I'm hoping you'd be able to give me some pointers. The question is
regarding a private sale of a vehicle. I'm in Michigan and the seller
is in Texas. I'm about to fly down to Texas to make the final
decision, and if I buy it, I intend to drive it back up here. The
problem is that the bank still has a lien on the vehicle. Michigan
law requires the original owner, and only the original owner, to sign
the title (due to odometer issues, as far as I understand).
Obviously you need to structure the deal so you don't pay the seller until the
title is taken care of. But you probably plan to do that anyway!
I am kind of wondering why you're going to so much trouble to fly down to Texas
just to buy a car. You'd think there would be plenty of cars to buy back home
in Michigan! :-)
Unless it's a very special car, you might want to consider whether or not the
whole deal makes sense for you at all. (However, the issue with the title not
being accepted by the Michigan DMV could easily enough happen even with a local
seller, admittedly...)
*****
Tim Horrigan <horrigan@aol.com>
*****
