OK, we live in Michigan and are buying a truck in Virginia, from an individual.  He still has a loan on the truck, so he doesn't have the title.  Apparantly, there's an electronic title that is held by the DMV until the lein is released.  Well, we're meeting him on Monday and will pay off his loan, but I don't think the title can be released instantly.  There's apparantly a "trip permit" that we can get to drive the vehicle home, but you need the title to get that . . . according to the person on the phone, it's "discretionary" and up to the Manager at the DMV Office if they will accept a Bill of Sale in place of the title.  This is the craziest thing I've ever heard of!  They don't have a standard procedure in this case . . . I've got to believe that it's pretty typical to have a loan on a vehicle!  I would think that if the original owner is with us and signs the bill of sale in the presence of the DMV employee, that should be acceptable . . . but the person on the phone could not tell me if it would be!!!

OK, it may seem like I'm just venting here, but I'm really trying to find out if any body has had a similar experience and can offer any advice.

Never had a similar experience, but can say that no one would get my money unless I got a title, no if's and's or but's! Good luck, Fred

It is very difficult to sell anything if you don't have clear title. The risk is all on the buyer, and depending on the amount of money involved most people will not take the risk. When I sold a motorcycle I did all the DMV paperwork, and I had the title company send the new title to the buyer directly with his name on it. It took about 3 weeks after the sale before he received it. I don't know any way around the problem other then the seller getting clear title before selling.

I bought a car in AZ last spring and needed to register it in SD. Since there was a loan on it, I was in a similar situation except for the temp tag. AZ issued me a paper tag (phew). But I was going on faith that the folks would deliver the title to me once they got the lien cleared.

I went to the back with them. They witnessed our bill of sale. I knew where the folks lived and worked and fortunately it worked out.

Good luck...

In some states, the law is that if there is a lien on a vehicle, the title is held by the lien holder until the lien is paid. Then the title is sent to the vehicle owner. You may want to go to the lien holder, to pay the lien and get the title before going any where else. Don't know if this is possible or not in your case.

Getting the Temp Trip Permit is a secondary concern. Your primary concern should be getting the Title in hand, especially when two different states are involved. The safest way to do that is to make the current lien holder (bank) a part of the transaction. Arrange for your sale to take place in the Bank office, write them one check for the payoff balance and write the seller a sep check for the difference. Get the Bank to agree to send you the Title directly, not through the seller.
The temp permit is nice to have while waiting for your perm registration, but its not mandatory. As long as you have a valid Bill of Sale, no law enforcement officer is going to complain for the first 30 days or so. But if you get back to Mich and the seller never forwards a valid Title, you're up the creek without a paddle. Worse yet, if he doesn't follow through and payoff his lender/bank, they have every right to come repossess the truck.

We just got back home today we went to Alabama and got the Freighliner and we also got a 30 day drive out tag. Plus we have the title in hand. Make sure you have the title or the MSO. Here in Tennessee you can't register a Veh with the title or MSO. However its really just a tax thing. We pay about 6% tax to register veh. GBY...

We did everything we could to protect ourselves - paid off the loan ourselves, rather than rely on the seller to do it (FMCC no longer has offices, so no way to pay it off in person), set up a wire transfer for the remainder of the selling price to process several days after the transaction, and trusted our instincts regarding the reliability of the seller.  You do as much as you can, and then you have faith in the other person.  That may sound naive, but we think we are a pretty good judge of character.  That being said, we still have to wait for the title to be released by FMCC so that the seller can get a copy to sign off for us.  We've been in constant contact with them, so are confident that they will follow through with their side of the deal.