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Bought Car from PA Seller- Not received the Title yet. Please help!

Hi.I am from NJ..I recently bought a car from a seller in PA. The car had a lien on it. The payoff check was mailed to the lien holder. Confirmed with them that they have put in a request with PENNDOT to release the title.Its been more than 20 days now and I have not received the title yet.

When I tried to contact PENNDOT, I am told the car is still in the seller name and they cannot provide me with any information. The seller has gone out of the country and cannot contact PENNDOT.

I need the title for me to register my car in NJ.I am not able to use my car even though I have paid the entire amount for it. Can someone please help me?? I am totally lost here.

Re: Bought Car from PA Seller- Not received the Title yet. Please help!

Whom mailed the cheque ? I assume you bought from a private seller ? whom said he is out of the country ?

Re: Bought Car from PA Seller- Not received the Title yet. Please help!

Hi Ray..Thanks a lot for replying! Yes I bought the car from a private seller. This is what happened:
I have taken an auto loan from a bank. So my bank sent out a payoff check to the lien holder of the car.

Since PA follows electronic titling system, the lien holder had to put in a request with PENNDOT (PA DMV) to release the paper title and mail it to my bank. Its been more than 20 days now and my bank has not received the title. I confirmed with the lien holder that they have put in the request to PENNDOT to release the title.

So I called PA DMV and asked them if they had received the title release request. They said they can talk about the car only with the owner of the car and according to their system the seller is still listed as the owner of the car.

The seller has gone out of the country now. So I have no clue what my next step should be here. I want to confirm with PA DMV if they have received the title release request and also how long it is going to take to mail the paper title. I was told it would take no more than 10 days and it is already 20+ days.

I am not able to use the car now since I need the paper title for registering the car here in NJ. Any thoughts or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again for your time!!

Re: Bought Car from PA Seller- Not received the Title yet. Please help!

First let me say I am relieved you did not pay the seller to clear the lien, 20 days or more is quite normal as a matter of fact many transactions go beyond 6 weeks or more. I don't want to lecture you, but when you buy private you better have done complete homework, had you purchased from a registered dealer the waiting period may have been the same, but the dealer would have issued a temp sticker.

I assume you got a bill of sale - Take it to your local DMV and Jersey should issue you a temp in transit permit,,, I am not 100% sure because every state got different regulations, it may have to come from PA.

Under Navigation left side of screen scroll down to DMV Links,,, and do some homework on NJ and PA

Re: Bought Car from PA Seller- Not received the Title yet. Please help!

Thanks again for replying Ray!
- Yes buying from a dealer definitely has less hassles. Had to realize it the hard way
- I did make multiple phone calls to PA DMV before purchasing the car and every time I was told the title would be mailed within 10 days or less.
- Thanks for the tip. I will try getting a temp permit from a PA DMV since I am quite sure NJ DMV would not give me one.
- Btw my bank has got a 'letter of guarantee' from the seller stating that he will make sure the paper title is available within 30 days from date the bill of sale was signed. I was wondering if this can be used to take legal action against the seller if the title does not get mailed within 30 days.
Finally I cant thank you enough for providing me with your valuable information.

Re: Bought Car from PA Seller- Not received the Title yet. Please help!

It certainly can. Any agreement is immediately considered a contract and can be used in a court of law. It's good to hear that you've gotten it in writing that will play in your favor heavily.

I know this is delayed response, but I'm just now finding this forum. Are you able to update us on your situation?

Re: Bought Car from PA Seller- Not received the Title yet. Please help!

Hi. I am looking for the same information and really feel glad that i visited this forum. Its not that easy to finalize the car loan company online. The three key points mentioned by you is really must. Thanks and keep sharing such more stuff.
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