Titling a vehicle

Although in some cases this may be accurate in a lot of other cases it prevents you from getting something you want. Just because there isn't a title doesn't mean the person is out to rip you off, that the vehicle is damaged, stolen, or otherwise a sketchy purchase. A title is simply a piece of paper and paper can be lost! Furthermore, it is not beyond reason that a vehicle has been transferred/auctioned/found or abandoned that has no traceable owner. My suggestion is: Do NOT buy the vehicle if you can find another one that you want that has a title. If the vehicle is rare or hard to find then you have to ask yourself if going through a title service is worth it (read: do you really want THAT vehicle?). It's quite obvious that you should have the vehicle inspected before purchase.

I went through the title process (as in, no known previous owner, no records, etc) and it was a pain. It was a decent amount of paperwork, notarizing, etc but its doable and generally takes 30-60 days to get it depending on the laws of your state and the titling laws at the time in general. Most (all?) DMV's allow you to pay money to get a vehicle history by providing the VIN. DO THIS before purchasing a vehicle without a title. This will uncover information that will help you decide whether or not to buy it. You can also go through the long and extremely tedious process of going through the DMV which will do a "last known owner" search and you will generally have to mail a certified letter to that person of which they have to NOT reply within 30 days after sending the letter. Then you continue the process and eventually will get issued a DMV title for much less than the titling companies charge (generally anywhere from 150-600 dollars). Best of luck!