Car titles for junked vehicles - is there a reason to keep them?

[Dosmo]

My uncle passed away 3 days ago.  My family and I are going through the agonizing process of digging through his personal papers, etc.  He has owned many vehicles throughout his life, some of which I was, apparently, unaware.

 

I have found three titles for vehicles that have been junked - I think.

 

1951 Chrysler Station Wagon - it was titled as a Windsor, but the body had been mounted on an Imperial frame in an attempt to create an Imperial Station Wagon.

 

1966 Ford Galaxy 2dr - I don't remember seeing this car at all, and I have maintained pretty close contact with him throughout my adult life.

 

1967 Cadillac Deville 4dr - I remember a Sedan DeVille, but I thought it was 64/65 vintage.

 

At any rate, he hasn't owned any of these cars in the last 25 years.  None of the titles are in his name.  My inclination is to destroy all three titles.

 

I would appreciate your thoughts and inputs.

[kgreen]

Unless you want wall decorations in your garage, they are rather useless.  What you are going through with his belongings is similar to what your kids and my kids will go through someday.  This is a good time to make a future generation of our families happy and toss now rather than later or not at all.

[JamesR]

My opinion: I would toss them. I don't like being cluttered with old documentation. I still have the receipt from the purchase of my first car, but other than that I have no attachment to car paperwork. No legal need for it, as far as I can see.

[Trulyvintage]

Destroy

 

 

Jim

[ABear]

Destroy, shred, burn if you have no attachment to them.

 

Don't just put them in the trash or trade/sell/give away as they are the "fingerprints" of a long gone vehicle and there are folks who buy/sell/trade old titles for display purposes only, but keep in mind they could be sold for grey/black market purposes.

[Frank DuVal]

Are the VIN/body/chassis tags with the titles...? That does make them worth more, I mean, nope, useless....😮

11 hours ago, Dosmo said:

I have found three titles for vehicles that have been junked - I think.

It is the "I think" part that is curious. Are the vehicles in any place he might have stored them? If they are not anywhere the family can find them, and friends should know he has passed and come with details of cars they stored for him, then useless paper, unless someone wants them for wall hangings. For me a title not in my name OR any identification numbers of prior owners (like driver's license or SSN like on some state's titles) would just be recycled. No need to shred, nothing of importance. Now if it was a Corvette title or other expensive theft target car, maybe shred.

[TAKerry]

I had a fellow give me a title to a model a. It was in return for a favor. I had not expected it. I was going to frame it for wall art. 

[28 Chrysler]

At an estate sale I picked up a title, serial number plate and a black & white photo of a 1924 Packard sedan that was part of the WWII scrap drive.

I framed it all and put it up on my shop office wall. It was up for a couple of years and a friend of mine finely looked at it, it had his Grand father's name on it.

It went to a good home.

[Harold]

Before getting rid of those titles, I'd type the serial numbers into Google and see if they are associated with an existing vehicle.   You never know what will turn up.

[JACK M]

For some reason I have a bunch of boat and boat trailer titles in a file in my office.

There are a few boat titles as well. 

I just hate tossing anything that might be worth looking at for the rest of my life.

 

[ABear]

23 hours ago, Harold said:

Before getting rid of those titles, I'd type the serial numbers into Google and see if they are associated with an existing vehicle.   You never know what will turn up.

???

 

If you turn up that they exist, what good does that do you?

 

I seriously doubt even google is going to find a vehicle via serial number or VIN from a title, each State keeps that info private, it is not open to the public, would require State police level inquiries. Some States DMVs do not track or maintain title information after a certain amount of yrs pass without the vehicle being registered.

 

Titles not in your name or the current owners name are of basically no worth or value except to folks cobbling together a "bits a car" by buying dead titles to non existent long gone back to rust vehicles and basically forging the papers. Its called fraud.

 

Think of a title just like a fingerprint of a person, each person's fingerprint is unique to each person. The serial number or VIN on each title is unique, not duplicated, one of a kind. When the vehicle is taken out of service and is beyond repair or use, basically declared dead, you put that title to rest. Each State has their own way of properly handling that which may or may not have been done.. My State DMV likes to have the title of a scrapped or junked car to turned in to the DMV and that title is marked as scrap and they dispose of the title so it can never, ever be used again.

 

For sentimental reasons if you were attached to that car then frame the title, otherwise dispose in some way that it will never be able to be reused on the black market. Otherwise if you have old useless titles, that have no attachment to you, don't bother trying to look them up, just dispose in a proper manner and be done with it.

 

While it isn't illegal to buy, sell, trade old titles for DISPLAY use, it isn't exactly ETHICAL either since it does enable the potential for abuse.

 

 

[John_S_in_Penna]

On 4/6/2024 at 11:31 AM, 28 Chrysler said:

At an estate sale I picked up a title...a friend of mine finely looked at it, it had his Grand father's name on it.

It went to a good home.

That would be interesting to come across history like that!

If the titles were especially old--say 1950's or 1960's--

I would be inclined to keep them, just to preserve them.

 

Picture yourself finding a long-ago title today for, for instance,

a 1910 Thomas Flyer.  You wouldn't throw it away.  Well, some

years from now, even a title for a new 1960 Chevrolet will be

interesting.  Maybe it's interesting already.