Just as an FYI example. I live in NC. I bought my 74 Challenger from a guy living in Moyock, NC..which is real close to the Virginia border. The guy had bought the car from a buddy who lived in Virginia, where the car was titled with a Virginia title. The seller to me had the virginia title signed on the back by the seller to him. No where on that title for him to then sign it to me.
Then he lost his job and sold the car to me giving me the Virginia Title and a bill of sale. He never bothered to register the car in NC as he felt he would do that after it was restored... probably a year or two down the road. Of course that never happened.
Once i had the car safely back to my home, I went to the North Carolina DMV with the Virginia title and the bill of sale. I COULD NOT REGISTER THE CAR because the seller to me never bothered to re-register the car in his name.
To get around this problem I had two choices:
1) Contact the seller, mail the title back to him and request that he register the car in his name in North Carolina. He could do that since the Virginia title showed his name on the back as the buyer. Of course this would cost some money, to register, and pay taxes, plus several weeks of waiting for the new North Carolina title to arrive. At that point he would have to sign the title as seller, and mail it to me. NO WAY... I actually trust him but that's way too complicated and time consuming. Also, i wanted to have the car insured while i was working on it in case of theft. Found Out you cant insure a car that isn't registered in your name.
2) Go to a local insurance company and buy a $100 bond, (to insure that the car was actually clear title and sold to me), and get the NC DMV to send an inspector to my home to inspect the car and see that the VIN numbers match that which is on the title and do a title search to insure that there are no liens on the car. The DMV inspection was free and took a week. So, was able to get it titled in my name in NC for a $100 bond fee, and a week of waiting. This was an annoyance. But not really that terrible. Other states ?? Such as Pa or NY who knows?
Here is a worse true story. I have a 66 Dodge Charger which i bought while living in PA. I bought the car from a Mrs Johnson in Ohio who had the title for the car. It had belonged to her son, who passed away and she was the sole heir. Mrs Johnson had her lawyer go to the Probate court and get a copy of the death certificate and the title verified. He assured her that was all that was needed. She then signed the Ohio title as seller to me, with the probate court statement that she was the heir and a photo-copy of the death certificate of her son. Mrs Johnson was 78 years old and in poor health.
It took me 6 1/2 years to restore the vehicle and get it ready to run. Went to the PA Notary Service and was told that the title was not sufficient due to the owners death and that i need an "original" death certificate. They would not honor the Ohio probate court document showing that the woman was the legal owner.
They gave me two options:
1) Go to Ohio and register the car in my name in Ohio to get a "valid" Ohio title since they would honor the probate court document. I would have to pay the sales tax and registration fees in Ohio. Then when i got the new Ohio title I could use that to register the car in Pa. However, I would either have to pay the sales tax AGAIN in Pa or wait six months before registering in Pa to skip the taxes. YUK
2) Contact the woman who if still alive would now be 85 years old and ask her for written permission to obtain a death certificate of her dead son from the probate courts. Luckily, the lawyers name who had gone to the probate court and phone number was on the paperwork that i had. I contacted his firm and explained the problem. They said the woman was sick in the hospital, but, that they were friends of the family and they would get permission to obtain a valid death certificate. They did that for me apologizing that they didn't realize that it would be necessary for Pa (not needed in Ohio). Cost me $25 for the death certificate and it took 6 weeks!!
So, yeah, having valid title is very important in a lot of states.
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