How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

[ebry710]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

If my boat gets stolen and the thief removes the id, it is always good to know there is a market out there that will pay the thief for my boat.

 

[cordell]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

I know it is crazy they did not even inspect the boat! No pictures or anything was required. You see on TV where they steal cars and tag them in Mexico then bring them back to the states and sell them legally. Makes me think the requirements need to be rewritten.

cordell

 

[BeerMonkey]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

in PA if the boats older than 94 (or around that year) there was no title issued for it, my 89 was bought with just a bill of sale

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

Here in Louisiana, boats and motors are not issued titles, but trailers are.

Registration, through the Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries, is required for boats, and information in regard to the motors may be entered on the application form. Some people fill this sectiion in because it provides a record of motor ownership and assists in recovery of stolen motors, but I do not. I tend to put different motors on my boats from time to time, so I leave this information block empty. Besides, I like older motors and I usually don't paint them, resulting in a motor that provides little incentive for theft.

Our state is pretty tough on paperwork requirements, including the manner in which homemade boats are registered. Proper paperwork from the previous owner, whether it is an in-state boat or an out of state boat, is required. For home made boats, an inspection of the boat is required and receipts must be provided for all materials used to build the boat. This is done to prevent people from registering stolen boats that never had a hull number, or had the hull numbers ground off of the boat.

Trailers here are titled and registered through the DMV. Home made trailers are inspected by the La. State police and assigned a VIN number, which is stamped into the trailer frame with a die set provided by the LSP at the time of inspection. They are then titled and registered in the same manner as a manufactured trailer.

I won't touch a boat or trailer without the proper paperwork. I made that mistake once, because of the deal being offered on the boat. After two months of fooling around, trying to get it registered, I gave up. I really hadn't paid much for it but took the boat back to the dealer anyway. He argued a bit but did give me back my money in the end.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

I am dealing with two right now, both came from states which did not require a title when they were last registered or bought. Both have been out of registration for over 20 years and are both over 45 years old. I am going through the procedure to get titles in my state for these but they don't make it easy.
The marine police did their part and cleared the hull and gave a clean report, but the DMV keep insisting they need a prior registration from somewhere. The one boat apparently never had any boat numbers applied and was made in the early 50's. It might even be home made for all I know, there's no sign of a maker either. This is about normal and sooner or later they will just issue me new hull ID numbers and give me a title. I don't know how they expect me to have the old registration when they already know these were both abandoned boats acquired out of state.

 

[eavega]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

I bought a boat with no title in NC, which had been registered at one time in the state. The previous owner was deceased, and the boat was given to the guy who sold it to me. To get the boat registered I had to make a reasonable attempt to contact the previous owner, which was easy as sending a certified letter addressed to the owner of record, and showing that it was returned as undeliverable. That letter along with a form, allowed me to claim ownership of the boat under rules for abandoned vessels.
Funny thing was that I was about to move to Georgia, and tried to see where it was going to be easier to register the vessel. Georgia was far easier. I called up DNR, and they basically said all I needed to do was fill out a form that said I had possession of the vessel (you could do this online) and pay the registration fee. I asked him how did he know I had not stolen the vessel. His response was that all Georgia DNR needed was a way to track the vessel with this registration. If it was ever reported stolen, then they had a record of who had the vessel, and they could come and arrest me!
Neither GA nor NC required registration or title for an outboard, and the trailer I have for this boat was from a kit, which included a certificate of origin. The CO was converted to a title, and thus I was able to register and tag the trailer.

 

[fuzzeywiggler]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

I just had a good bill of sale and went into the office it was real quick 30min free of charge.

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

In MA, titles are required for boats over a certain length. You MUST get a title if the boat is coming from a state with a required boat title. If coming from a non-titling state, a valid registration is required.

I bought the boat from someone who never re-titled the boat in his name. I figured that I had the title that was signed over to him and a bill of sale. I spent 2 years restoring the boat before it was seaworthy. To my dismay, the Enviroment Police (they do the titles/registrations in MA) would not allow me to register it. They stated that I had to:

1. Contact seller and have him pay the sales tax from when he bought it.
2. Have seller pay to have it titled in his name.
3. Have seller re-sell it to me.

RIGHT! I met this guy for like 20 minutes, 2 YEARS AGO! I bought the boat from him for $100. I offered to pay the taxes and other fees but they said NO.

