okay, so as some of you may have noticed with my posts lately, I am about to purchase a 2006 G35 coupe. The owner lives in South Carolina, I live in North Carolina. He owed money on the car and my offer was less than what he owes. He bought the car from Fairfax Honda, who used PNC Bank in PA, to set up his loan. So PNC bank has his title. I am paying 20250 for the car, he is sending a certified bank check to me and a letter explaining to release the title directly to me. I will be receiving the letter and that certified bank check tomorrow and will then include those with my certified bank check (for 20250) to the bank. My question is, how long should this take to complete? I will be overnighting all the money/letter and it should arrive by friday of this week or Tuesday of next week (since next monday is Memorial Day). What sort of timeframe should I expect for them to release the title and send it back to me? I cant afford to have this be another 2-3 weeks as I need the car pretty soon for a trip.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks very much!

 

Generally speaking, Title Release can take about 10 days. The fastest way for you to mitigate this is to be sure that he pays you with either a Certified Bank Check or a Cashier's Check. It seems that he's paying you with that and you're giving his bank one as well. Each bank has a collateral department where the titles are kept. You should ensure you have his bank contact their own collateral department to verify the funds have been received so the title can be released faster (usually the same day or next day). If it's at all possible, go to his bank but if it's not, then be sure to have his bank call their own collateral department once they receive your funds. I just sold a car here in Texas and the buyer is giving me a certified bank check for the amount I owe and once I go in and give that to my bank, they will call his bank to verify the funds and then call their own collateral department (my bank's) to let them know that funds have been verified and that they should release the title. If I didn't do it this way, the collateral department would have to wait 10 days to be notified that the check had cleared before they would release the title. I hope this makes sense.

Jason

 

Thanks so much Jason. He will be sending me a certified bank check and I am paying with one too-you were correct. What is making it difficult is that this place isnt his bank, its just a bank that ended up doing his loan when he bought the car from the dealership. I cannot go there as it is in PA, and I live in NC-the closest branch of PNC is in Kentucky. So I need to have him call (since it's his loan) and verify that they have received the funds. The seller did give me the loan number, but both of us found it incredibly difficult to talk to the right person or get a person...period when calling the bank. I am very worried that it will take forever because of the fact that nobody seems to be available in the customer service department. PNC is a great bank though, so its not as though they are shady or anything like that. I also became worried after reading online that the title release can take a few weeks or longer-sometimes a month. Thanks for your help thusfar!

 

The checks arrived safely on thursday @ 10am, so I assume everything should be in order. I did speak to a rep. from PNC and he said there is no way of speeding up the title release. 10 business days is standard and is exactly how long it will take for them to release it. He told me that I could expedite shipping by sending in an overnight envelope for them to use. This sort of sucks because I now have to wait until the 5th of June to go pick up my car...It's torture.

 

I'm sorry they're taking so long. That is definitely NOT standard banking practice across the board. The guy that was buying my Accord yesterday brought a Cashier's Check and my bank verified funds, then called their collateral department and they are releasing the title on Monday. No 10 day waiting period. You'll get it soon enough though.

Later,
Jason

 

Maybe yours is sooner because you did an in-bank transfer, where as mine is in another state and completely impersonal.

 

Wait.couldnt I just go pick up the car? I technically dont have to wait until the title gets shipped to me do I? shouldnt I be able to call up my insurance company and give them a vin number, make, model and throw the car on my plan...then get a temporary tag and drive the car back and wait for the title to get shipped on the 5th of june?????

 

Yes to all your questions. Insurance co. does not care that you do not own the car and will charge you the premium if you allow.

Alot of lenders are going with "Paperless Titles" these days so all they might have to do is send an electronic notification that the DMV which in turn will mail the title to you.

 

Hmm. So Maybe I will wait until Tuesday and call up nationwide and pick this beast up. I was just thinking, "what about getting a temp. tag"...lol thats the point of one anyway and I dont know why this didnt pop in my mind earlier!


I did try calling the bank and they didnt mention electronic notification-but if it doesnt matter if I dont have the title in my hands anyway....i might not even worry about it. As long as I dont need anything special for getting a temporary tag, I should be all set.

 

u should talk to the Seller, Pick up the Car. sign a contract stating what the transaction was all about. Have both of you guys sign it. maybe even get it notarized(just to be safe).and a witness too...
state that u bought the car. via bank check...etc.
as a buyer u typically have 3-7days after purchasing the car to be technically yours...just wait till you get the title, drive up to DMV and wala..all yours

yah insurance companies dont even care who's car it is..as long as u pay, know the vin number etc..u should be ok!!

NOW GO GET THE CAR this weekend!! LOL great way to start yoru memorial 3 day weekend.

U might as well get it ASAP. u did pay for it already...I KNOW I WOULD.

GOODLUCK

 

I just called the seller. He is cool about letting me get the car..but he wants the car to be in my name regardless. He just called PNC bank (the bank in Pennsylvania that is doing the title release) and they said something different than what they originally told us. First..they told us that if the seller sends in a letter (notarized) explaining to transfer the title directly to me...and that combined with the bank checks from both of us...that everything should go smoothly. Now he spoke to someone different and they told him that the title must be physically signed by him and me to do the transaction. Also, my bank (wachovia) told me that the letter route would be just fine. So I am a bit confused. If they recieved everything on thursday at 10am...I would think that the car should now be in my name. However, we are going to wait and see until Tuesday to make sure it is in my name. The seller is cool with me picking it up as long as it's in my name. He will also try to call PNC Tuesday to speak about the electronic title release.

So...all in all-I just hope the title is in my name NOW or by Tuesday so I can pick it up. The fact that he lives 5 hours away from me and in a different state also complicates things somewhat.

 

The letter route is fine to get the seller's loan paid off, however, to transfer the title, The DMV requires that both the finance co. and seller to sign off on the Title. It may be better to have the current finance co. mail the title to the registered owner(seller) then after the seller receives it, he can sign and send to you. For the seller's peace of mind, You guys can go to the DMV website and complete a "Release Of Liability" which will filled out with Seller's, Buyer's and Vehicle"s information.

 

Hmm Thanks for the clarification. But as far as me taking possession of the car...I can do so before the title arrives this coming week...as long as its insured and I have a tag. Then the seller can just sign the title and mail it to me.

 

Great.....

Just called nationwide-told them what my plan was. They called NC DMV and reported back that the title must be in hand to get a temporary tag. This means I have to wait 2 weeks to go pick up the car. So....In essence, I paid off the loan for this guys car, PNC bank is now sending the title to him (as they cannot directly print the title in my name and send it to me, the seller must sign it and I must sign it). So I'm pretty pissed. I do trust the seller...but dang--I just paid 20 grand to pay off someone elses car (still in his name) and yet I have nothing to show for it (for a while). I feel screwed over.