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You said that your title now is from Illinois. Have you tried transferring your title to WI? It seems that that's a separate move from registering your car:
Normally, if bringing a car from out of state, you register the car and DMV issues your WI title (I did it for my other car bought in CA with a CA title without any problem). The problem here is that I became an owner of the car in WI and that guy should've have the car registered in WI before selling it to me. But, since he's an auto dealer, he wouldn't want to register the car in WI, he bought it in IL auction and just drove it to me to WI (well, not specifically to me, I don't know how long he was driving it around before selling). He might've broken some registration requirement, but yet again - I am not sure if I should be punished for his actions (or inactions) - and for me the question is how to get it properly registered now.
That's nonsense. People move into the state with out of state titles and people drive across state lines to purchase used ones all the time. You submit the title you have, pay the titling fee and then you will receive the WI title for it. Call and talk to somebody that's competent.
This is exactly what I did last year when I purchased a car from a dealership in IA. Plus I paid WI sales tax and transferred the plates from my previous car, all at the DMV. I was surprised that I walked out of the DMV with new title in hand. I didn't even have to wait for it to get mailed to me.
OP, there must be some detail that's hanging things up that the DMV isn't explaining very well. Did the seller sign the IL title over to you in the right place on the document? As you point out, it's likely the combination of an IL title and a WI address from the previous seller that is the hang-up. The states on these should have matched. I agree that you should not be punished for the seller's disorganization. Push this higher up the chain at the DMV.
We went twice to 2 different DMVs and both times they said, the guy must've register his car in WI before selling it to us (because on the transfer record he put his WI address)... And basically that makes his sale to us not legitimate. They advised to bring the guy here in WI, and make him register _his_ car in WI first, then transfer it to us. We actually were able to reach the guy and he sent an SMS that he has no interest to the car, but since he is in MO, he won't be coming to WI any time soon (and has no desire to do anything for us, but ain't hiding either).
Now, our next attempt would be to contact the Auction House that sold the car to him (to have at least some additional information and documentation that he had the rights to sell the car) and I posted a formal request to DMV (to at least have something in writing).
We will try to contact state of IL (where the title was issued, maybe they would be able and willing to issue a clean title in our name - instead of long list of transfer records).
Other than going to MO (where the seller resides now), which might be the last option - but I am not sure if I would be able to do anything there - since it's not state of my residence, and that guy already sold his car to us and put a record on the title and it wasn't in the MO)...
No idea what else to do. Maybe try to sue the seller in Small Claims court and demand him legally to come to WI and fix the problem - or pay money back (i.e. whatever is max total allowed in SC - $5K)? He probably won't come to the court and will be defaulted and then we could try to collect the money from him - although it's not that easy... Or he might get scared and decide to come to WI and help us with the registration. Either way would be fine.
Wow, such an odd situation. How does this affect current ownership, if at all? I mean, if the sale is not legitimate, it's still his car, right? If a title was ever created in your name, it would seem to be invalid, right? Or is there some other way in which you can legitimately claim ownership of the vehicle?
It also seems odd to me that a guy in the car business wouldn't know the proper procedures and details in selling a car.
I hope you can straighten it out somehow without too much hassle and expense.
Legally, the car is his (or maybe is someone's prior to him in the chain of ownership), since the last registered owner is an Auto Auction, or the title was issued to CarMax (who sold it to the Auction, that sold it to that gentleman who sold it to us).
And we don't have any paperwork other than his signature on the title that he sold it to us. He has no interest in the car (otherwise we might ask him to pay us back the money... but we don't have any proof we paid any money since it was all cash). Odd situation really. We own the car, but cannot drive it legally because of all of this. But if we're stopped, who will get the ticket??? For now, we have no other options but to keep driving with the expired registration plates from our old car.
A dealer on CRAIGSLIST always raises red flags in my book, especially one moving around state to state.
Contact the Sec of State Police in Illinois and the Wi. equivalent and inquire if the guy was indeed a registered/licensed dealer. Dealers should know what signatures, paperwork and requirements are needed. Explain your story to them and perhaps they can assist with this mess.
ok, I found the solution and it worked (I got my WI title and registration a few days ago). So, I am posting this for other people who might find themselves in the same predicament.
Step 1. Fill in the "Application for Bonded Title". Paid no money.
Step 2. Got back a response from DMV that they want to have an application for Registration as well and to see some money. Filled in that application, and send a check for an appropriate registration fee (69.50 for the title + 75 for regular plates).
Step 3. Got approval to buy a bond for 1.5 times book value of my car ($2550). Shopped online and got one from https://www.suretybonds.com/ for $100. Sent the documents to DMV, got title, registration and plates.
So, now the process is complete, and I did not pay too much (well, extra $100) for my stupidity (not paying attention to the details when buying the car). I hope it might help anyone else
Very good news-- I'm glad it's resolved. One less thing for you to worry about and deal with.
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