The Transactio: Part 1

You found the car. You agreed on the price. Now comes the transaction, the actual transfer of ownership. Buyers drive off in their purchase. Sellers count their cash. Transactions in the automotive world happen daily, and most go smoothly. If you purchase or trade-in a vehicle at a dealership, the friendly sales staff will handle the transaction; they are paid to check and recheck all the purchase information, construct any financing, and contact the Department of Motor Vehicles. If you forego the licensed dealers and chose to go to the marketplace yourself, a host of details and procedures must be followed. A buyer must be vigilant every step of the way. A seller must hope for a legitimate buyer.
To change ownership in the State of California, every car needs two documents, a signed title, or pink slip, and a smog certificate. It sounds simple enough, but placing those documents with a willing buyer and seller can be the source of any host of nightmares.
As with any transaction of commerce, common sense and a cool head may be the best tools, and the burden of a private party purchase rests squarely on the buyer. The seller has the edge. He knows the car, and he no longer wants it. Part of the buyer’s job is to learn the motivation for the sale. A seller may be trying to unload an old car badly worn or damaged. A seller may also be liquidating the estate of someone recently passed who barely used a vehicle. Potential for greatness or folly resides in every transaction, and that remains for the buyer to determine, and that determination begins with checking the numbers.
The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on the car should match with the VIN on the title. It should match with the vehicle on the smog certificate. The license plate numbers should also match. Again, this is simple stuff, but our nation is steeped in millions of cars; errors can and will happen. Not all sellers are honest. A seller should be able to present a set of complete documents to any buyer, and any buyer should be able to verify those documents with a call to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The wait for an operator at the DMV can be the hardest part of the transaction, but once the DMV has a VIN, they will verify the make, model, year, ownership and smog status of the car. If all the information agrees and you like the deal, then the transaction will happen. If the numbers fail to match, then walk away from the deal. With the volume of cars for sale, you will always find one with a clean pedigree.

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