My 32 Buick needs a title. What are the steps?

[CTCV]

My old Buick was bought with a bill of sale only. If you have seen the early pictures when I bought it you can understand why. Can someone fill me in on the steps to acquire a new title?

Thanks

Tony

[Larry Schramm]

Need to start by going to your secretary of state office ( or what ever it is called in PA) or look on line to see what the current procedure is to get a new title.  That will give you a start for acquiring a title.

[pont35cpe]

Might quiz these people about your needs. I`ve never used them, they are at the Pate Swap Meet every year. Classic Auto Title 214 697 8948 or L.Plamer@ClassisAutoTitle.com

[39BuickEight]

The first step is contacting you local DMV/ Clerk’s office to ask them what you need to do.  Every locale is different.

[Guest]

Usually a smaller office can be more help than a larger one.  I always found it was better to ask for help and not to try to tell the clerk what to do.  Had a '41 Dodge PU with three bills of sale between the last registered owner and myself.  I put everything on the counter and asked for help (Government agents office in a small Okanagan town).  The clerk said why not take a transfer form over to the original owner and get him to sign it.  Turned the original owner was living in a care facility just down the street.

I had a friend who imported planes from the USA to Canada, he always went in and showed his pilots license and a picture of the aeroplane he wanted to buy and asked how to do it.  He usually had all the forms the same day and about a week to get the permit.  His lawyer friend went in, told the clerk the numbers of the forms he needed and he needed his permit ASAP.  It took him three months to get his permit.

Always allow the clerk or agent to look important.

[CTCV]

I am going to go to my local DMV this week. I am not quite sure how completely built the vehicle needs to be and are photos required but I guess I'll find out.

[Robert Engle]

I would not discuss the condition of the car with DMV.  Take photos of the engine serial # and frame serial #.  Explain that the previous owner bought it on a bill of sale.  Going to a small DMV office is definitely wise.  Some states require an inspection  of condition, some don't.  

 

Bob Engle

[Str8-8-Dave]

And take your bill of sale.  If it works like it did here in Michigan when I went to transfer an existing Illinois title from seller to get a Michigan title in my name I had to wait a few days while our secretary of state contacted the Illinois DMV to request a National Vehicle Title Information System (NVTIS) search of the Illinois title and the VIN number in your case,  just the VIN number, which is THE database for older cars that your local DMV cannot access in their systems.  It would be really nice if you could get a copy of whatever their report shows, might give clues to ownership over time, but with today's privacy laws that is not likely. 

[CTCV]

It would be great to have history of ownership but I guess those records are long gone. 

[midman]

I’ve heard of only a couple of ways to get a title for bill of sale transactions in PA. A bill of sale alone in PA means nothing to the PA DOT.

One is the most expensive but fully legitimate way. There is a legal process in PA where a judge will declare you the legal owner of the vehicle and you will receive a court document requiring the DOT to issue a title in your name. It requires a chain of custody, and depositions from all known owners as well as the earlier mentioned stolen vehicle search. I did this once and it cost me over a thousand dollars for a pretty straight forward situation. Of course I needed a lawyer to navigate through this. PM me if you want his name. He was a good lawyer (believe me I don’t say that often).

The other I’ve been told about but never done myself is some routine where you acquire registration documents from Vermont and then take them to the PA DOT and receive a title. If you do an internet search you will find the steps people have taken.

 

Good luck.