

Car has to be titled in the present owner's name before he can sell it to you. If the title had been signed by the previous owner and the buyers info had been left blank then you may be able to "jump", even still why help the seller cheat sales tax etc?

Yeah, I wouldn't be going to the DMV unless that seller was with me and ready to pay the taxes from his years of ownership.

I am in a process of buying a 1968 car. The present owner parks that car as a garage queen for more than 7 years and has title in hand.

 

However; he does not register the car with his name at DMV over the years and the car title is still under his previous owner who owned for more than 20 years. That previous owner already signed to release the interest of the vehicle to the present owner.

 

As a buyer, what kinds of measure I shall do to ensure a smooth transfer of ownership at DMV?

 

Is it even legal to skip the ownership registration in California??

 

Thx for ur input in advance!

 

Eddy

 

Do you belong to triple A? They can sort this out real fast and easy. (its not the first time this has happened). I think they have a name for this, like "abandoned title" or something like that.

I've been through this same scenario before. I'm in California as well and was also dealing with the California DMV. Basically, this is how it works:

 

1) According to the DMV, they need to see the COMPLETE trail of owners from the person on the title, to the current owner or person trying to title the car in their name. (Which is you in this case) From the sound of it, there is only one guy in between which is the person you're buying the car from. However, if it had exchanged hands a few times in between, you will need to track down however many people were involved. You will need to obtain a Bill of Sale or a completed Vehicle/Vessel Transfer Form from each owner showing who they bought it from, who they sold it to, and how much, then ultimately ending with you. DMV WILL know how many people were "in between" as they will have records of Release of Liability forms which owners had submitted each time the car was sold. Unless an owner never submitted this form, which would be foolish on their part. So, when you arrive at the DMV, you may be in for a surprise on how many owners you might need to track down. I had the unfortunate experience of this surprise!

 

2) Next, DMV is not known for giving a break on fees and penalties. They will want their money!! You will have to pay the transfer fees, sales taxes, penalties and all other associated fees in between for each and every transaction/owner which was not formally done.

 

3) The car has been sitting and no DMV activity has been done in 7 years? IIRC, 7 years or more is when the vehicle falls off of DMV's records. In that case, you will need to take the car into the DMV or CHP, obtain a VIN verification and then apply for a new title. Basically, the car will be starting out life again as a new car in their system, equivalent to a brand new car from a new manufacturer. I believe in this case, all of the previous fees will be erased since the old history of this car is erased. I'm not 100% sure, but I think DMV also makes you take out a bond on the car just in case any fishy history turns up at a later point. However, keep in mind that even if nobody has registered, paid fees or turned in any forms associated with this vehicle within the 7 year period, a simple phone call with an inquiry of back fees or registration status will RESET the 7 years wait time! I found that info out directly from DMV!

 

4) If neither of the previous owners have submitted a Release of Liability form each time the car had sold, technically you could fill out the back of the blank title and say you bought it from the guy on the title. You could avoid all of the fees in between, but you will also be penalized for not transferring the vehicle into your name within the 30 day time period from the purchase date. The purchase date will obviously be the date in which the owner signed off on the title. The penalty iirc will be based on a percentage of the total fees and penalties due including the purchase price sales tax. Don't forget, there is also a legal liability with doing this. First, this IS what they refer to as title jumping which is illegal. Secondly, you are responsible for anything that happened with the car in between the time when the title was signed off and now. Worse case scenario......Let's say the vehicle was involved in a hit and run or used as a getaway car and was stowed away for years? You will be in trouble as you supposedly owned the car at the time.

 

I hope this information helps. Good luck!

Do you belong to triple A? They can sort this out real fast and easy. (its not the first time this has happened). I think they have a name for this, like "abandoned title" or something like that.

 

You can give AAA a try, but with complicated transfer titles, vehicles off the record on the DMV system, lien sales, etc......AAA doesn't handle these types of transactions. They state that they offer simple vehicle renewal and transfers as a convenience and are not a full DMV service. Most likely they will just send you to the DMV office. This is what happened to me. However, they were able to look the car up in the system and give me some info on the car. Definitely worth a try to go there first though!

 

I've also heard of people buying cars like this and transferring/registering in their name at their out of state address. DMV's in some of the other states are much more lenient I hear. Once the vehicle was titled and registered in their name, it was real simple to bring it back into California. I've heard that they were able to avoid the back fees and penalties and would have been due here in California as well. Unfortunately I didn't have an out of state address to try this with! The only drawback I hear is that you might have to physically take the vehicle to whichever state you're registering it in for a VIN verification. Makes sense though.