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Correcting an incorrect car title

Started by chays, March 11, 2017, 05:12:06 PM

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chays

This might not be the best place to ask this but...
I am selling my car.  I thought I had previously sold it to someone that I trusted, but their check to me bounced.  When I confronted them, they basically just told me to take the car back and handed the keys over, as well as the title (he had only had it a couple of days).

So my question is, I wrote in that person's name and information on the title.  Now that I have it back, how do I handle the situation when I want to sell it to someone else and sign over the title?


1995hoo

#1
Presumably you can get a new certificate of title from the DMV. Shouldn't be too difficult, assuming it's the same title you gave him and he had not re-registered it and re-titled it in his own name. Check their website because you may be able to do it online.

Next time you sell, ask for a cashier's check. An added benefit of that is that when you go to deposit it, if you go to a teller, the check should post the same day because there's no reason for the bank to put a hold on a cashier's check. Depositing it through an ATM won't give the same benefit because the ATM doesn't know it's a cashier's check.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

chays

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 11, 2017, 05:14:13 PM
Presumably you can get a new certificate of title from the DMV. Shouldn't be too difficult, assuming it's the same title you gave him and he had not re-registered it and re-titled it in his own name. Check their website because you may be able to do it online.

Next time you sell, ask for a cashier's check. An added benefit of that is that when you go to deposit it, if you go to a teller, the check should post the same day because there's no reason for the bank to put a hold on a cashier's check. Depositing it through an ATM won't give the same benefit because the ATM doesn't know it's a cashier's check.
I do have possession of the title.  I was hoping for a solution that wouldn't require getting a new one (the car is less than $1000, and the $75 fee would cut into that too much for my liking).

As for the next time I sell...I won't be as trusting.  I'm by nature a very trusting person and I was taken advantage of.  Won't happen again.

1995hoo

Increase your asking price for the car by $75.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

roadman

#4
$75 for a duplicate title!  What state of robber barons do you live in?  Here in MA, duplicate title is $25.  And, unless there's a lien on the title - even it it's satisfied (the bank does not inform the RMV of such) - you can request one on line.

Yes, I've had recent experience with this, as I had to obtain a duplicate title (misplaced the original) before I could donate my 1999 Ford Contour.  Turns out, the easiest part was obtaining the "release of lien" letter from the bank that took over the bank that took over the bank that took over the bank that originally held the loan I paid off in 2002.  Faxed them the information, and I got the letter in three days.  Once I went to the RMV with the application and "release of lien" letter, it took them about four weeks to mail me the duplicate title
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

SP Cook

If I understand correctly, you filled in the seller and buyer part of the title on the back, but the deal fell through and the prospective buyer gave you the title back having never registered it and thus not having obtained a new title in his name. 

If that is so, then, yes, your remedy is to get a duplicate title.  You cannot erase material on the back of the title.  If its is $75, then it is $75. 

PHLBOS

Quote from: roadman on March 13, 2017, 09:24:01 AM$75 for a duplicate title!  What state of robber barons do you live in?
If Chays' listed location is true & current; it would be Florida.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

chays

Quote from: PHLBOS on March 13, 2017, 04:58:21 PM
Quote from: roadman on March 13, 2017, 09:24:01 AM$75 for a duplicate title!  What state of robber barons do you live in?
If Chays' listed location is true & current; it would be Florida.
Yep, here in Florida $75 is the damage.  I'm sending my wife in to the DMV to see what she can do.  She's worked miracles in the past.

NJRoadfan

The price is even more ridiculous when you consider that Florida issues electronic titles. In many cases the changes don't involve paper!

The Nature Boy

Quote from: NJRoadfan on March 14, 2017, 12:01:41 AM
The price is even more ridiculous when you consider that Florida issues electronic titles. In many cases the changes don't involve paper!

State governments love charging fees for small things. It's a revenue generator that's politically popular, partially because it's invisible to most people.

NJRoadfan

FWIW, NJ charges $60 for duplicate/corrected titles. Used to be $25 at one point.

Brandon

$75 is cheap when compared to Illinois.  The Secretary of State's office charges $95.

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/vehicles/basicfees.html
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

1995hoo

Florida has no state income tax and therefore makes up for it in other ways.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.



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