usace

I'm kinda new to this because the past cars I've owned and sold have already been completely paid off. In those instances when I found a buyer I took their payment (cashier's check, money order, etc.), signed the title over to them, and then cancelled the insurance on it. This time I'm still making payments on the vehicle to a financing company, which has the title.

I phoned the finance company today to learn what the payoff balance was and asked them what the process was for selling the vehicle and obtaining the title. They explained to me that once they receive the remaining balance of the loan they will release the title to me, but it will take 5 days to receive. At which point I can sign it over to the new owner. If I were the buyer, though, I would want the title and car as soon as I handed over my payment to the seller. But being the seller I wouldn't want to hand over the car until I've received the title so I knew that my finance company had indeed received the payment and the loan had been paid off. Not to mention the fact that until the title is signed over to the buyer the car is still registered to me. I would obviously take the plates off and cancel the insurance, but the VIN on the car would still be linked to me until I signed the title over to the buyer and he/she visited the DMV to register the vehicle.

The scenario I'm concerned about is if I turn the car over to the buyer at the time of payment, and while we are waiting on the title to get to me something happens to the car. I realize the car will no longer be insured by me, but that VIN still lists me as the owner. BTW, would it even be possible for the buyer to insure the vehicle if the title hasn't been put in his name?

The reason I'm asking this here is because I wasn't sure if any of this process would be unique to S. Carolina. I figured this state may have it's own set of rules on how to handle this. If anyone has any experience with this sort of stuff would you please chime in? Thanks for the help.

s2racing

i also would like to know..

if you go to the bank that you borrowed the money from they can help you out.. that what i got from autotrader.com

doing that sometim this week and i will let you know..

batguano

That is pretty much standard procedure wherever you are. The finance company is listed as lienholder and the title has to be sent to your DMV to remove their name as lienholder then the title can be negotiated. It might speed things up if you take certified funds to the finance company for the payoff, have them stamp lien satisfied and then you can hand carry the title to DMV in Columbia to work the transfer. I hope this is some help to you. Good luck.

usace

The problem I have is that I didn't finance through a local bank. I handled everything at the dealership because they were able to give me the best rate due to my good credit rating. This company isn't local. I'd have to mail them the payment. And after that they said it takes them 5 days to process it and send the title back to me. It could end up being over a week for this whole process. I just need to know what to do in the meantime.

Does the buyer usually go ahead and take the car during that time or do I keep it until I'm able to sign the title over to them? I know if I was the buyer I'd have a hard time handing over a $20k+ check and trusting that the transaction was occurring. Especially if I couldn't take the vehicle with me at that point.

This type of transaction can't be that unusual. I mean, people sell cars all the time that are still being paid off.

Teutonic Machine

I think that you should draw up a "Bill of Sale". I just put my S2k in the Autotrader and they gave me this little kit that had a bil of sale in there. Just fill it out with the VIN and all the other stuff and make a copy of it and have it notarized. The bill of sale is proof of purchase for the buyer. When you send in your payoff check you can have your finance company either send the title directly to the buyer if they bought it without financing or to their finance company if they have the address. Someone correct me if this is wrong.

usace

I guess that makes sense. In SC I think you have 45 days to register and get plates for a vehicle, so it would certainly be less than 45 days until I got the title. At which point I can sign it over to the new owner and they can re-title it in their name. In the meantime they have a receipt, which I would have a copy of. If they are financing then the title would go to their finance company.

w1ngman

Be sure to ask airgate. By my reckoning, Raul tends to sell a car approximately every 5.7 months. He has excellent experience in this area