I went though a titling service on craigslist (Cost $150 plus registration/title fees). Afterwards..I found what he did and that I could have done it myself. Here is the Procedure:


1. Gift the boat to a relative. (You don't have to actually do any paperwork, unless someone decides to question the ownership trail).
2. Have relative sell you the boat for $1.
3. Go to non-titling state (NH was closest for me) and register the boat. This is legal, since you are "planning" on using the boat for the majority of the time in NH. You have like 60 days to re-register it in "home" state if plans change.
4. Change plans...."Lake Winnipesaukee is too crowded..."
5. Bring registration to MA Enviromental Police and apply for a title and registration.

I had my MA title and registration in a week. It was actually worth it to pay the $150 for the titling service do all the leg work for me. I had to sign over a limited power of attorney for the sole purpose of titling/registering my boat...just be careful that it is VERY specific as to what you are signing.

If anybody is in MA and wants his info... search craigslist under boats... "Title Service" or email me at justmrwill @ yahoo.com


-JMW

 

[Edko]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

Maryland is a title state.

I purchased my boat from Delaware, a non title state. I had to bring a notarized bill of sale to the DNR office.

$2 title fee
$24 registration fee
6% sales tax

Then of course to get the trailer titled you have to deal with the MVA, which involves bill of sale, inspection, and meeting fun and interesting people while you wait, and wait, and wait in their queue.

 

[Starcraftguy1]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

Here in Arizona boats are not titled,but they are registered through the Game & Fish dept,every year a different colored sticker with the year goes on it beside the #'s.Trailers are titled through the MVD.Don't get caught without your new sticker,The Sherrifs will congregate around your boat for hours.And find everything that you have done wrong for the last 20 years,lol.

 

[idrownworms]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

Bought a boat from Michigan in Indiana all I got was a bill of sale and an old registration, same with the trailer.
I just took everything down to the bmv and got a title and numbers for the boat am still waiting for the title on the trailer, its only been about three years but it is the state so I'm patient
I'm borrowing a trailer from my brother the funny thing is that it looks exactly like the trailer that came with the boat but I can get a plate for it
jamie

 

[22E6441]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

Registration was easy and free at the Service Canada office.

It was at the MTO that I had to pay up.....got my plate, transferred the trailer ownership to me, and they made me pay tax on the boat and trailer right there at the ministry but wouldn't do anything about the boat registration. Seems to me that they should let the MTO do boat registration too, but I guess all the coast guard and water stuff is the feds not the province.

 

[mphy98]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

In Wisconsin we just started getting titles for boats. You still can register them and get a new title with a bill of sale.

 

[mthieme]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

MD is a title state. A couple of friends and myself who go through boats like water sometimes collect the papers, HINS, emblems, etc.. We have been known to switch things around in the past. Nothing is stolen or anything like that; it just facilitates the process of getting a registration and becoming legal.
So yes, I have bought boats before w/o titles although it is something to be avoided generally.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

NJ is now demanding a notarized bill of sale even with a title from out of state.

What I found was that so long as the first time you try to register it, they accept your info and give you no grief, it goes right through with an out of state boat, from a non title state, but you must have a third party notarized receipt, you will need a state Marine Police HIN inspection, and the boat must have a current and valid out of state registration. The problems I just went through were due to the fact that neither boat I bought had current out of state registrations, they had been dormant for many years, if they were even ever registered. NJ at first told me to go back to the seller, and make them register the boat, which would have meant far more on the part of the seller than they were willing to do, and PA would not register the boat in their name for me either. It had to be done at a notary, and the owner had to be present. That was not going to happen for a $60 boat. If I hadn't been looking for over 20 years for another one of these boats, I'd have not bothered. But I liked the boat.

After two trips to have the boat inspected in NJ, and 5 trips to the MVS here, and 5 trips to PA, to get various items notarized and signed, I finally got a title for the one. The second one, which had a NJ title at one point, but had been sold to a PA owner, still had its NJ reg numbers on the bow, those got me the name of the original owner. Who was dead. After 7 trips to the DMV, three ads in the paper to find the dead guy to satisfy NJ abandoned title procedure, and 18 pages of BS explaining how I got the boat, (yanked it out of the bottom of someone's gold fish pond), I finally got a NJ title and new HIN number. If I didn't really like those two boats, and have a buyer for the one, I'd have sent them to become beer cans.

One of the hardest things to do was to convince the NJ MVS that PA does not title boats prior to 1998. The Marine Police even noted this on the inspection form, but the MVS refused to believe it. It was like they had never transferred a boat from PA before.

