Getting a new title for old cars

[t walgamuth]

A can do attitude by the branch workers will overcome all.

I once drove over 20 miles to Flora a small town near here to title a vehicle I expected trouble with. The lady didn't bat an eye when I gave her the receipt from the seller which said I paid $1 for the 52 Caddy. I even told her I paid more than that but she just said it was fine and issued whatever I needed.

[ClayBelt]

Down here in Florida, as long as you have a bill of sale for the body, a bill of sale for the engine, and a bill of sale for anything your receipts show to be above $500, you just need a quick look over and then they give you a title and VIN. Just need to apply for a Custom Title. It's something like $50 to do so, as long as you have POI on the vehicle.

[BobWaitz]

I was able to title my truck by applying for a title for a vehicle that had never had a title as sometimes farm trucks were never titled. They wanted to make sure I wasn't trying to title an old combine!

One strategy that might help is if you have a contact in a small rural city. The workers at City Hall are also the people who process title transfers and driver's licenses. If you can establish that you aren't some sort of scammer, they might allow you to fill out the paperwork that a big-city DMV worker is going to stall you on. My belief is that once the paperwork gets into the system (that is someone, somewhere has approved it) as it makes its way up the chain it's more work for the person that denies it and it might just go through. I was able to have my paperwork submitted by the fellow I bought the truck from. He worked in a small municipality and the gals at city hall knew him and knew he wasn't pulling a fast one. Plus we were trying to title a Studebaker, not a pre-war Mercedes (mit kompressor) -- the fact that this car may be valuable might work against you.

[Studejohnn]

In California you can't "lien" a car just to get a title. There has to be a justifiable cause (unpaid bill etc.). Meaning you have to be a company that did work/stored the car. Then it has to be offered for lien auction. So, your secret, prized barn find becomes anyone's business. And, even if it was originally offered to you for free you are subject to paying the increment above the second highest bidder. So, maybe you just take the car and make it a nice yard ornament.

Interesting, I did exactly that, a lien sale, to get a title for an International truck. This was maybe 4-5 years ago, so maybe things are different now. I got the lien auction paperwork from Sacramento DMV HQ. Because the truck was worth less than $4,000, I did not have to put a public notice in the newspaper. Just had to tack a notice on my garage for 30 days. Since nobody comes to my house, I was good to go. I opened the auction and seeing nobody, I closed the auction. Essentially, I sold the truck to myself. A couple of hundred bucks and many hoops later I had my title.

many ways to skin the cat. Depends on your state.

[clarkwd]

Most people do not want to wait one year before they can register their car. With that system, it would be at least 14 months before I could resell a car that I legally purchased. I have had many new and used cars that I owned less than one year (also a couple owned for more than 15 years).

I've done 4 restorations and the average time was a little more than 7 years.
Bill

[studegary]

I've done 4 restorations and the average time was a little more than 7 years.
Bill

That is true, but some of us now like to buy cars that are done and ready to jump in and drive.

[wallaby]

It's been a long time since I've had to do this, but here in California they only keep records of a car for 7 years. If it hasn't been registered in the past 7 years, it falls out of the system and the DMV knows nothing about it. In that situation, you can simply tell DMV the car has been yours all this time and you have lost the paperwork. They have you fill some forms and pay some back registration fees, and a new title is issued to you.
In my experience with DMV, the most important thing is knowing what NOT to say. Don't offer information, wait until you are asked for it. In the above situation, there was never any mention of a change of ownership, and that cuts out the search you would have to do to get signatures from past owners and such. Mine required a VIN verification, and when one couldn't be found, they riveted a new ID plate to the vehicle and called it done.

[Studejohnn]

It's been a long time since I've had to do this, but here in California they only keep records of a car for 7 years. If it hasn't been registered in the past 7 years, it falls out of the system and the DMV knows nothing about it. In that situation, you can simply tell DMV the car has been yours all this time and you have lost the paperwork. They have you fill some forms and pay some back registration fees, and a new title is issued to you.
In my experience with DMV, the most important thing is knowing what NOT to say. Don't offer information, wait until you are asked for it. In the above situation, there was never any mention of a change of ownership, and that cuts out the search you would have to do to get signatures from past owners and such. Mine required a VIN verification, and when one couldn't be found, they riveted a new ID plate to the vehicle and called it done.

Good description of one of the ways to do it in CA. It was recommended to me to do it the way you described, but I had already gone down to the local DMV, and said too damned much. I was concerned they would be on the lookout for me, so I went the long route by working the mails and the Sac DMV. It worked out. As I said, many ways to skin the cat. Some easier than others.