Tips on Buying Cars: Title & Registration, ford taurus, penndot

Question
Hello Jeff. I wrote to another expert at this site about this problem, but he is currently on vacation and I still need help. I bought a used Ford Taurus back in May 2010. I paid for the title and registration the same day. To date I have not received either one. I've been calling the auto tag place regularly since September, asking what the problem could be. The woman there doesn't know but she keeps telling me to wait for it. She says that the dmv (PennDot) is just too slow. But I've been checking with PennDot, they said that no one applied for title transfer or registration- she insists she did. The first temp registration expired in Sept, she gave me an extension and that will expire next week. Now the woman is not returning my phone calls. The car dealer says that this isn't his problem. This woman is blaming PennDot, and I'm driving around in a car that's in someone else's name. What should I do?  

Answer
First things first: each of the 50 state's motor-vehicle regulations are different, so there's no way I can be familiar with all of them; I can only tell you how it works in my home state of NY.  Here, the seller is responsible for ensuring that you get a title to the vehicle you've purchased, unless the seller told you upfront that they no longer had a title to the vehicle. Since you bought the car from a dealer, I believe they're ultimately responsible for making sure you get a title for the vehicle you bought from them. I'd go back to them and nicely ask why they aren't helping you. Perhaps they can tell you who you need to speak to at PennDot to get this resolved. If that doesn't work, then you need to trot out the "L" word (lawyer).

Think of the title as a basic, necessary part of the car, like the engine. If there was an engine in the car when you looked at it, test-drove it and purchased it, then you'd expect the engine to be in the car when you went back to pick it up- right?  Same thing with the title: unless the seller specifically sold you the car with no title, you have every reasonable right to expect the car to come with it, as it's your only proof of ownership. You should also contact the "consumer advocate" in your state, the dept. in charge of watching out for consumers; in New York, for example, it's the attorney general.