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Hey all,
I recently bought a 24ft travel trailer from a guy who never transferred into his own name. The title is signed from the previous owner and dated 2011. I’m 24yr old now so I would have been 12yr old then (I’m not sure if there’s a min age to receive trailer ownership?) Before I bring the title into the office to transfer, should I sign and put the same date? Or put the date as when I bought it a few months ago? Or bring it to them blank and ask the rep?
Thanks!
If you put the date as 2011, then you are on the hook for paying registration/etc fees since then?!
I once came across a used minivan and it was a good deal. But then it turned out the "owner" never registered the car and he was essentially was a flipper. I refused to buy the car and the seller was pretty pissed. He then started to threaten me which was funny.
Do you have a Bill of Sale dated recently for the transaction into your possession? If so, I'd start with that when applying for a new title. If you don't have one, I'd go back to the seller and ask for one to be signed, dated and notarized.
If you put the date as 2011, then you are on the hook for paying registration/etc fees since then?!
This might be an important aspect. IME, state regulations regarding personal property taxes/fees vary enough that I'd wait and talk the situation over with a state DMV rep in person. Leaving it blank until you have that convo leaves you options.
I infer that you paid cash in full for this trailer because if you’d had a loan on this, the lender would have caught the problem with the transaction. The Bill of Sale you have is worthless on a titled vehicle if the Seller is not the legally titled owner of record.
“Open Titles” (signed off by the last legal owner of record but not entering the buyer’s name) were a way of buyer’s avoiding paying the sales tax due at the time of purchase by not completing the title transfer into their ownership (in CA, this would have been at least 7.5% in 2011). Most states recognized that they were losing a lot of sales tax revenue to this omission and require a report of the transaction within 30 days with payment of sales tax due to avoid penalties.
At this point, all the title/registration agency rep can tell you is that you don’t have a legal purchase of a titled vehicle and they cannot process a title in to your name nor can you register the vehicle in your name to have it road legal. There’s many years here where ownership taxes and registration fees have likely not been paid, too. You’ll find out very quickly that the state/county is very concerned about getting all the taxes and fees that were due to them for all these years.
As well, your auto insurance won’t be able to insure the trailer because you don’t own it or have permission from the legal owner to use the trailer.
You have a few options now:
1) go back to the seller and have them get the trailer title in their name so that they can legally sign the title over to you. Taxes, fees, and any penalties owed to make that happen are their sole responsibility.
2) unwind the deal. Return the trailer and get a full refund.
3) enter your name on the title you have in hand as the buyer in 2011 and submit that to the title clerk who will have you sign a form where you certify the cash purchase price paid for the trailer. Report a reasonable price paid and most title clerks will accept that statement. What they’re looking for is an outrageously low number which is unlikely and looks like sales tax fraud. But as mentioned by others, you will be liable for that sales tax, taxes and fees owed all the years since 2011, and all the penalties. This might add up to way more than an older 24’ trailer is worth.
4) you may be able to get a bonded title to the trailer. It’s been decades since I did this process in CA, but I recall it was expensive and time consuming to do. The only justification I had to go through the process was that the car was a valuable collectible which I’d hauled away for a family when they were getting a deceased family member’s ranch cleaned up for sale. In the case of this trailer, it may be more expensive to get a bonded title than the trailer is worth … and that’s on top of what you paid for it.
Personally, verifying a seller’s clear title in their name is one of the first things I check when I’m looking at buying a titled vehicle. I’ve had way too many sellers in the last couple of years who didn’t and I walked away from any further inspection or dealing with them. Not worth my time.
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