then, the question comes up what to do with states that are non-title states with vehicles that are of xxx years or older ? when you buy one of these, all you get is a bill of sale, notarized or not, depending on the year and state. what do you do then ? what about states that "lose" all information on vehicles previous to xxx year due to things such as a fire or flood at said state's central storage location ? and lastly, just for fun, a straight across swap of vehicles between legitimate owners with no money changing hands. this scenario can become sticky as well, because the state is money hungry, never mind getting the required fees for transfer of ownership or tags. i have been involved in all three situations, and as dayclona stated, it all depends on the "moron of the day" at the desk or the other end of the phone how these situations get, or can be resolved. in all three situations above, it took lies told by all the owners on both sides to resolve the issues, because the dmv does not know their own rules of the game, or the desk jockey's don't have a clue as to what is legally required despite "extensive training" in their jobs to prevent frauds being perpetrated. it all boils down to people being forced to be criminals despite the fact both parties and vehicles involved are on the up and up, with no intention of fraud or criminality intended. these rules are put into place to prevent phoniness, but in reality for some circumstances, it makes it almost impossible to play by the rules because you are forced to deal with the people involved that are responsible to insure above board ownership is maintained, but in fact, are clueless as to how to do this legitimately.