Don't make our mistake - Selling car directly to another DE resident

[grouse789]

You let them have your license plate??

What was your husband thinking?

Sorry, but that^^^^^ all day long!!!!

He can take the car when he shows up with the new plates.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by rothbear

According to the DE DMV, if you sell your car directly to another DE resident all you have to do is fill in and sign the bottom of the title (part that tears off) and fill in and sign the back of the actual title. They get the license plate and go on their merry way. Then you turn the torn off part into the DMV and all is "peachy keen". DO NOT DO IT!!!!!

We sold our Chrysler T&C minivan to a guy in Middletown on 3/20. During the next 2 days he (or someone he loaned the car to) ran, as of now anyway, FOUR EZ Pass places in New Jersey. Now we are getting notices from NJ to pay the tolls and huge fines. Of course NJ looks up the plate and it is still registered to me at the DMV because he hasn't bothered to get the title changed yet. Supposedly the DMV "flagged" our account in such cases, but apparently they didn't do it quickly enough. I called the DMV and got a very rude person named Carol (first time I ever had a rude person there) who finally told me to fax the violation into them. Hubby went over instead and spoke with someone else (Yolanda....nice person) and they took the info, said that the change was in the system and that they would send off the appeal and to fax them any more we get. That was yesterday. Now today I get three more in the mail and DH has to go over again because we don't have access to a fax and we want to be sure they get there and not stuck in a box somewhere.

What really ticks me off is that I specifically told DH that I did not want them to have the plate, just for this specific reason.....traffic violations. But I got overruled because "how are they supposed to get the car home", and he "seems like a nice guy". Tow it, I said, but that wasn't good enough. So now we have all this extra hassle of taking care of this and hopefully the DMV does their job in a timely manner so that we don't get hassled or hits my credit record or turned into collections or something.

I repeat...........DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE YOU SELL IT TO HAVE YOUR CAR WITH THE LICENSE PLATE!! I wish I had stood my ground. If this keeps up I am tempted to call the cops on the guy. Thank goodness the DMV is willing to do this for us. Hopefully the appeal carries more weight from them. Oh and when DH asks the woman at the DMV how to prevent this, her response is don't let them have the plate. Men!!!!!

Lots of people will say just do it online or I just send in the tear off and I’m free. Yes you are. But you still have to deal with the bs of some irresponsible Ahole like rothbear here.

What I do is have the buyer meet me at a AAA. I make myself available on Saturdays. I meet you at AAA. I have all my maintenance paperwork and ownership transfer papers. You look the car over if you want to have it checked out you make the appointment I show up. You pay them. If the shop looks sketchy or some crack head shows up you’re not driving my car anywhere. In fact I may just scuttle the deal if I feel uncomfortable

If you’re good with everything we go to my bank I deposit the cash making sure it’s real. Grantedit deoends if we’re talking 2500 bucks or 20,000 bucks. We go to AAA and transfer title. Ultimately I dont care if you buy my vehicle or not. I disclose the transaction and upfront on the transfer. If you don’t like it don’t come over.

The reason I’m the way I am is because there are too many irresponsible douche bags out there and I don’t want to do their clean up. Hell if you call me and ask stupid questions I’ll just hang up on you.

I’ve sold my last three cars in such way and nobody had a problem with it.

[DelawareLiz]

^^^ Great post, Electrician! I've sold many cars in Delaware in my life without issue, but it's been years since I have sold any and times have changed too much for me to really trust anyone unless I'm selling to somebody I trust. Sad how there are so many lowlifes in society nowadays. Sorry you had to go through this, rothbear.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by beachliz

^^^ Great post, Electrician! I've sold many cars in Delaware in my life without issue, but it's been years since I have sold any and times have changed too much for me to really trust anyone unless I'm selling to somebody I trust. Sad how there are so many lowlifes in society nowadays. Sorry you had to go through this, rothbear.

I bought my little commuter from a friend. And she asked if i was willing to go to AAA to have the title transferred. She got her smog and paperwork we went in i paid the registration use tax and transfer fees and we were done.
I do not blame anyone who does the car transfer this way. I would even do it with a friend. Because I want all and any possible liability as far removed from me as possible.

[nuts2uiam]

i am a rules person and while I have not had reason to sell my car since I am here, if I read the rules and followed them as they were written, I would think that should be it. I see no reason to call Rothbear names, as it appears the rules as she stated them were followed. Many people here are transplants and I include myself, and if that is what the rules state and that is what was done then you can't blame her. Calling people names, especially someone who posted something as a warning for others, in my opinion, is just a really bad choice. Sorry R-bear.

[rdlr]

"On-Line" is good for lots of things. But, we live 2 miles from the DMV and any time we have business with them, we go in person. Call me old fashioned, but we have peace of mind. As said, rules change from time to time.

[Dave1956]

Seriously? Did you immediately submit the Sales Stub from the title to the DMV? As of that date you are no longer responsible for that vehicle and tag.

[rothbear]

Originally Posted by Dave1956

Seriously? Did you immediately submit the Sales Stub from the title to the DMV? As of that date you are no longer responsible for that vehicle and tag.

Yes, the next day as it was sold in the evening. DMV a little slow in getting into the system I guess. We haven't had anything for several day so either he quit violations (which I doubt) or else the DMV flag has caught up. *knock on wood*

That being said, we sold our second car today to a PA person. They drove down with cash in hand and I checked it all with my special pen and the bank. Hubby took them to the DMV with the title, registration card and the plate from the car. Turned the plate into the proper department and got a receipt for it, filled out all the proper spaces on the title, turned in the tear off part from the bottom (and had the DMV give us a copy), and had the people purchase a temporary transfer tag at $20 to get them home. Everything tied in a nice neat knot. I even typed up a Bill of Sale with car and VIN and got their information, drivers license number and said car was "as is condition". Had them sign and date it as well as DH.

Glad we are done with that. Finally down from 4 cars to 2 with both finally in the garage.

Oh.......and thanks to "nuts" for explaining what I was trying to do. We followed the instructions to the letter for DE to DE transfer. We just seem to have the luck of dealing with not so honest people and forgot that we needed to CYA. It never said we needed to turn in the plates. However, the DE to out of state DID say that. Hopefully we won't have to deal with that again. The new to us convertible we got will be our last. We will probably replace my car one more time and that will be done through a dealer. Too old to have many more cars.