quattro digest, Vol 1 #3252 - 19 msgs

[George Selby]

At 06:40 PM 4/9/02, you wrote:
>The seller gave me a signed pink slip from the owner prior to him.  He
>also gave me
>a bill of sale from himself, which wasn't notarized.
>
>The AZ MVD is requiring a notarized release of liability from the
>seller.  They gave
>me the form that they want filled out.
>
>I contacted the seller yesterday to arrange to have him send me a
>notarized release
>of liability.  He said to call back today so he could give me a fax number
>to send the
>form to.
>
>Today, his cell phone account (my only contact number) has been set to
>"not accept
>incoming calls".  I sent a text message, which ATT said would still go
>through, and
>am now waiting.

As a frequent buyer/seller of vehicles, let me offer some advice.

First off, for as simple a transaction as most vehicles sales (particularly
older ones) are, the various states make it darn difficult to transfer a
title easily.  In my state, North Carolina, the seller is required to
deliver title at the same time payment is made, and the title has to be
notarized, so everyone has to get together in front of a notary, usually
during everyone's normal working hours (as the DMV, which is the easiest
place to find a notary, is only open 9-5, M-F.)

Now then, on to your problem.  What he is doing is called 'flipping' a
title.  Basically he is reselling the vehicle without ever having paid
taxes on it himself.  He got the person to sign the pink slip over blank,
and he filled on your name once it sold.  He doesn't want to provide you
with a slip from the original owner, because more than likely it will have
to price he paid on it, thus revealing his profit on the deal to you.  In
addition some states (such as mine, North Carolina) limit the number of
vehicles a person other than a licensed automobile dealer from selling more
than a certain number of vehicles in a year (5 in NC, theoretically.)  By
flipping the title, the vehicle doesn't count against your total allowed.

The California government (and other state governments, too) take a dim
view of this because it deprives them of income, and secondarily it makes
for an incomplete ownership trail in the event of a problem.

My suggestion:  hope you get in contact with him again, and if he seems
less than cooperative, threaten to turn him in the CADMV, as well as his
local taxing authority (people who flip titles rarely do just one, they do
a bunch.)

If you can't get a hold of him, call the CADMV, they may offer some help
(especially if they think they will get more tax money out of it.)

If all else fails, NC does not require either a vehicle inspection or a
bill of sale on a private party transaction [due to the way they compute
taxes, you pay 3% of the purchase price when bought from a dealer, you pay
3% of the average market value of your year/model car if you buy from a
private party.  The only reason most states require a bill of sale is to
get the sales price (the title transfers ownership.)  NC assumes everyone
lies on these bills of sale, (which is basically correct,) so they come up
with their own number.  If it is grossly wrong (you are buying a wrecked
vehicle for instance,) you can have it appraised by 3 dealers to get a new
value to base the 3% on.]  So I can assist you with a title with just a
pink slip, but it will cost $40 for the title fee + 3% of the value the
state thinks your car is worth (BTW, my 83 Coupe is valued at $500, they
have never seen it, I paid $200 for it, but $9 in taxes isn't worth
complaining over.)


George Selby
83 Audi Coupe GT
gselby4x4 at earthlink.net