Another title question

My wife bought a car new while she lived in Maryland in 2003. She since moved to Texas and has been here 10 or so years. When the daughters car crapped out, we "sold" the car to her and the wife got a new car. Now the daughter has got a different car and wants to sell the old one. First problem was my wife could not find the title. I told her no problem, go to the title office in Carrollton and get a certified copy. When she went there, They told her there was no title registered for the car in Texas. I don't know how you can get plates without a title? I believe at this point she got in touch with the DMV in Maryland and was told to get a copy of the title, she needed a release from the finance company and a check for 20 bucks. That was done and my wife now has a title in her maiden name from Maryland.

To me, this sounds like a mess. What about the penalty for not transferring the title to Texas when she moved here? Selling a car in Texas with a Maryland title is sure to drop the sales appeal and value I would think.

Does anyone here have any experience with a issue like this.

I can't imagine how she could have ever gotten plates in Texas without first getting a title. Am I correctly understanding that the car does have Texas plates on it?

Is there a possibility that she gave them the VIN incorrectly? If it's an invalid VIN, they would instantly know it. But if it was a valid VIN for somebody else's car out of state, they might not have made the connection that the name was wrong. So, two things she might try:
1) Recheck the VIN and try again.
2) Take a picture of her plate, and take it to DMV. The plate should link back to a title.

The problem i have had with titles in the last few years tells me that title is still registered in Maryland because you probable did not change the address when you got your Texas tags. They don't care were the title is as long as it is registered in Texas so they get there road tax i would make that inquiry in Maryland first.
Let us know what happens

RTS

Family to Family => GIFT.

garfey said:

Family to Family => GIFT.

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Not everywhere. In Tennessee, Family to Family => no sales tax, but owner does change.

KenH said:

Not everywhere. In Tennessee, Family to Family => no sales tax, but owner does change.

Click to expand...

Changing owner, without paying tax, was the idea. Don't try it (some places) with the transfer going to someone without the same name unless you have documentation to prove "kinship."

My son went to Germany and left his car with me. It had a NC title and NC plates. When they expired I went to the county courthouse and paid ~$200 to get plates. The title stayed in NC.

garfey said:

Changing owner, without paying tax, was the idea. Don't try it (some places) with the transfer going to someone without the same name unless you have documentation to prove "kinship."

Click to expand...

I think there is an exception for this in Texas.

I had that problem when I moved from Cali to Texas. Got my Texas plates, but some how in the mess the title never got changed. The car was totaled in an accident 5 years later and the same issue, I had to get a lien release from the finance company, blah, blah, blah. In my case the salvage yard took it w/o the title but gave me less for it.