Car titles: What's in a name?

Not promptly transferring title can cause problems down the road. For example, if you are involved in an accident your insurance company may (many will) balk at paying your claim if the car was not titled to you. This can be overcome, but it will delay your getting paid for the damage. This could have been avoided by promptly transferring title when you bought the car.

Or what if you sold the car and the buyer didn’t change the title and used the car in a robbery or it was involved in a hit & run. Someone gets the plate number and guess who they come looking for? It HAS happened. Yeah, you can probably beat the rap, but why have to worry about it? It is easier to prevent the problem than it is to try to prove where you were at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, three weeks ago.

How do you prevent the problem? Well, interesting enough, I discovered BMV has no method for forcing a buyer to re-title a vehicle but there is a form for you as the seller to report the sale. BMV representatives report that without the form, your name will stay on the title for five years if the car is not registered. If the buyer tries to register and plate the vehicle, they will have to re-title it, but until then your name is on it. Your best bet is to complete the sale at the local license branch and sign off on the title at the same time the buyer registers and plates it.