Selling a Car To Someone Out of State?
 

Hey all,
Hopefully someone has experience with this. I have my '87 SS on Ebay right now, and there is someone interested in the car from Upstate NY. She wanted to know if she threw in an extra $100, could I meet her partway with the car, like somewhere on the NYS Thruway. Now, this would be fine with me, except - how can she legally get the car home from that point if I take my plates off it?

1. If I send her the title after the payment clears, technically the car is hers and I'd be driving it there with no insurance and fake plates and registration on it.

2. If I sign the title over to her at the meeting point, she has no registration or plates. She could get insurance if she notifies her company ahead of time.

What should I do?

i would meet with her and make the exchange. that way it is her problem, not yours.

later
tim

I would not give up the title until the car is out of my hands, or the buyer is picking it up and i dont ahve to drive it again. Â*From all my buying and selling, i learned the following, once you sign the title where it says sellers signiture, "techincally" you dont own the car anymore as of that day. Â*I sold a car and the buyer brought plates for some other car and put them on to drive the car home, and legally since i signed the title then and there, and so did he, it was not my liability. Â*I believe the only "legal" way to do an exchange like that is for one party to have the car registered and insured in their name with a clean title and the other party to use used car or new car dealer plates which cover any car they are on. Â*You coudl tell them that you will do the exchange but you will bring the title with you, sign it there have, them sign, then take your plates, legally it is there car after that point. Â*They could get insurance covergae over the phoe before the car would be registred, at leats here in NJ i have(like 4-5 hours before i got to DMV, but that still wouldnt solve the issue that theyd need valid NY registration. Â*Or, last option is to rent a uhaul trailer and tow the car up there to the halfway point, and send them the title before hand to register it. the full trailers are about 60(insuranc eincluded) for a 24hr period.

ya if they have the title they can say you stole it.

just take the 100 buck hit if you dont feel like doin it 8)

well, not really.... You date it and since you are on the title as the previous owner, no one in their right mind would think you stole it if an accusation was ever made. The main reason is, because if they dont follow through, and pick up the car, your stuck with a car you cant do anything with because you dont own it. and even if they take a while to get it, your stuck with it on your property unregistered and uninsured(most towns dont allow that). plus if they do say you stole it, tell them to take it, cause obviously they would have paid if they have the title. No moron would give a title without at least collecting payment.

steve, i do agree with squirrel, just tell her to drive the few extra miles and save her 100 bucks. lol

I highly recommend you do not take the $100 for these reasons:

Regardless if she has paid you and that you've signed over the title, the law states you are still liable if the new owner gets into an accident unless she is driving the car under her OWN registration.

Once you've signed over the title, your registration (unless it's expired) and insurance (unless you cancelled the insurance already) is STILL VALID. If she did nothing but pay you, and you sign over the title, and she drives off with it with no plates, it would still be your responsibility if anything happened to her.

Until the buyer obtains a "Temporary Registration" (similar to what you get when you purchase a car from a dealership, those annoying paper tags that are taped to the rear window), the seller can still be held liable.

The buyer must obtain the "Temporary Registration" from NJ DMV (or MVC... whatever the hell it is now)... http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/cit_regis...emp_in_nj.html
It is a $5 fee.

Of course, you could take the extra $100, but you risk the buyer getting into an accident, and you being held responsible. EVEN if the buyer purchases insurance with the VIN# and all, you can still be held liable.

So, it's a risk... I would make the buyer drive a few extra miles to pick up the car and get the temporary registration.

(I speak from experience about this whole matter; when I bought my motorcycle in New York, I had to go through the whole procedure of getting temporary tags... it was not a pleasant ordeal. I purchased the bike from a lawyer, and he didn't want the liability. At the time, he showed me all the driving statutes and how the Seller could be held liable.)

Just my 2 cents...

~Joe

ya ive seen this happen i would tell her come and get it with a trailer or you drive it to her house.

I bought my car from a guy up in Mass. How our deal worked was I went up to look at the car, and gave him the money and asked him to sign a receipt I had printed up with all the info on the car. When he finally got the title in (took about 2 weeks) he signed it and FedEx'd it to me. With the title I went gave the info to my insurance agent and registered the car and got my plates. Took the train up and picked up the car putting my plates new plates on.

Okay I know that really didn't help any cause I was willing to go pick up the car from the guy I bought it from, but I agree with Squirrel, take the hit for the 100 bucks and tell her to pick up the car. I would tell her to come pick it up herself. If's she's going to drive it she'll have to put plates on it. Maybe ask her to show proof of registration for the car before taking it so you are not liable. Just an idea.

-ant

could u meet at a NY dmv place and have her register and swich the title rite there and then?

Guys, these are all great suggestions, thanks!

She wrote me to say she'd be willing to send a bank check, and then after it clears, I could send her the title so she could get it registered and insured. I e-mailed her back tonight, saying that's fine, and maybe she should just pick the car up at my house. I said I wouldn't feel comfortable driving it an hour into NY with fake plates and no insurance on it - man, if I got pulled over I'd be toast!