First purchase Question from novice buyer.

[Guest]

Agreed to puchase a antique truck from 1500 miles away. Truck's title is in a deceased person's name. The wife of the deceasded has agreed to convert the title in her name. Transporter (supposed to be lic & ins) will fax me the order/agreement which will be COD. <P>The seller and I haven't discussed specifics of how this transaction will take place but I'm open for suggestions or better than that - steps to take to complete the sell appropriately for the best interest of both parties.

[1937hd45]

The only problem I can see is if you bought it from photos, and upon arrival it may not look as good. What type of truck is it?

[Guest]

Thought I answered this one already...<P>LOOK OUT......POTENTIAL COSTLY TROUBLE....<P>DONT give the guy ANY money until you take the paperwork copies to your state's Motor Vehicle Bureau. You COULD be exposing yourself to financial DISASTER.<P>Several states have copied California's law on non-registered vehicles. Dosnt matter if the Certificate of OWNERSHIP is in order. <P>Here's what happens. In those states, you MUST, each year, file and pay for a "Certificate Of Non Operation". If you fail to do that, tremendous fines and penalties keep adding up each year...in a few years of non REGISTRATION ( again, as distinguished to proper Certificates of OWNERSHIP) these fines and penalties can go into the thousands - in some cases...TENS of thousands of dollars OR THEY IMPOUND THE VEHICLE !<P>Damn unfair.....so you'd better find out IN ADVANCE what, if any, problems you will have getting it "legal" !<P><BR>Pete Hartmann<P>(who is damn glad to have moved to Arizona...where they don't "pull" that crap on old car buffs....!)

[Fred Rawling]

In California, if the car is a special interest car or historical car, you can avoid the non operation fees. You have to fill out an affidavit stating that it is either special interest or historical. The worst that happened was that they charged me $5.00 because (they said) the computer would not move forward without that fee. <P>I have registered several vehicles where the owner lost the papers. I went in with a non operation cert from the seller, a bill of sale and a hand written statement that he had lost his paper work and got the car registered without problems. These were historical, antique, or special interest vehicles. I do not know about modern iron.

[FireballV8]

I don't recommend having the shipper involved in handling the finances. Recently I was in such a situation, where I sold a car to a man in Holland and he said a shipper will pick it up and pay me the amount. The shipper arrived and looks at the car and offers me a quarter of the price. I told him I had sold the car at an agreed price, but he wouldn't pay me for it. This is after having the man in Holland sign a bill of sale and do all paper work. I think the shipper haggles the price on your part and tries to keep the rest of your cash for himself. This is not fair for you or the old lady, so be cautious.