I have two more to deal with, both were out of state boats, with no titles and the one's registration is more than 30 years out of date, so they won't accept that at all, and the former owners are most likely dead.
The other, has no paperwork, was never registered anywhere, its been vegetating in a barn since 1968, the former owner died overseas, his parents are now dead, and I acquired the boat from an estate sale. No paperwork other than the receipt from the auction house, and a state police NCIC report and HIN report from the NJ State Marine Police Div. MVS still sees it as an abandoned boat and requires the full procedure of searching for it's rightful owner via newspaper ads, then it will require a court order to get a title so long as the judge that day is satisfied that there is no other rightful owner. The bad part about that whole process is that pretty much anyone could claim rights to that boat and screw up the whole process. Maybe even take possession of the boat by law, even without any proof of ownership.
the bad part is that the same court that can authorize it to go to auction in the first place, can reassign it's ownership regardless of the fact that they just sold the boat to me.
This is what makes me lean towards just paying one of those lost title companies for a title. It's quick and easy and since there's no HIN numbers on the boat anyway, it should be quick and painless.

I am inclined to take the boat to a non title state, register it and bring it back and transfer it here later and get a title. The boat has no numbers and no registration numbers on the hull at all. The registration card I do have is it's initial registration, with a set of state assigned numbers from 1968, which come back as no history at all.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

I have purchased several boats without a title. Here in Michigan, the title is only required if there is a lein on the boat. Trailers, I believe, never have titles. The only time it was any kind of issue, the previous owner did not think it had a title on it. Turned out that the secretary of state's office had dropped thye ball and not sent him the title when he bought the boat. If there is no lein, you have the option of having the boat "de-titled". I now do that as a matter of course if it has a title in the first place. (My boats are usually low dollar boats, with no loan.) That saves me and future buyers a lot of hassle.

TerryMSU

 

[reelfishin]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

I have purchased several boats without a title. Here in Michigan, the title is only required if there is a lein on the boat. Trailers, I believe, never have titles. The only time it was any kind of issue, the previous owner did not think it had a title on it. Turned out that the secretary of state's office had dropped thye ball and not sent him the title when he bought the boat. If there is no lein, you have the option of having the boat "de-titled". I now do that as a matter of course if it has a title in the first place. (My boats are usually low dollar boats, with no loan.) That saves me and future buyers a lot of hassle.

TerryMSU

If I were to come to MI, with a boat with no title, what would it take for me to register it in my name?

 

[mthieme]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

I am not a fan of the federal government in most case but this is one where I wish they would step in and standardize it across all states. (Not just boats but all motor vehicles.)

Moving a vehicle from one state to another is always a royal pain. Several years ago I relocated to Georgia for a year (contract job) and had to license my truck in that state. I had title in hand, the inspection, proof of insurance, everything I thought I would need. Not so, Georgia required a release saying there was no lien on the truck (even thought the title said so).

I had to go back to the dealer where I bought the truck three years previous and have them type a letter saying I had paid for it in cash, then have it notorised, and then have them mail it registered mail to prove I had not written it myself.

The one thing I did like in Georgia, the titles had the history of previous owners.

The other thing I would love to see is a federal registration of the boats VIN just as there is for autos.

This has tripped me up in MD in the past. IT doesn't happen every time. They must keep a record after the initial bank lien is paid off.

If we had to do this on a Federal level, your gig would have been up long before the paperwork was done.

 

[BWR1953]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

MD is a title state. A couple of friends and myself who go through boats like water sometimes collect the papers, HINS, emblems, etc.. We have been known to switch things around in the past. Nothing is stolen or anything like that; it just facilitates the process of getting a registration and becoming legal.
So yes, I have bought boats before w/o titles although it is something to be avoided generally.

Doesn't sound legal to me. Did you go to the MD MVA and ask them if it was okay to switch things around among a bunch of different boats? Are you sure that you want to post something like that on the public internet?

I learned many years ago never to put anything into writing that I didn't want a prosecuting attorney to hand to me in court. LOL!

 

[blktout67]

Re: How many of you have bought a used boat with no title ?

i did but was told that the title was lost and got all dmv paper work from the person i bought it from then when i got down to the dmv there was a tax lien on it and after contacting the original owner who the boat was reg and was suppose to have the tile she finally paid her tax lien on here property long story short after about a month i got the title to the boat and trailer