My roommate is leaving the country and never coming back.

He owns a car, and may want to leave it with me to sell it and send him a check. How would that work, as far as the title and everything goes? How does he transfer the ownership to me legally?

I live in VA, for whatever that's worth.

 

Have him sign the car over to you, then send him the cash when you sell it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Reid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Have him sign the car over to you, then send him the cash when you sell it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Have him sign the title (but not to you), then fill in the buyer's info when you find one.
If he "signs it over to you", there's a good chance there would be an additional tax liability (as though it got sold twice).

Good luck, give it some investigation/thought.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zygspeed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Have him sign the title (but not to you), then fill in the buyer's info when you find one.
If he "signs it over to you", there's a good chance there would be an additional tax liability (as though it got sold twice).

Good luck, give it some investigation/thought. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks Ed!

That's what he had suggested, but I thought he was talking out of his butt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zygspeed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Have him sign the title (but not to you), then fill in the buyer's info when you find one.
If he "signs it over to you", there's a good chance there would be an additional tax liability (as though it got sold twice).

Good luck, give it some investigation/thought. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That is correct and also: If he were to sign it over to you without transfering the title within 5 days (Washington State). So not only would you have to pay the taxes of getting the car and the transfering fees, you would also have to pay all the late fees and what not that your state would charge you.

Back in Washington...on the back of the title it clearly states :Failure to transfer ownership may result in monetary penalty pursuant to RCW 46.12.101 (6). Which ='s: $16.00 on the first late day and an additional $2.00 per day not exceeding $100.00.

I checked out the Virginia DMV for fun and it shows $29.00 to transfer the title PLUS 3% of the total vehicle sale price. I did not find a time limit in transfering (though there may be) and didn't see any charges for late fees.

Even though this guy is your friend I'd even go as far as writing out some kind of an agreement on the transfer and sale of the car so there are no grey areas. Better than loosing a friend over some unforseen stupid arguement over a car. *shrug

Aloha,
Brandon

 

how would you transfer a title over to someone else, as a gift, for instance?

 

I think regardless of how you get it, you're charged some tax. For newer cars, unless you have a bill of sale, the NADA value (or Bluebook, or whatever) is used to determine how much you pay (5% of the value of the vehicle in MD). That's a not-insignificant amount of money. Ross, Zyg's suggestion is the way to go.

 

In NJ, you can write the dollar amount (for a private party sale) on the back of the title. When this is brought to the DMV, you're taxed on that amount.

In the instance of a gift, or where the sale price isn't inline with what the car would have sold (retail), been traded in for, etc, you'd be taxed on some "book" value of the car.

At least that's how it worked last time I sold/bought a car.

Ross, I'd go w/ Zyg's idea.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tomakit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Ross, I'd go w/ Zyg's idea. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I would have too, if it had ended up coming to that.

My roomie ended up being satisfied with what Carmax gave him ($1550), so he went that route.

Thanks for all your help, guys.

 

The proper way to do this is for him to sign a limited power of attorney for you to sell the car. That way you can sign any papers necessary to complete the sale. If he signs the title and does not do it in front of a notary at the time of the sale then you are f'kd. But what do I know, I am a fktard.