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I had made the title out to that company so I don't understand why the state thought it was still in my name. What does the term "open title" mean?
"Open title" is a title were the owner has signed it over but there is no name of the buyer on the title. Both signatures restrict the title to just those people.
If you made it out to the "company" they must have somehow wiggled out of filing it with the state ,thus moving ownership from you to them, and instead sold the car with a "pass through" title. As far as I know pass through's are illegal in most states since it leaves the original seller still listed as owner just as happened to you. Pass through's also keep the "company" you sold the car to invisible to state and federal gov't for taxes etc.
"Open title" is a title were the owner has signed it over but there is no name of the buyer on the title. Both signatures restrict the title to just those people.
If you made it out to the "company" they must have somehow wiggled out of filing it with the state ,thus moving ownership from you to them, and instead sold the car with a "pass through" title. As far as I know pass through's are illegal in most states since it leaves the original seller still listed as owner just as happened to you. Pass through's also keep the "company" you sold the car to invisible to state and federal gov't for taxes etc.
Here in VA...when you dispose of a vehicle, you tear off a part of the registration card, fill in the new owner info, and mail it in to DMV.
However, apparently this is too much trouble for a lot of people, so they don't do it....and then they wonder why the DMV, police, etc thinks they still own the car!
On a normal private sale, where the buyer immediately registers the car...the sale is recorded automatically. But, if you trade it in or donate it...it may not. That's when mailing in the notification of disposal is very important.
We are in the process of donating our old van. It needs some work and we don't want to sink the money or the time into it. We've donated before with no problems.
Here in VA...when you dispose of a vehicle, you tear off a part of the registration card, fill in the new owner info, and mail it in to DMV.
However, apparently this is too much trouble for a lot of people, so they don't do it....and then they wonder why the DMV, police, etc thinks they still own the car!
On a normal private sale, where the buyer immediately registers the car...the sale is recorded automatically. But, if you trade it in or donate it...it may not. That's when mailing in the notification of disposal is very important.
I did that, mailed it in with the charity name (you'd know the name, they advertise) filled in but somehow it came back on us... there is something about MD, I don't recall the specifics - the charity did take care of it but it was just more aggravation.
So - if we sell it off the street advice is: have the person fill out the title immediately, fill out the registration half, take off our plates, collect the cash and we're done?
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