The Expert Podcast

So here's another example of curb stoning or backyard car selling that proves it's still going on this is something that's been going on for 40 plus years for a while in the '90s it kind of fell out of favor but now with less um prosecution or regulation there's more and more people doing it in Cambria County this uh is in Pennsylvania there was a person who was basically buying and selling cars out of their backyard and it's illegal if you're um somebody who buys and sells cars for a living you have to have a dealer's license you have to have a licensed Automotive dealer very difficult to get a license you have to have insurance a commercial location all kinds of things and most people don't want to go through that they just want to kind of flip cars buy them on Craigslist sell them on Facebook maybe buy them at auctions and the problem for consumers for buyers is that it puts you in a bad spot for a number of reasons first of all the vehicles are not properly represented if you're a licensed dealer you have to provide certain representations that the vehicle safe for the road it's been inspected even if you sell it as is there's a lot of requirements that you have backyard dealers don't do any of that because they don't have a license at risk they don't have anything to risk in fact according to the lawsuit this person had been selling used vehicles many of them in need of major repairs through Facebook Marketplace he even used the names Dave's Auto Sales on his ads but he was not licensed to sell the vehicles so that's a problem what else could go wrong he advertised the vehicles as roadworthy but the vehicles needed repairs and did not have valid titles there's another big huge red flag you might buy a car from one of these backyard curbstoners and not get a title I can't tell you how many times our sales staff you know we get you know hundreds and hundreds of calls every day people say I bought a car from this guy on Facebook or Craigslist and I didn't get a good title or the title I got was no good so that's another problem because if it's a licensed dealer even though problems happen with licensed dealers they normally have to fix it because their license is at stake according to the article the person U made himself a trustworthy car dealer and broke consumer's confidence buying a reliable vehicle um he refused to provide customers with a written agreement refused to submit paperwork to to pendot and complete the title some cases he legally repossessed the vehicles and did not have a license to do installment contracts so again this is not a new thing we've seen it before it's very important that if you purchasing a vehicle you either determine that it's a licensed legitimate dealer or if it is a private seller that's fine if it is a private seller make sure when you look at the title and here's a title certificate you've seen them before that you look at the name on that title who's the legal owner and make sure that the person you're buying it from is that owner check their ID don't just have them sign on the back because if the vehicle's already signed over on the back you won't be able to get a title that's called a flip title or jump title same as not having a title once a vehicle signed over to somebody the buyer listed they have to get a new title first with their name printed on the front before it can go to another person so if you're buying a vehicle protect yourself 90% of the title problems that we hear about from consumers are things that could have been prevented at the time of sale flip title jump title maybe a title that has white out or damage on it maybe not even getting a title anytime you purchase a vehicle don't get a title you might think well a bill of sale is good enough many times you can get a title with a bill of sale but it doesn't always work there's some vehicles that are not eligible for a title sometimes the last owner didn't pay their taxes and they have back taxes that vehicle's Frozen sometimes there's leans on vehicles so there are things that come up that can Prov prevent you from getting a title no matter how good of a bill of sale you have sometimes the person selling it doesn't even belong to them look in theory think about this if I went to you know Herz gold Enterprise I'm I'm sorry Herz gold rental car and I rented a car tomorrow and I'm driving it and I put it on Craigslist for sale and I say hey I lost a title I'll give you a bill of sale that car is not reported stolen doesn't have any leans on it so if you did a title check on it it would look clear and I take your money I give you the keys I give you a bill of sale you think you're good to go that car didn't belong to me that's a htz rent a car so that may not be the case with a lot of these title problems but it just goes to show that unless you have the valid title certificate would you know what it looks like you've seen it a bill of sale isn't good enough it'll help with some of the methods of getting a title but by itself doesn't mean you automatically get one and the work you might have to do to to get a title could be pretty substantial sure we can help but there's many things that come up that could be issues so make sure you're protecting yourself if you do decide to purchase a vehicle without a title be aware that your money's at risk until you actually get that title in your hand and there's ways to do it a lot of times it works you know 70 80 90% of the time it works but sometimes there's a gotcha on a vehicle a lean a salvage parts only uh maybe some claim against the vehicle maybe probate a lot of things can come up sometimes it's even not about the title it's about the vehicle some states require that when a title is transferred the car gets inspected what if the car doesn't pass inspection what if it doesn't pass emissions some states like California if the vehicle doesn't pass emissions no title they call it smog in California so do your homework if you are stuck in a situation where you've already purchased a vehicle with no title that's okay look at the solutions on our website at cartitles.com there's some good people there that you can call up that will help you walk through your process um we can give you free consumer advice from our website we can do consultations we can prepare documents we can give you blank documents whatever we can do to help we love helping people get titles because we know how hard it is to get a title for your vehicle we deal with DMV all the time we know how hard it is so we want to help in any way we can but there's no magic bullet to just demand in a title and getting one if you have a vehicle without a title expect there's going to be a little bit of effort but in the long run don't despair you'll probably be able to get one unless it's something like a stolen car or parts only car in that case you're probably going to have more trouble than you think you might let us know how we can be of assistance we'd love to help people get titles talk to you then bye for now.