The Expert Podcast

All right, here we go again with this jumping title or skipping title problem. People buy cars and sell cars on Facebook, OfferUp, Craigslist all the time and get a title. You might get a legal title, right? But you've got to remember, the title isn't just about the vehicle. It has somebody's name on the front and somebody's name on the back.

The front is the current owner, the back is who it's signed over to. If the vehicle is already signed over on the back to somebody else, they can't sell it until they get a new title certificate in their name. If they just flip it to somebody else, that's called jumping title or skipping title. In most states, it's illegal to jump title or skip title. It's like a form of tax evasion and it makes it almost impossible for you to get an easy title in your name.

Just because you have that certificate doesn't mean it's usable unless you are the person who's listed on the back, signed over to you. You can't do anything with that title. It doesn't mean anything to you. Now, don't try to white it out or cross it out because that'll just void the whole thing.

There are methods you can use to fix it. You can see our website below. You can do a bonded title, you can do a court order title, and those are solutions. But if you're buying a vehicle on Craigslist, on Facebook, anywhere online, make sure that before you give anybody any money that you're getting handed to you a valid title signed directly from the owner directly to you, nobody in between. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Get it exactly to you.

Make sure the person on the front of the title verifies their ID to make sure the person you're dealing with is that person. They're not scamming somebody else or forging a signature. If you have found yourself in a position where you did a jump title or skip title, definitely visit our website. We have full instructions for how to fix that problem. You can do it yourself for free. We also have title services where we could do it for you and even title consulting to give you more specific instructions.

But most importantly, don't buy a car without a valid title if you can avoid it. Make the seller get a new title in their name before they transfer it over to you.