Selling a Car: What About the Tags? (Stuart: sale, insurance)

[Workin_Hard]

When a private owner is selling a used car in Virginia, what happens to the tags? Are they pulled before the new owner takes posession and returned to DMV for a refund on the remaining registration? How does the new owner drive home with the vehicle without tags on it?

Last time I sold one, I drove it to the buyers home and took the tags with me. There was only a month remaining on the registration so I didn't worry about returning them to DMV. Now I'm selling again and talking to prospective buyers who live some distance away. I want to do the transaction at my house, exhange the signed title for cash, then pull off the tags (10 months remaining) and send the buyer on his way. I can record the sale with DMV & the county the next day and drop it from my insurance then also.

What's the right (and legal) way to do this? (besides doing it at night and recommend he stick to the back roads...)

[TyroneBiggums]

When I sold my car, the buyer FedExed the tags back to me. You never know if they're going to do it though, and without the tags, you can't cancel the insurance.

Originally Posted by Workin_Hard

When a private owner is selling a used car in Virginia, what happens to the tags? Are they pulled before the new owner takes posession and returned to DMV for a refund on the remaining registration? How does the new owner drive home with the vehicle without tags on it?

Last time I sold one, I drove it to the buyers home and took the tags with me. There was only a month remaining on the registration so I didn't worry about returning them to DMV. Now I'm selling again and talking to prospective buyers who live some distance away. I want to do the transaction at my house, exhange the signed title for cash, then pull off the tags (10 months remaining) and send the buyer on his way. I can record the sale with DMV & the county the next day and drop it from my insurance then also.

What's the right (and legal) way to do this? (besides doing it at night and recommend he stick to the back roads...)

[robbobobbo]

Keep your tags and return them to the DMV for a pro-rated refund of registration fees.

I've had buyers bring plates from another car to stick on for the trip home - not legal, but reduces the risk of being pulled over. I don't know if a police officer would not ticket if the new owner showed the title that was signed that day, if the new owner drove it with no tags and got pulled over.

See LIS > Code of Virginia > 46.2-651, info on temporary trip permits for the purpose of driving a car that hasn't been registered yet by the new owner.

And LIS > Code of Virginia > 46.2-600

"Except as otherwise provided in this chapter every person who owns a motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer, or his authorized attorney-in-fact, shall, before it is operated on any highway in the Commonwealth, register with the Department and obtain from the Department the registration card and certificate of title for the vehicle."

The only exception I found that fits your case was the trip permit.

[katyusha25]

When you say tags, are you referring to plates? I'm probably going to sell my car when I get there, but here in CA, tags are the month and year stickers the registration is valid until that are stuck onto the license plates. But I know other states call the actual license plates "tags."

[Bigfoot424]

Whatever you do, do NOT sell your cars to someone with the tags still on them. I can tell many horror stories on people who did this. Sell it to Grandpa and you should be ok. Sell it to a stranger and leave the tags on you are just asking for trouble.

[GoHokiesGo]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Whatever you do, do NOT sell your cars to someone with the tags still on them. I can tell many horror stories on people who did this. Sell it to Grandpa and you should be ok. Sell it to a stranger and leave the tags on you are just asking for trouble.

Agreed, that vehicle is still registered and titled in your name until the new owner registers it at the DMV. If you're selling it private party to a complete stranger, you don't know them at all or what they're going to get into trouble with after they buy your car.

Have the buyer (or you if you're the one buying) purchase the trip permit that was mentioned previously. This is something you can do online from the DMV website, it's valid for 3 days to allow you to transport the car to your house or the dmv, and it's $5:
https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/dmvnet/...rmit/intro.asp

[StuartN]

I once sold a car to a man on a Sunday and he "promised" to go to DMV the next day and get new tags and then bring the old ones back to me. His wife needed it right away to go to work. Against my better judgement, I took pity on him. You guessed it. I never saw him again. He had paid cash so I did not know how to contact him about the plates. Several weeks later I saw the car (my former vehicle) parked outside a local tavern. I stopped, took off the plates and left. I never heard from him.

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by StuartN

I once sold a car to a man on a Sunday and he "promised" to go to DMV the next day and get new tags and then bring the old ones back to me. His wife needed it right away to go to work. Against my better judgement, I took pity on him. You guessed it. I never saw him again. He had paid cash so I did not know how to contact him about the plates. Several weeks later I saw the car (my former vehicle) parked outside a local tavern. I stopped, took off the plates and left. I never heard from him.

You should have just drove it using your third set of keys.

You're def. One of the lucky ones to see your plates weeks later.

[smarterguy]

Ha. Better hope they don't jump on the express lanes at rush hour.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by katyusha25

When you say tags, are you referring to plates? I'm probably going to sell my car when I get there, but here in CA, tags are the month and year stickers the registration is valid until that are stuck onto the license plates. But I know other states call the actual license plates "tags."

Here tags = plates. Took me a while to get used to it too.