[pnut_lee]

In short, I live in Maine and was trying to work a trade/purchase deal with a nice couple from Illinois. My 1991 964 Cab for their 2001 BMW 540iT plus cash.

Maine is a non-title state for vehicles over 15 years of age. What I have is a transferable registration (the back of my registration contains the transfer of ownership info that is common on the back of a title).

The deal was put on hold as the potential buyer insists on needing a title. I may be missing something, but he assures me that the car should have the original title that came with the car when new. In other words, a document that would have been maintained with the vehicle and passed along from owner to owner proving ownership.

The system I am familiar with is title gets signed over to new buyer, new buyer sends the old signed title to the local DMV/BMW/etc. and is issued a new title, specific to the state in which the owner/vehicle resides. I have never seen a title that came from the factory and stayed with the vehicle. The buyer says that without this document there is no way to prove ownership.

Either I am missing something or Illinois has a very confusing system compared to Maine.

Any thoughts?........those from someone in Illinois or experience with Illinois would be good to hear.