Hi there,

I want to buy a used car off a person who still owe some money on the car. How safe it is to do so? I understand there will be a contract to sign that declares me as the new owner of the car but how long till i get the pink slip in hand?

 

okay first off are you financing it or are you paying cash?

if you're financing it then all it takes is for you to get the pay off and finance company info of the dude and give it to your finance company...they'll figure out the rest.

if you're paying cash, i think he needs to draft a release form and a reciept type of deal saying "as of may __ 2006 bla blah blah..." as for the pink slip it'll take awhile unless you go with him to his fc(if it was a local bank fed credit union or so) and pay it off right there and then, he'll probably get it the next week then he could transfer it to you.

seeing how you posted on the cali region you should know that he needs to take care of the smog insp so you can register it.

safer if you finance it. but if you wanna buy it out right then i would still finance it. pay a couple of monthly payments then pay it off, that way you build your credit too

 

I will def. finance it but i just want to make sure it's safe because beside the legal document that we both sign and get notarized. I don't have any other collateral to hold on just in case he decides to not transfer the pink slip over me.

 

if your buying here in socal, ill move this back.

 

well if you're financing, as i said you don't have to do anything but give your financial institution the info on what car, payoff, account # etc they should handle it from there and draft the paperwork for you to sign. and you are not getting a pink slip, your institution is getting the title.

 

as long as my bank get the title that's all that matters. I just dont want the guy to walk off with my money and i or my bank has no collateral.