Depending on the state in which you live, a bonded title can usually be cleared after three to five years if nobody else lays claim to the vehicle. This is similar to a salvage title that shows there is some kind of issue with the title. Once a surety bond is purchased, you will receive a bonded title. This is where good record keeping and a bill of sale come in especially handy. To get a surety bond, you will need to provide proof of ownership, most likely with an accompanying state inspection to disprove that the vehicle has been stolen. Get a Bonded Title, Surety Bond, or a Court Ordered Title: Even though it can be a pain, purchasing a surety bond can be one of the better ways to rectify an open title issue. Unfortunately, filing a lawsuit is often one of the least effective ways of dealing with open title issues unless you are working with an established business entity. With private sellers, especially those who give you false contact information, this can be much harder or impossible. This is much easier done with car dealers conducting shady business dealings. Take Legal Action: Many people’s knee-jerk reaction to fraudulent activity is to take legal action against the person or company committing fraud. If this is unsuccessful, you will have to explore other actions. You can attempt to contact the original owner of the vehicle with the original title to track and prove ownership history and get a duplicate title. In that case, you will have a hard time tracking them down. But if you are the victim of a car flipper, the contact information they have given you may be inaccurate. Occasionally, you will have success and a minor mistake can be corrected. What Do You Do With an Open Title?Ĭontact the Original Owner of the Vehicle: If you find out that a car title was signed but never transferred before your purchase, you should always try to get in touch with the one who sold you the vehicle.
Here is what you need to know when this happens. The practice of signing a car title but never transferring it into their name is called “title jumping” or “title skipping.” The final title transfer is therefore never completed, and the next buyer of the vehicle, as well as the previous owner, may both be in for a messy situation.
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This is often done to avoid things like sales tax, registration fees, or because of a lien preventing the full transfer of title to the new owner. Both the buyer and seller have items on the title that must be filled out, but when the buyer or seller does sign their portion, the result is an open title. Typically, selling your vehicle privately involves signing the title over to the new buyer. Both sides come with mountains of paperwork and technicalities, that, if not filled out correctly, can spell out headaches for both parties down the road. Whether you choose to buy a car at a dealership or through a private party transaction, the process can be messy, complicated, and aggravating.