The Expert Podcast

So how can you get rid of your car if you don't have a title Many times a person is looking to sell their vehicle trade it in Maybe put it on Craigslist or Facebook And they don't have their title document The title document is a paper certificate that goes along with the vehicle that shows The vehicle identity the VIN number year make model But also it lists who the owner is And when you sell a vehicle you're supposed to give that title to the next owner And you sign it to show that you actually transferred it
If you don't have the title it's going to be very difficult to sell that vehicle It will be impossible to trade it in because dealerships don't take vehicles without a title So what do you do Well first you need to determine if that vehicle title record is already in your name If this is a vehicle that is title in your name registered in your name And you simply lost your title certificate It's a simple process of requesting a duplicate title certificate or lost title certificate From the governing body And titles are issued By a state level agency It's not a federal government document like a passport or You know some other federal Level document Most states issue titles from an agency called department of motor vehicles department of licensing department of transportation Every state has a different name And you all know what it is It's the place you get your driver's license the place you get your your plates So if you had a title or that at least the record is listed with your name on it you can simply apply To that agency to get a replacement title certificate and they'll print you out a paper document It's a legal certificate And then you can use that to transfer the vehicle Now what happens if it's more complicated than that What if the last title was not in your name What if it was in your name but maybe in a different state maybe you've moved And The state where you live now is not where that title record is So suppose you lived in let's say California And you have a title to your vehicle in your name And then you moved let's say the Montana
And you never switched it over to Montana And the and you lost that title Well you can't go to the Montana department of motor vehicles and ask them to give you a title because they have no record of you owning that vehicle What you're going to have to do is go back to the California DMV And you could do it by mail You don't have to drive back to California To have them issue a replacement and mail it to you in Montana and there's forms for all these things You have to fill out some forms get it notarized and sent it in Every state has this fee for doing this Most states are between five and 10 and $15 Some states are a little more And you also have to plan for the amount of time If you're looking to urgently sell your vehicle This may take a few weeks depending on the backlog of the department of motor vehicles Now What are the vehicles in your name let's say you bought the vehicle And never transferred the old title into your name That's a little more tricky
Because you're not eligible to apply for a duplicate replacement title Because you're not the legal owner as far as the Computers Determined
So what you have to do is you have to find a way to Generate a new ownership proof in your name Most states you can do it using what's called a surety bond or bonded title Where you provide evidence of why You think you're the owner If the name and the title record is John Smith And you're not John Smith How was the DMV gonna know you own the vehicle You're asking them not only give you a title but when they give you a title by definition they also take away the title ownership from the last owner That's the bigger problem That's why it's so hard to do
Giving you a title might be easy But you're asking them to take it away from somebody else in the process Now you know you're the rightful owner But the DMV doesn't they have to take your word for it So
You have to come up with some paperwork That's where that surety bond process comes in And you can put some comments below About questions on how to do this What about if it's more complicated than that or if your state doesn't do surety bonds 32 of the 50 us states do a version of a surety bond title but the other states don't and even the states that do sometimes you run into a problem With a surety bond In that case
You can do What's called a court ordered title And you basically use the court system To declare you to be the owner of the vehicle by court order
And then that court order is delivered to the DMV To issue a title So hopefully The reason you're watching this video Is because you're asking the question How do I sell my car If I don't have a title
Hopefully the answer is you just lost it and it was in your name Because if that's the case it's easy Well let's say it's easier You still have to deal with DMV and wait a few weeks to get paperwork done But it's easier than the other options If you could do a bonded title that's not quite too bad but if you have to do a court order title We've seen those cases take 8, 9, 10 months For the court to process the paperwork So Try to find that title if you had it and you lost it I would recommend going back and tracing your steps to see where it went If you purchased it from another person And it was in their name Maybe see if you can get them to get a duplicate title 'cause that would be easier than you having to jump through hoops now Sometimes it's hard to get somebody else to do something like this because they already sold the vehicle They have your money And they're not going to want to drop everything to deal with the DMV but It's worth trying It's worth asking Leave us your comments below let us know what you think And that's the answer to the question Can you sell a car without a title