Posted on 05/30/2025 4:38:26 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Ben Shakman, a Wildwood, Missouri resident, purchased a trailer on Facebook Marketplace for $3,500 years ago and thought all was fine.
But when he went to the license office to register the vehicle, the title was deemed incomplete because the sale price was missing. He told FOX 2 the state took 294 days to notify him of the problem.
A skip title is when someone purchases a vehicle and doesn’t get the title in their name before selling it to someone else.
This, FOX 2 says, was the issue facing Shakman.
A person who is involved in this sort of “title jumping” bypasses requirements like paying title transfer fees, taxes and registration fees. There ends up being a gap in the vehicle’s history.
According to Kelly Blue Book, a title proves ownership, while a car’s registration allows a vehicle to be legally driven. You usually can’t register a car without a title.
Shakman told reporters that his initial check to register the trailer was cashed. However, he didn’t find out about the deficiency in his paperwork — there was no sales price in the title — until almost a year later.
When he attempted to provide more paperwork, the Department of Revenue told him he needed affidavits. “And then after I talked to the state, it was now the only way you’re getting a title is by suing us, and here’s how to do it,” Shakman said.
Shockingly, state government officials instructed him to sue the state in order to get his title.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Unfortunately there is a lot of fraud in vehicle exchange. I remember one where a guy bought a motorcycle then years later a cop did a check, found a hidden VIN, and determined the vehicle was stolen. They impounded the motorcycle, gave it to the insurance company that paid for the theft, but the statue of limitations made it so the fraudulent sellers could not be charged. The buyer lost his cycle with no recourse.
In Massachusetts, years ago, one could provide a receipt for vehicle sale for $1.00 to avoid a large’ish excise tax bill when registering a car at the DMV. The Commonwealth caught on and changed the law to a minimum valuation of $1000 for any vehicle.
BMVs can be maddening. Or rather some of the workers can be.
I had to have multiple rounds of visits because I traded a car hauler trailer for another one that a guy had that was lighter in weight. We were assigned this woman who just couldn’t get it through her head that barter is real. I had to refill forms I think 3 times and drive back to wait only to have her say dot this “I” or cross this “t”.
My advice is if anyone trades just make up a dollar amount and say you paid each other. I noticed she didnt work there many months after that.
That happened to an old boss of mine, only it was a very expensive classic Corvette. Gone.
This hurts.
I’m in the process of selling a trailer owned by my employer. I can’t find the Title. We have several trailers and of course all of the others are right where they belong.
I’ve got the lost title form filled out and ready to go.
“Shockingly, state government officials instructed him to sue the state in order to get his title.”
Perhaps we are accustomed to seeing lawsuits as a form of lawfare. Seeing it that way, it is “shocking.”
On the other hand, there may be nothing shocking about government employees explaining rights and procedures to the public. An arrested person may be told they have the right to remain silent and a right to legal representation.
The old addage: “Buyer beware” comes into play here.
A bit of research goes a long ways, when buying high end, or any used vehicles.
There are multiple ways to verify a legit VIN, or expose a fake.
Often times, a deal too good to be true, confuses the issue.
My son bought an old non running truck about 5 years ago. The VIN plate was missing off of the door so i looked at the frame stamped one which didn’t match the title. We went to the PD and they ran the number but only in TX and the surrounding states. There is/was no national database for stolen vehicles. Unbelievable.
I bought a Firebird Formula 350 on eBay some years years ago from a guy out of State. Picked up the car, shook hands and drove it home. When I went to register it, the DMV lady handed me back the paperwork and said she can’t register it. I asked why, she said it was stolen.
So I took it to the police. They looked it over and told me the Pontiac had more than one VIN number on it. Hood and fender stamps were different. Long story short, the car was stolen and an insurance claim filed. The stolen vehicle had been crashed, sold, repaired, and a salvage title issued. The vehicle was later sold to the guy I bought it from. During the process of finding out what happened, the State Police took my car for about 3 months….
In the end it didn’t really bother me. I was too busy wearing perma-grin while doing brake stands and burnouts every time the light turned green.
I believe carfax and similar services search all the databases at the same time.
It’s a few dollars.
An old Arkan-saw scam was to take wrecked or stolen autos to salvage yards in Missouri, rebuild the car to a driveable condition, run it down into Arkansas and sell it as an ABANDONED VEHICLE in the auto auctions.
For a few $$ you could get a clean Arkansas title showing it had never been wrecked or stolen.
We had a local cop tell us “Don’t EVER buy a used car in Arkansas!” but he would not say why.
So Dad, who thought he knew everything, scoffed and continued to buy them and could not understand why he could not get a decent car.
Our company bought a brand new auto off the dealer’s show room floor for our plant manager.
Several months later I was walking by it and noticed the paint on the front was just a shade different from the real. I told the maintenance foreman about it and a check deep inside showed the back to have been wrecked and lots of bondo used to cover the dents.
Actually, there is, and most state DMVs use the system. NMVTIS (National Motor Vehicle Title Information System) has a contract now with Bumper.com for the public to use.
NMVTIS is what CarFax has been using for years.
No title, no sale. Period.
Texas used to have a sales dollar amount in the title transfer application. Private sellers and buyers would just put “$10.00”. The State got wise to that and now calculates the tax on the fair market value.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/does-texas-calculate-sales-tax-BjYqFH1ATjuiyMu23y1HTw
Skip title. I call it an open title.
IF you buy a car with an open title, take it and the seller to the state title office (county clerk here in Texas) and do the transfer.
Years ago I bought an old Corolla with an open title. I think we settled on a $1200 price. I told the seller the cash would be handed over when I got the White Slip which confirms the title transfer then and there with the state; the official title comes a month later.
I told the seller that I would pay the taxes on the sale, but if there was any penalty for the open title, HE would be responsible for them. There was. About $200.
He had to pay that or lose the sale. He paid it and I got a clear title and he lost money on the deal because he didn’t register the car when he bought it a year prior.
Which, if he had registered it, it would have cost him about $200 then.
If there’s ever any doubt about the title to a vehicle, do the sales transaction at the local state office and get the white slip first while the seller is there also.
Yep, the STATE’S fair market value.
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