No title or clean title on car.. what does that mean

[harry chickpea]

There are a TON of caveats in buying a used car. One of the big ones is to watch out for flood damage. A car that has been titled in LA or FL and is now in AL could be a warning flag.

Consider hiring a certified mechanic to go with you to inspect any final choices - BUT...
instead of suggesting the car will be for personal use, suggest to him that you are looking to buy for short-term use and re-sell it within a few months, hopefully at a profit. He may look at you cross-eyed, but the comments made will be much more candid. It can be cheap insurance. Short of that, old farts like me develop a sixth sense to sniff out problems, so bring one of us along.

[Keeper]

Thanks Everyone for the info. I am just trying to help him but as stated he knows it all and wants a perfect car for little money. Actually I am surprised at how expensive even junkers are here. He is suppose to know how to work on cars but he doesn't know what's that knocking noise..

He did find one and called the guy to meet him midway and waited 2 hours and the guy never showed up.

Yeah Harry.. I did suggest he take it to a mechanic too

[009811]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth_G

Keeper, you may want to have him run a Carfax on it as well: CARFAX - Vehicle History Reports and VIN number check

If your Grandson is a teenager, I'm sure he DOES know it all, just as my 17 year old daughter does. LOL...pulling my hair out as we speak, God love her

Sometimes, CARFAX and Autocheck are not accurate as they write. Some cars may use scams to make clear on their autocheck or CARFAX. What I recommend is go to a complete mechanic check. If this car is very good in the mechanic check and possible to get a licence. That is a good deal.

[unlblkrubi]

Clean title=no lien. Get a Carfax. Pretty simple.

[brownbagg]

in alabama , if the car is newer than 1974 and it doesnt have a title, it doesnt exist, there is nothing you can do but get the last known title owner to apply for title, then you going have to pay for tag for all those years.

[RocketDawg]

You're better off steering clear from the questionable titled cars. You very well could be getting on of the flooded cars, and those are almost always a problem. Cars nowadays have a lot of electronics in them, including computers, and they don't mix well with water.

I think you're better off buying from a reputable dealer, or at the very least from an individual that you think you can trust. If you are looking to buy a cheap car, and you have it checked by a mechanic, the mechanic's fee could very well be a substantial percentage of the car's value. Personally, I wouldn't go that route unless I was going to buy a pretty new, gently used, car that's not necessarily "cheap".

Probably the best place to purchase is a new car dealer, or possibly CarMax. I bought "junkers" when I was a youngster, and they were inevitably problematic.

You didn't mention your budget, but you can almost certainly get a pretty nice car for $5K. Some cars hold their value better than others, so you might want to get one that's not high resale. We bought a Caddy ATS 3 years ago for $45K, and it's now worth only about $20K, even though it's still low mileage and extremely nice. Some cars that age would be worth almost what they cost new (e.g., Subaru).

Also ... beware of the financial folks at dealers. They can really sell you some high interest rates, and some like to prey on young folks ... and females. I know one young lady that recently bought a car from a dealer and wound up with a 13% interest rate. That's highway robbery, and should be illegal, but it happens.

[Doodley09]

what does it mean when the car title say missing ?

[brownbagg]

its mean, its lost, its stolen, or it belongs to somebody else like the bank. some people will try to sell a car that doent belong to them. so if they dont have a clean title, that car doesnt exist

[Tourian]

She figured it out 5 years ago when this thread was posted. It was bumped by someone pushing their website.