No title after 2.5 months?

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I purchased a car from a dealer on 4/6, and have yet to receive the title. I was told the car had a lien in Texas. How long should I wait, and is there a point to asking for a refund since I can't get the title?
 
You should have never taken the car with out a title. If it has a lien then you don't own it.
Good luck.
 
I'd talk to the authorities in your own state.

Do you have an application for a title, like a carbon-copy?

Dealers are/ should be bonded, so you should have a way to get one. A negotiable title is "guaranteed" when you buy from a dealer and pay the whole thing off.
 
when i bought the Cmax, a month went by, no memorandum title. contact my salesperson, she looks into it.
the folks who traded the car in, still had a lein on it. when the dealership paid it off, the bank sent the title to the prior owners( couple in their 80's), not the dealership.

within a week, they had gotten the title, done the processing they needed on their end, and sent me the Memorandum title. they also sent me a $20 check to cover the fine just in case it ended up being more than the 45 days Ohio allows you transfer your registration. (luckily i had traded a car in, so we could go that route, instead of the 30 temp tag.)

this was also a multi state transaction.
the dealer is about a mile on the Ohio side of the Ohio/Indiana line. prior owners live in Indiana, I'm in Ohio.
 
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Originally Posted by eljefino
I'd talk to the authorities in your own state.

Do you have an application for a title, like a carbon-copy?

Dealers are/ should be bonded, so you should have a way to get one. A negotiable title is "guaranteed" when you buy from a dealer and pay the whole thing off.


Yes, I have paperwork from the dealer. It is a multi-location dealer across the street from my apartment. Chevy and Nissan here.
 
Originally Posted by Shaman
I was told the car had a lien in Texas.


That was your first mistake.

If I purchase a vehicle, even from a dealership, I walk away with the signed, clear title. No exceptions, period. Next stop is the county courthouse to have it transferred-usually within an hour of purchasing the vehicle.

Contact the selling dealer, and if they even start to give you any problem get your attorney or the attorney general's office involved.
 
You've got trouble. That car is not yours... without a title you have nothing.

I was in a situation like that years ago. I paid cash for a car from a small lot. The seller promised that he would have the title "any day". Well, days turned into weeks and they guy stopped taking my calls and was always "out" when I showed up at his place of business. I got worried and hid the car in a warehouse. I guess I was a big enough PIA that he finally got me the title... he met me in a Quick Trip parking lot... talk about a shady character. Shortly after that, I heard that the guy went broke and skipped town. I was lucky. He hung a lot of folks out to dry.

I hope you're lucky.

I don't like those little mom and pop "pot" lots. The last time I bought a car from one, I made them prove that they had title to it before I gave them a penny.
 
Originally Posted by Fawteen
Originally Posted by Shaman
I was told the car had a lien in Texas.


That was your first mistake.


Yeah, I have to agree with that.

The new state probably isn't issuing the new registration & title due to the lean or maybe even the old title had multiple sigs and one is missing???
 
The dealer made it known to you that the title had a lien on it?

They should deal with this all the time given lots of trade-ins still have a balance owed on them.
 
This is not uncommon and laws vary. A dealer will take a car in trade in that isn't paid off. If the dealer resells that car quickly-it will still have a lien that the dealer would be in the process of paying off. What is unusual wit the OP's post is it is taking a little long.

The DMV can help with this to sell if there is a new application for title in the state where all this is taking place.

Buying a used vehicle without a clear title is not uncommon (when a balanced is owned by the previous owner).

Some of the advice above is not accurate.
 
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Originally Posted by Shaman
I purchased a car from a dealer on 4/6, and have yet to receive the title. I was told the car had a lien in Texas. How long should I wait, and is there a point to asking for a refund since I can't get the title?


I don't want to write a discouraging reply, but here's the truth:

Cars have gotten so expensive, that the vast majority of dealerships do not, and cannot, "own" their entire inventory. For that reason, much of the inventory on any dealer's lot is owned by the bank.

In your situation, my hope is that when you bought the car, the dealer went to the bank and satisfied the loan. From there, it *can* take quite a bit of time to secure the title from the bank, unfortunately.
 
Originally Posted by NDL
Originally Posted by Shaman
I purchased a car from a dealer on 4/6, and have yet to receive the title. I was told the car had a lien in Texas. How long should I wait, and is there a point to asking for a refund since I can't get the title?


I don't want to write a discouraging reply, but here's the truth:

Cars have gotten so expensive, that the vast majority of dealerships do not, and cannot, "own" their entire inventory. For that reason, much of the inventory on any dealer's lot is owned by the bank.

In your situation, my hope is that when you bought the car, the dealer went to the bank and satisfied the loan. From there, it *can* take quite a bit of time to secure the title from the bank, unfortunately.


THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^an accurate reply.
 
Originally Posted by NDL
Originally Posted by Shaman
I purchased a car from a dealer on 4/6, and have yet to receive the title. I was told the car had a lien in Texas. How long should I wait, and is there a point to asking for a refund since I can't get the title?


I don't want to write a discouraging reply, but here's the truth:

Cars have gotten so expensive, that the vast majority of dealerships do not, and cannot, "own" their entire inventory. For that reason, much of the inventory on any dealer's lot is owned by the bank.

In your situation, my hope is that when you bought the car, the dealer went to the bank and satisfied the loan. From there, it *can* take quite a bit of time to secure the title from the bank, unfortunately.


This is true, but there still needs to be a lien release letter accompanying the title with a lien still recorded on it, in order for the vehicle to be registered.

I've bought lots of used vehicles from (large) dealerships and never even thought to look at the title. Probably poor planning on my part. I have had it take weeks (maybe 2 months?) to receive my title in the mail.
 
It would be prudent to run a title search and find out the details of this lien. The more you know the better you can handle things.
 
I've bought vehicles with NO TITLE. Just know what your getting, run the vin at the police station, buy it cheap because it is a off road/parts vehicle.

There are poverty people out there that cannot spend 200+ dollars just to get the title. So they take the hit and sell for $300 Perfectly legal.
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I've bought a "fixer" for a good price some time ago, it was their daughters car, and the title was out of state. Their daughter had signed the title, BUT DID NOT DATE by their signature so the parents could sell it. (your supposed to contact Driver Services XX days after a sale)
 
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Like Vern, I've done it to.

My nephew was gifted a vehicle from an out of state family member who lost the title. It was a bit more paperwork and time, but we eventually got a title for it for our state. It took weeks. This was 8-10yrs ago.
 
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