quote:

Leased a Nissan in 2004. Bought that leased vehicle in 2007 with financing from USAA. Nissan Infiniti LT sent title transferred into my name to USAA. USAA sent that original title to me to register in Louisiana. That never happened. USAA loan paid off, car continued to be registered in Louisiana for years with Nissan as listed owner on registration. Now I am trying to sell it to Peddle.com. Said no problem until right before they showed up to tow. Said I need to transfer into my name with the state (not what they told me when they made the offer).

So, now I am faced with going to the DMV to request a title transfer that is now 14 years late. Late penalties would have piled up well beyond what Pebble would pay me for the vehicle.

they're not ridiculous for asking for the DMV title transfer. that's normal.

this is in Texas, but i had a very very similar situation.

we bought a trailblazer from a friend and used CitiBank Texas to finance a small loan. had it paid off in 2 or 3 years.

i got a new job and we moved right around the time we paid it off and plumb forgot to apply for the title. we kept paying for the registration for a good while and my wife drove it for another 3 years. then she upgraded and we tried to trade it in, but found out we didn't have the title. i kept it as my drive around town car.

eventually i got a new job that provided a car and we decided to try and sell it. unfortunately, citibank texas shut down and sold all their loans to different companies. we had our loan paid off before that, but Citibank NA had no record of the loan so we were beating our heads on what to do.

Our local tax office said that we could show the payoff date, our continued registration and insurance coverage, and apply for a lost title. The lady over the phone was ok with that, but unfortunately some hardass overheard what was going on and said no, you have to have the title itself.

So i started calling and emailing Citibank NA every single week with the loan number, VIN, and after a few weeks, threatened calls with the BBB. Didn't hear back after 3 weeks, then the title showed up without any communication.

Regarding late fees, Texas didn't penalize me for not transferring the title. if you didn't keep your registration up to date, i could buy that, but if you were driving it, i'm sure you would have gotten a ticket somewhere in there. ours set in our driveway like white trash longer than i care to admit.