Buying used car from private seller question?

[Technogeek]

Hi,

I'm getting ready to buy a used car from a private seller in MD. It's been ages since I've done this. Back in the day we just filled the back of the (clear) title out, amount sold for and signatures of those on front, done. If we felt like it we wrote up a bill of sale on notebook paper and both parties signed it.

Is this still good enough or has MVA made it more difficult? I was just scanning their website and its talking about official form for a bill of sale and notary signatures, etc. The person selling the car is coming from out of town to do the transaction so this whole notary thing could be a deal breaker. Sounds like it may be more trouble than its worth for an older beater car for work. The car is titled in MD.

thanks

 

[Baja28]

Hi,

I'm getting ready to buy a used car from a private seller in MD. It's been ages since I've done this. Back in the day we just filled the back of the (clear) title out, amount sold for and signatures of those on front, done. If we felt like it we wrote up a bill of sale on notebook paper and both parties signed it.

Is this still good enough or has MVA made it more difficult? I was just scanning their website and its talking about official form for a bill of sale and notary signatures, etc. The person selling the car is coming from out of town to do the transaction so this whole notary thing could be a deal breaker. Sounds like it may be more trouble than its worth for an older beater car for work. The car is titled in MD.

thanks

Do bill of sale just to be safe. No notary. If it's an old beater, doubtful you'll lie about the price paid. If they don't believe the price, they'll look it up in the blue book.

 

[Penn]

The vehicle is going to have to be inspected right? Emissions and etc.?

 

[bulldog]

Just went through this...been to the DMV twice in the last week, got different stories each time I went.
If the vehicle is newer than 10 years old, you have to do a bill of sale and have the signatures notarized. Also, if the current owner has a cleared title, be sure you have that document and not the title that the owner had while there was a lean on the vehicle (if there was). In MD a cleared title is red and does not have the previous lender's information on it.

 

[CrashTest]

Just went through this...been to the DMV twice in the last week, got different stories each time I went.
If the vehicle is newer than 10 years old, you have to do a bill of sale and have the signatures notarized. Also, if the current owner has a cleared title, be sure you have that document and not the title that the owner had while there was a lean on the vehicle (if there was). In MD a cleared title is red and does not have the previous lender's information on it.

The lien release (Maryland Notice of Security Interest Filing) is red. That's the part the bank keeps until the car is paid off.

Title is always blue. That's the part you have in your home whether the car is paid off or not.

 

[Technogeek]

Do bill of sale just to be safe. No notary. If it's an old beater, doubtful you'll lie about the price paid. If they don't believe the price, they'll look it up in the blue book.

This is what I'm thinking and if I reading their website correctly even if you don't have a bill of sale they would go with blue book value. The other party is driving in Sunday so I don't know how we could possibly get one notarized.

If anyone cares to read it let me know what you think.

Buying a Vehicle in Maryland?

Yep, I'll need to get it inspected to the person asking. No emissions I'm on the other side of the river.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

 

[direxpgw]

buying a car

The cutoff for a bill of sale is 7 years....i.e if car is a 2004 or newer have a notorized bill of sale. If 2003 or older, no bos required. Tax based on whatever value you write on title back regardless. (Minimum is $640). If 2004 or newer and no bos, then MVA will look up book value and tax based on that.

You can get temp tags without inspection to give you time to get inspected.

MD title isnt always blue. Older MD titles and lien releases were green. Newer titles are blue and lien releases red. Not sure of cutoff date.