Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
How hard is it to get a title?
The first car I ever bought had no ownership papers - I had to get a notarized document, but it wasn't too complicated.
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In the USA vehicle titles are handled by state governments so there are 51 different answers to your question ranging from easy to impossible.
About 10 years ago I lived in Alabama and bought a barn find motorcycle on eBay. The ad said no title but that wasn't an issue when I lived in Michigan so I bought it. When I took my bill of sale to the Alabama DMV I was informed that Alabama does not issue new titles for vehicles without a title if they are from out of state. I asked what I need to do and she said get the former owner to get a new title, transfer it to me, and then retitle in Alabama. I explained that I bought it from a guy who bought it from an estate sale, because the original owner was dead. Oh, and BTW, the last time it was registered was 1981 in Indiana. She said, so sad but the only way I was getting a Alabama title was if I had an existing title signed over to me.
I did find a work around. It seems that the State of Vermont will register motorcycle under 500cc with only a bill of sale and no VIN inspection. So I hired a company in Las Vegas to do the paperwork. With a clean VT registration in my name a was able to get an AL title. It cost about $125.