The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk title question.. kansas and/ or nebraska

I am thinking about buying a 66 gmc from a guy, he had; and lost the title... not in his name yet; he is a straight up guy and says he bought it from an old man in nebraska. I am 7 miles south of the ne. line in kansas.
Is it worth banking on getting a new one if I buy it? He doesnt think the old guy is alive anymore, he has had it around a while, he is selling a couple of other vehicles to fund a bike rebuild.

It is in excellent shape with only one rust thru floorboard, the original engine is gone with a 283 in its place.
I have yet to check with the local law here about it, I know they can run the vin, but dont know what else i need to do.

I live in NE (McCook) and bought a 51 GMC 350. There was no title and I was thinking about putting it on the road. The first thing I had to do was contact the county treasuer where the truck was tagged and attempt to find the owner, which in this case was deceased. The county does not keep records back all that far (10 years or so?) so if the registration/tag was older you might be ahead to go directly to the state of NE. IRRC it was going to cost me $100 to do a title search and replacement from the state, and I did not pursue this. I have been parting it out instead.

Start with the DMV and start asking questions.

make the deal on truck based on getting paperwork and cost of paperwork. your time is worth something so add that into final price.

Ed, go to your county seat and ask the folks at the county treasurer's office how Kansas deals with that issue. I am making the assumption that Nemaha county works the same way as Cowley county where I live. The treasurer's office is the licensing authority here. Every case is similar but different enough that you need to get the info from the people you get your tag from.

I live in Las Vegas,NV and purchased a '51 Chevy 3/4 ton utility truck this past April. The party I bought it from had it since Dec. '05, only used it twice in a tradeshow display, was never street driven during that period of time and was never licensed here in Nevada. He had purchased it from someone in California and that registered owner did not have a title. He had signed a "Missing Title Request" form but that form was never submitted to the DMV. When I went to our local DMV office to get the truck registered, they told me that they could not issue me a title. His instructions were for me to contact the California DMV where it was last registered and try to find out if the truck was still registered. Some states don't keep old vehicles titles on file more than 3 to 5 years if there's no renewal. If this was the case, then all I had to do is bring the response from the CA DMV to the NV DMV and they would issue me a new title. If the CA DMV said they still had the truck on file then I would have to go to step 2. Through the CA DMV website I printed the proper request form, sent $15.00 money order and 3 weeks later received documents showing the last 3 registered owners. Step 2 was to contact the last registered owner at his last known address requesting him to send for a missing title explaining him the circumstances. This would have to be done through certified mail with return receipt requested. If he responded and agreed to procure the title then this would be the document that the local DMV would need. If he did not respond within 15 days then I would bring that signed receipt as a document to get a new NV title. If the letter was to come back undelivered then I would bring that letter unopened to the DMV. In my case it came back undelivered with no forwarding address. That's the document that I have to take to the DMV after I get VIN checked.

If you haven't tried to get the title yet you may want to try this route if it's applicable in your state. Good luck

Paul B.

I brought my truck from Oklahoma. It had belonged to my grandparents, and over the years the title had been misplaced. Thats neither here nor there. Coming from out of state, I had to get the Highway Patrol to come to the house, and the did a VIN check to see if it came up as being reported stolen, and that the VIN tag hadn't been altered. They then(after $10)gave me a VIN report that I took with a bill of sale to the courthouse in McPherson, where for another fee, I made a formal request for a new Kansas title. After providing proof of insurance, I used the new title to get my tags and have been a happy motorist ever since.
After all this, my uncle found the original title and I have it in my album of all the other stuff that goes with the truck, including the original sales receipt($2005.00)
Good luck and never give up.

thanks to everyone for the responses. I knew we had some local guys with past experience on this board, it sounds like I have a couple of places to start looking. I didnt want to buy it and get burned by paperwork.
If I had started calling the powers that be without knowing where to start; it could've been a nightmare..... this will make it a quicker process.

thanks again
ed