Buying an Unregistered Used Car

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by this_mine

Car is selling for $4000. Again, carfax shows a history of regular maintenance and one previous owner before it was sold to the dealership.

Why exactly should I take a giant leap away from this deal?

Thanks.

Because no dealership sells a car without title switching the vehicle in the new buyers name. Unless it's some iron lot hole in the wall shady dealer they don't do that
I would go with him to the DMV and do the paperwork worth him there. once car is re registered pay him. You can do half before transaction half after.

Fir me when I buy something if its not in YOUR name I walk. I don't care if its the deal of a lifetime.

[wankel7]

$4000 for a 1997 Civic? Eh?

Unless this car is super rare walk away.

[verybadgnome]

So if the original seller fills out a VTR (Vehicle Transfer Notification) does this make title skipping not likely? Hopefully this would cause whatever taxing entities to go after the party trying to do the title skipping for taxes and fees.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...KpJO1TlcbY9MGD

[trusso11783]

Originally Posted by this_mine

Hi,

I found a used '97 Honda Civic off Craigslist that seems to be in pretty good condition. Met the seller, had a mechanic take a look at the car and it checks out fine. Only, one problem. The seller bought this car from a dealership about two months ago and never registered the vehicle in his name. It technically still belongs to the dealership; the space on the original title where the buyer's name should be is blank. The seller said it will basically go from the dealership to me when I title the vehicle.

The seller filled out two Bills of Sale. On one, he himself signed the name of the dealership and the previous owner of the car and signed his own name in the Buyer's portion. On the other Bill of Sale, he signed his name in the Seller's portion and the Buyer's part is left blank for me to sign.

I'm pretty sure that him signing the previous owner's name himself is illegal, but can anyone tell me if I might run into trouble attempting to title this vehicle in my own name after I bought this car? I haven't bought it yet, but what should I know here?

Oh, and another thing is, I ran the Carfax for this car. It does show that it was sold to the dealership that the seller bought it from. I know he's not lying about that.

Thanks.

I live on Long Island in NY, one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Not bragging. It sucks. Anyway, I don’t see any 1998 Civics selling for more than $1500. It’s a 20 year old car. If the seller is signing the dealers and last owners signature, that is forgery. Run like hell. Why are you so married to this car. You’re getting ripped off on a shady deal. I would report the dealer. How do they walk away with just handing you the car. I just bought a used car in December and they charged me $120 dmv fee, even though I was simply transferring my registration, which I just paid a month earlier. I asked if I could just register it myself and save the fee and there was no such option. They weren’t letting me leave without that car being registered to me. Otherwise, I could have drove out, killed someone and they would still be considered the owners and be liable.

[V8 Vega]

$4,000 is a lot of money for a 97 Civic, since there is a problem I would continue to look.

[humanresources]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

$4,000 is a lot of money for a 97 Civic, since there is a problem I would continue to look.

this is a 6 year old post you are commenting on.

[engineman]

Run!

[Bamaman1]

Unless the gentleman is a licensed car dealer, he was ducking out on paying the sales taxes. Not registering the car is an indication he was just flipping it.

You might need to pass on that one.

My state has a computer system used car dealers have to sign into before they can sell the car. They're able to track car histories better and collect the taxes in situations such as this.

[motormaker]

OP probably passed on it 6 years ago.