How to buy a vehicle from Tennessee?

hans747

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Location
Asheville, NC
Hey folks,

I live in NC, but I'm looking to buy a vehicle from a woman in Tennessee. The part I don't understand is that a financing company holds the title to it. How do I go about doing this? i planned on buying with cash. But it feels weird handing her all my money to pay off her loan. Someone told me that I will get a notarized bill of sale, and i can use that to register the vehicle until she gets the title back from her bank.

Will the NC DMV allow me to do that? Or will I have to hold the car unregistered until her financing company coughs up the title? What sort of paperwork does NC require to register in this situation?

Thanks!
 
go with her to the financing company & pay it off & they should get you all of the paper work
 
no notary in TN. you just have to sign the title, just like in SC. What you'll have to do is have her sign the title over to you then you'll take it to the tag office and they'll fill out the paperwork so you can transfer the title. It's $40 for the title application and $5 for the notary at the tag office. pretty simple. takes about 15 minutes.
 
McCracken said:
no notary in TN. you just have to sign the title, just like in SC. What you'll have to do is have her sign the title over to you then you'll take it to the tag office and they'll fill out the paperwork so you can transfer the title. It's $40 for the title application and $5 for the notary at the tag office. pretty simple. takes about 15 minutes.
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hans747 said:
The part I don't understand is that a financing company holds the title to it.
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dkrajcovic said:
go with her to the financing company & pay it off & they should get you all of the paper work
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See, when I talked to her, it sounded like the place is not in town. She financed it through some online bank. In the past, I've just gone to the seller's bank and taken care of it right there. But it doesn't seem like there's a "right there" in this case.
 
Either you or her, call the financing company and ask them how you get the title. My bet is you pay them, they give you a BOS, they send it to you. Meanwhile you take the BOS to the DMV for your tags etc.
 
Can't get tags without a title.
 
shawn said:
Can't get tags without a title.
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How do you get tags if you are financing a car? I didn't get the title to my ex's van until it was paid off. Had tags on it the whole 5 years.

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The bank is holding a copy of the title with the vehicle in your name, which the NCDMV has issued to them. NCDMV won't issue a new title until they receive the old one signed/notarized/etc that you're now the owner of the vehicle. The first thing they do is transfer the title to your name, then they issue you tags. If there's a lien holder involved, the title is issued in your name, the lien holder section is completed, then the title is sent off to them to keep until you satisfy the lien.

Getting the title is critical, since you don't own the vehicle without it. It comes down to a question of how much you trust the seller to follow through. I've purchased vehicles from out of state before, but took the vehicle with me while we waited on the bank to release the lien and return the title. It's not uncommon for it to take three weeks for the bank to get their money, release the title, return it to the previous owner, have them sign and notarize it, then send it on to you.
 
I once bought a truck where the PO had financing. I'm pretty sure I handed a big bank check written to Ford Motor Company Credit to the seller, got a bunch of paperwork in return, drove the truck away with the tag from my old truck on there (questionable legallity). It took a few months for FoMoCo Credit to get the title to me so I could get my tags. Not sure what the holdup was, pretty sure the PO was slacking.
 
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