Selling a Car Without a Title

What Is A Title?

A title is a legal document that functions as proof of ownership for personal property. There are various types of titles, like those used for houses, land, and cars. A car title is more commonly known as a car pink slip – the pieces of paper wagered in the early Fast and Furious films. Just the fact that a title proves you own your vehicle should make it important. But if that wasn’t enough for you, a title contains a lot of extraneous information that is important to sellers and buyers:

Names Attached to Vehicle

A title will show the names of all the people who own the car. If you sell your car or transfer the title, all of the names listed on the title will have to sign.

Title Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)

The VIN is a unique 17 digit number that identifies your car . It is normally found on the inside of the vehicle’s driver side door.

Odometer Reading During Purchase

The odometer reading helps for sellers to identify when exactly a car came into your possession. It also helps the police to deal with criminal cases.

Vehicle Weight Class

Your vehicle’s weight class determines how much it costs to register the vehicle annually. The higher the weight class, the more costly registration is.

Lenders

If you financed your vehicle, the lenders will be listed on the title. This is important for buyers to see, because they will be able to tell if there are any liens on the car. A lien on the car means the bank or lender legally owns the car, and you don’t have the right to sell it by yourself.

Registration

Some people think that a car title and registration are the same thing. This is a mistake; you need a title to register and insure a vehicle.

What Happens If A Title Is Lost

Losing your car title is a very serious issue. Except for rare cases, you cannot sell your car for anything beyond scrap material without one. You can scrap a car without a title, but most scrap yards won’t even buy the car without one. Some will though if you can provide some supplementary proof of ownership.

How to Get A New Title If You Lost Your Old One

If you do lose your car title, you should first determine if it is completely lost, destroyed or damaged beyond repair. If it is truly gone, then you have to start the process of replacing it right away. To do this, you have to pay a visit to the DMV and provide proof ownership. The process is slightly different state to state, but generally speaking, there is lots of paperwork to fill out, some fees, and multiple trips to the DMV (only a few states let you get a duplicate car title the same day you request one). Things become even more complicated if your vehicle has a lien against it.

What is a lien?

A lien is a legal claim by a third party – most often a bank – that a person owes money against a piece of property. When a party has a lien against your vehicle, they have the right to repossess it if you don’t make your payments within the specified amount of time. There are actually several different types of car liens:

• Bank liens
• Mechanic’s lien
• Tax lien
• Attorney’s lien
• Judgement lien

The only way to get a lien removed from a car title is to pay it off in full. Find who placed the lien on your car and determine how much is owed. You can sell your car with the consent of the party that placed the lien and use that to pay off the lien. Selling a car with a lien is illegal without the consent of the party that placed the lien.

You can sell a car with a lien, but it is normally difficult because most buyers don’t want to deal with the legal hassles. The only way is to be as honest and above board with the buyer as possible and slowly go through the process.

Need help with selling your car without a title?

It can be truly difficult to sell a car with a lost pink slip. Copart Direct wants to help however we can in getting you a new title.

Our customers are extremely important to us, which is why we’ve worked hard to cultivate award-winning customer service. We want the entire process to be as smooth as possible, so do not hesitate to contact us on our social media platforms.

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