[PonchoV8]

I'm looking at a car with a Fla title that's probably not more than a couple of yrs old.

Does FL require a notary sig and stamp? It's too far away to check on.

[John V.]

Doug, I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean.

There is no place on my Fla Titles for a Notary to sign.

Most recent used car purchase I made was about 2 years ago now. Private Seller, there was a lien on the Title, I could not obtain the Title until the lien was satisfied.

Once the lien satisfaction was processed (took a few weeks), I received the Seller's Title from the State. I then had to meet up with the Seller and all he had to do was sign the Title. I then brought the Title to the DMV, handed them the Seller's Title, paid the fees, got Plates, and within a couple weeks I received the new Title in the mail, now in my name. It seemed like a really stupid system. I never understood why the State mailed the Seller's Title directly to me. It is kinda hard to explain and there were some special circumstances involved, but basically it seemed that it was possible for somebody to fraudulently obtain the Title from the State's electronic system, all you needed was a VIN and the Owner's birth date as I remember it. They could then forge signatures and have the Title reissued in their name.

This was because the State held the Seller's Title electronically.

None of my vehicles has a Lien and I hold all Titles as paper titles. Florida had begun an electronic Title system. Nobody at DMV seemed to understand much about it at the time.

I had a choice to let the State retain the Title electronically but I opted to hold it myself as a paper copy since I thought their system was seriously flawed.

Probably more than you wanted to know. As long as the Seller holds the paper Title, he can sign it over to you, you then bring it home and submit it to your State to be reissued by them in your name. No notary involved on this end. I kept a copy of the Seller's Title with his signature just as I submitted it, no Notary involved.

If the Seller's Title is held by the State electronically, he will need to request a Paper Title to hand over to you. He can do this on-line thru the DMV website.

I think this is the link that I was using to check the status of the Title when I was waiting for the Seller's lien to clear so I could obtain the Title. I think you can check to see if the Title is electronic or paper if you just have the VIN.

https://www6.hsmv.state.fl.us/rrdmvcheck/mvcheckinq

[David Holmberg]

Doug, no. Just a signature, but your state might require something else, like a bill of sale.

[PonchoV8]

Thanks guys. I couldn't find any lien of any kind, but I forgot to the look for the notary sig location. All is good, except that I'll have another old car to put somewhere.

[David Holmberg]

Ya, here in Florida if there is a lien on the car, the State holds the title. If they have the title it's clean.

Do you need it shipped up there?

[PonchoV8]

Excellent, he has the title in hand.

No, it's up here and has been for a while. I talked to him and left a card months ago and he called me out of the blue offering it to me. Too bad he took my offer. I'm out of people to irritate with another car storage deal.