Original owner of car started having fuel issues with vehicle and let it sit in garage for couple year.

Original owner sold car with bill of sale and signed over title to buyer Bob.
Bob owned car a year, with plans to fix but did not. Never registered it.

Bob then sold car to joe who fixed car to sell.

How much of a PIA would it cause for me at the DMV if I bought this car? I'm not looking for a headache. This would be a cheap commuter car to drive to work.

I'd have bill of sale from:
Mary to Bob
Bob to Joe
Joe to Me

Id have title signed from:
Mary to Bob with milage listed on all bill of sales within a few miles... showing it hasn't been on road since the last yr or registration.

Sounds like a mess to me but I have no experience with that exact situation

All I can tell you is that the state is a stickler for details when it comes to titles. In 1975 when they were first required m y Father was a car dealer. The state would send a title application back for an I not dotted. Literally, for an I not dotted or a middle initial left off or the name written when a middle initial was on the original.

Its not horrible if you can get original owner to apply for lost title and then sign it over to you. Other than that it’s a pain beyond worth unless you wanna go abandoned route that will cost a couple hundred dollars and take about 3 months

For me..... no clean title - no deal.

It's a clean title... just hasn't been registered to the past two owners cause the car wasnt drivable at the time and they didnt bother with it.



Sound like it may be more trouble that worth though.

I bet it would sti be the same. Especially with the title swapping hands, not being registered. If theres a 5mile discrepancy I bet they'd want back pay on registration or the prior owners to register.

I would make me a bill of sale from Bob to me and go to the courthouse. I've done it several times. If the title has Bob's name on it, all you need is a bill of sale with his name on it to you.

Title is still in Mary's name. She and bob signed the title but he never registered it. If he didnt sign it.. I'd have a bill of sale from Mary to myself.

I've had to line thru a name on the back of a title once and had no issues. You may not want to do that tho. Have you talked to the courthouse?

I would second calling courthouse or going by and looking for a friendly face. I called my courthouse about a trailer registration issue and they told me exactly what to do, in essence, the path of least resistance. I did just what they said to do and all was taken care of.

I made a minor mistake on the back of a title one time and I had to apply for a new one. Don't line through a name.....

They helped me out with a boat issue too...

I would worry more about a car that had not been driven in 3 or so years.

Yea that's been in my mind. I'm picky when it comes to any vehicle I have to spend money on.


it had some fuel issues and apparently the old lady couldnt fix it so the issues got passed on.

I've pretty well marked it off my list with the thought of trouble registering it. I'll call courthouse Monday. It would of just been a relatively low mile commute vehicle if checked out.

Call the Probate office or license office for your county. They are super easy to work with here in Autauga from my experiences. If nothing else they sometimes require an official signed and notarized affidavit for any and all claims of time of ownership and such. Just call. They won’t bite!!

That's the plan. It's just the weekend and I have a website collectively full of the smartest people out there. Just ask them

Go in and talk to Jeff Arnold, AKA Revenue Commish and no one else.

Actually got his number. We got some hunting property behind his place. May bother him in office Monday

We had some land next to his house a couple years ago. Biggest deer I've ever had on camera came from out there. He was a ghost tho.