74 Challenger craigslist find
Yeah, it's soooo easy but the seller doesn't have the time or money to do it? If it is easy for anyone it's the lawful owner. Many cars may not be "stolen" in the system but that doesn't mean the person selling it has the right to do it. Like you say, people die, divorces, etc. But in many of those cases it's somebody selling it out from under the lawful owner. Maybe you will be fine, maybe the rightful owner shows up after you dish out the $4500.
Thats why if the state your in allows you to put a bond against the title you do so. Usually a bonded title is required to remain that way for a few years. Texas requires 3 years. After that if nobody has claimed ownership you go into your DMV, have the bond removed from the title, now there is no contesting ownershipf. I just had the bond removed from my cuda. I dissassembled the car and repaired the floors and started body work, and collected up parts, but have not assembled the car yet. Now that the bond is removed i will start.
Now doing things this way isnt cheap. And its a bit of a pain ,but its super legal. $10 DMV search, $275 for a bond, $20 DMV for bonded title. Now $20 to get a regular title issued with bond removed.
If somebody contested it in that time period they would be getting a shell with a title. All the stuff i collected up to redo it i have reciepts for and are parts not installed so these wouldent go with the car, plus i have pictures of its condition when i got it. Basically a rolling shell.
Something like this if its not stolen , you put a bonded title on it, and if you have a place to put it as a future project just let it sit till the bond runs outout and collect up parts for it. Dont do anything to the car itself till then. If its a real pile o **** but has potential let it sit. If somebody does pop up saying its theirs let em look at it while its in a deplorable condition. Most people would say well ok its a pile o **** and walk away.
My cuda i bought from a friend. He bought it 10 years prior, and it sat , the owner had the title somewhere but couldent find it . 5 years into my friends ownership he decided maybe he should contact the seller and have him apply for a lost title. The mans widow informed my friend that he died. After that the car sat 5 more years till i bought it. I went thru the bill of sale deal with my friend, the prerequesite DMV vin search, bond for title and a 3 year wait for the bond to expire. I was told i could work on the car , sell is, even drive it while the bond is on it. I decided id just do body work on the shell and collect up parts and leave them in their boxes till the bond ran out.
