Vermont titling

[08Malibu]

I lived as a Vermont resident for a few years in the early 2000s. (no, not required for their title process, but, I did register a good dozen vehicles in the time.)

Anyways, it all depends if your loan lien shows up in their computer system when you try to register the vehicle.

The benefit to the title system is the whole no needing a title thing and being able to just go off a bill of sale. There were times I bought something that HAD a title, and at the window the receptionist took the bill of sale and gave the executed title from the other state back to me, saying the bill of sale was good enough and they didn't need it. But, they did still look some things up in their computer.

As a practical matter, you wouldn't necessarily extinguish the old lien validity just by getting a washed title either, that depends on the laws where/when the lien was recorded and what the lender has done since then to preserve its rights. Not sure on NJ laws on the matter, or, other states closer to you, but, in GA there's a dual track system to dealing with outstanding lien releases on a title:

On cars 12 years of age or older, if the lien is more than 4 years old, a release from the lender is NOT required to transfer/title/duplicate title a car/truck. (And 11 yrs or less that jumps to 10 years from the date the lien was first recorded.) You still file a form, it just doesn't have to be signed off by the prior lender.

I had to deal with it to get the inlaws '02 GP retitled as they never had the loan payoff recorded I'm GA.

So. Could be a state near you has a similar process. The biggest benefit to VT is you don't have to live there as a resident to use their registration system. An 02 definitely meets the 15 year cutoff you could pretend not to have a title. Other states also have cutoffs, just Vermont is the most popular.

Everything has it's own sets of headaches, it all depends on you finding the easiest amount of issues to wade through for your particular title problem.

The lien was satisfied back in like 2009 or so. So apparently it’s archived in Bank of Americas system which causes issues. Covid excuses and such. It’s crazy, I have a friend of a friend at the NJMVC and I can’t get anything handled.

 

[ck80]

The lien was satisfied back in like 2009 or so. So apparently it’s archived in Bank of Americas system which causes issues. Covid excuses and such. It’s crazy, I have a friend of a friend at the NJMVC and I can’t get anything handled.

At least you don't have the headache I've got. One of my regals has been parked since 2001. It was bought as a 40k mile car from a small town dealership on a buy here/pay here at $200/wk, 6 month financing arrangement back in the 90s. Age having made it a non-finance situation for banks at the time.

Whelp, loan paid off, title signed... and... misplaced in some box or another during a move. Along with one to a sandstone 83 H/O, an 88k mile squarebody burb, the original 1983 title to another regal, and a couple others. Problem is, dealership burned to the ground 5 years after I bought the car, and, they didn't rebuild.

State of Massachusetts will not reissue any title with a lien in their system, no ifs ands or buts.

Soooo... until I find that particular title, I'm out of luck. Because *I* owned it in their system, on that one there's no trick to game the system without paying multiple rounds of sales tax and 'selling' it to someone else, plus a few other wrinkles in name change, etc. So I have just let it sit un-driven and it's got who knows how much dust and scratches in the thin lacquer by now. It'll probably look like a cool semi weathered survivor by the time I get back to it.

 

[08Malibu]

At least you don't have the headache I've got. One of my regals has been parked since 2001. It was bought as a 40k mile car from a small town dealership on a buy here/pay here at $200/wk, 6 month financing arrangement back in the 90s. Age having made it a non-finance situation for banks at the time.

Whelp, loan paid off, title signed... and... misplaced in some box or another during a move. Along with one to a sandstone 83 H/O, an 88k mile squarebody burb, the original 1983 title to another regal, and a couple others. Problem is, dealership burned to the ground 5 years after I bought the car, and, they didn't rebuild.

State of Massachusetts will not reissue any title with a lien in their system, no ifs ands or buts.

Soooo... until I find that particular title, I'm out of luck. Because *I* owned it in their system, on that one there's no trick to game the system without paying multiple rounds of sales tax and 'selling' it to someone else, plus a few other wrinkles in name change, etc. So I have just let it sit un-driven and it's got who knows how much dust and scratches in the thin lacquer by now. It'll probably look like a cool semi weathered survivor by the time I get back to it.

That is way worse. My Tahoe was bought as a parts truck and I decided it was too nice to cut up.