Joined Nov 2005
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Forum Thread
Dealer won't buy car unless it's registered?
July 9, 2018 at
12:04 PM
My mother passed a few months ago and as executor I am going through her things and fulfilling her will which will mean basically everything she owned is sold. I checked for a rough idea of the value of her car (2011 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS w/ 45k miles) online and KBB (I think) had the option to have local dealers buy the car. OK fine. The issue is the car is unregistered (I didn't want to keep paying insurance on it for it to sit in a garage) and this is a no-go for every dealer that's called. I thought it would only be an issue if they needed to test drive the car (but again it's a dealer so.... dealer plates?) but a few of them have said they don't buy unregistered vehicles period. Odd.
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This is not unusual registration implies there are no legal issues with the car. They don't know if there are liens on it or if it was stolen even if not registered. Best thing I think is to get a quick 30 day registration/insurance (check and make sure this will suffice) and unload it asap.
ETA: who is it titled in the name of currently? Don't know much about being the executor, so unaware if that means you can legally sign the existing title in her name over.
ETA: who is it titled in the name of currently? Don't know much about being the executor, so unaware if that means you can legally sign the existing title in her name over.
If it's stolen. If it has a lien
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Now, if OP is trying to sell the car without a title or registration, than I side with the dealers. If he's trying to sell the car without a registration but with a free and clear title, then there should be no reason for the dealers to reject it based on your made up reasons.
Obviously the title can be faked
Go on Novakingway, tell us more
Wouldn't it be better to just sell it private party? You would receive more money for it than you would from a dealer.
ETA: who is it titled in the name of currently? Don't know much about being the executor, so unaware if that means you can legally sign the existing title in her name over.
Nope, car paid in full and I have the title. It's in my mothers name not the estate, but I have letters testamentary so I can legally act on behalf of the estate. I handed in the plates so I wouldn't have to keep paying for insurance on it which is about 75 a month.
Wouldn't it be better to just sell it private party? You would receive more money for it than you would from a dealer.
I did the kbb thing just as a lark. Most offer $8k which is at the low end of private party but certainly a much cleaner and easier transaction. This is also attractive because I live about 5 hours away so selling PP would be difficult to coordinate
Is turning in the plates some sort of requirement in your state? Whenever I want to drop the insurance on a car I am still keeping I just drop the insurance. The plates are paid for and are mine to keep. None of the state's damned business if I have insurance on it as long as I'm not driving it on the streets.