Quote:
Originally Posted by ossiblue
George,
What, exactly, does having dealer plates tell someone about title? Does it mean the dealer has title to the car? Does it mean the car may still be titled under the old owner? Does it allow the dealer to sell a car without first transferring title to the dealer (saving fees?) Just curious.
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My father used to have a classic car dealership in Hollywood. Those days, the dealer would not re-title the car, but would forward the title to the DMV only after he had sold the car when he made a report of sale. Until then, the car would remain in the dealer inventory and the old title would typically stay in the dealer's safe (or with his lender), and a dealer plate could be used to drive the car around (technically, I think there were some limits on who could driver a car with a dealer plate, as I remember that my mother once got a ticket for driving one of my dad's dealership cars). Not sure if this is still the case in California anymore. I bought a car out of state recently from a dealer, and the title was in the dealer's name, so probably varies from state to state, but I suspect the practice is more typically that a car is not re-titled when put in to dealer inventory.