Hey guys, Greetings for Toronto Canada!

I've got a quick and easy question for you guys. Here's the 411:

I recently purchased a car from ebay (e39 M5). The seller's feedback was decent and was selling as a dealership, not a private sale. Up to this point, they've been pretty good about the entire transaction, but they've been a bit slow at getting the title to me. The seller mentioned something about Florida being a "title holding state" where the bank who is lending money for the car physically holds the title until its paid off... since they technicall own the car. I might have interpreted this incorrectly, but this is the jist of it.

Can anyone elaborate on this for me? Or possibly find a link where I can learn about this process? I've never heard of something like this before. I just want to make sure the seller isn't trying to pull a fast one on me.

Thanks in advance for your time!

Cheers.

Jason

Well, when I bought my car down here, thats what the bank told me, and they still have my title, so yes, it sounds legit. Then again, this is what the bank told me, so I believed them, but you still don't know that about the car dealership.

Not to try to scare you (or jump to conclusions) but there are a lot of 'dealerships' from the South Florida area that advertise on ebay that are NOT what I would call reputable (doesn't mean theres anything wrong with the sale, just that they usually have high pressure sales people and the cars aren't in that great of condition).

Would you mind providing the name of the dealership you bought from?

I don't have any links on the title law, but you can use ripoffreport.com to check out the business and see if they've done anything shady.

Good luck with the car! E39 M5 makes me jealous!

sounds legit, they do that in NC too where i used to live. techinically the bank owns your car kuz they paid for it and you haven't paid them the total yet. why not call that bank to verify?

Thanks for the quick replies guys. You guys rock.

I've done my fair share of internet purchases, and everything in my gut tells me these guys are legit. I'm just trying to make sure that I don't have my eyes glossed with hope and excitement. For the time being, I don't want to post the name of the dealership here, in this context... it wouldn't be fair to them, especially if my "doing my homework" comes off as me implying that they're scamming me. Car fax does show that there is a loan on the car, which puts my mind at ease.

Here are a few more details that might help explain how things came to be: The car is being sold by the above dealership, but it was never owned by them. The car belonged to the seller's personal banker, and was being sold by the dealership as a favour. The seller told me that the bank usually takes, 7-10 business days to process a request such as this one. I work for the public service here in Canada, so I can understand how something so very simple can take so very long.

If I don't get a response by today, I'll call the seller and ask for the bank's information and call them myself. I'm not positive they'd talk to me about the request based on confidentiality issues.. but all the same, I'd like to put some pressure on the bank to expidite the process.

Thanks again for your help guys!

Jason

The bank held my title when I was still making payments on it. But they don't have my title anymore. Hooray for no car payments!!!