Walk It Through: A Car Changes Hands
A private sale, the title within thirty days, the registration month, the plates and the tint.
A buyer pays cash for a used car and takes the signed title from the seller.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One private sale. Dealer sales, sales tax, liens on the title, a car bought out of state and the medical tint exception are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Certificate of titleThe document without which a person who acquires a vehicle acquires no right, title or interest in it. A new owner who presents it for transfer more than thirty days after the sale pays a $20 penalty.
- Light transmissionThe share of light a tinted window lets through: at least 35% on the front side windows and the rear window, and at least 20% behind the driver, within a tolerance of 3%.
- Registration periodOne of twelve staggered periods, each starting on the first of a month and expiring at midnight on the last day of the twelfth month, in the year the registration card shows.