Purchasing a car from a private seller. Nightmare.

Ive bought cars that had been "title skipped". Ive even sold cars the same way. Horrible, I know. My friend bought my dart with the intention of getting it running and selling it. I fell in love with it while helping him work on it and bought it. He bought the car from a guy that bought it from the last registered owner. So it had gone through 3 people without having the title transferred. I had no issues getting it transferred.

I bought an '89 T/A GTA for $400. Put a couple hundred in it to get it running and sold it within a couple weeks of owning it. Never put that car in my name. The buyer was aware and he didn't care. He's been happily driving and restoring it. No problems putting it in his name.

It costs a few hundred dollars to insure a car to get the tag and title transferred. And then you have to wait a few weeks to get the title in the mail. If the car is meant to be a quick flip it's hard to sell it when you are waiting for the transfer and you have NO title in hand. Car dealerships do it all the time.