Arizona DMV Question
 

A friend is selling a car in Arizona private party. They've agrred on a price, the buyer will wire the money to a bank account, then payment will be wired to USAA to pay the car off.

He's thinking it will take 2-3 weeks to get a "pink slip" to sign over, the delay being it will take awhile for USAA to transfer the title in his name.. I'm sure there has to be a quicker way. Does AAA handle DMV registration and title transfers in Az, I know they do in California. I just don't know Az procedure, TIA. SmileWavy

Have the buyer wire the payoff directly to USAA- easy to confirm that they've received it.

Why not call USAA and ask them how long it will take for them to release the title? See if they can release it directly to the buyer. After the buyer wires the money, confirm USAA got it, and release the car. Arrange it so the buyer can confirm with USAA that this is what will happen.

In Arizona, the owner of a vehicle keeps the title in hand. On the title it will show that USAA has a lien on the vehicle. What you will be getting from USAA after payoff is a release of lien. You take the title and the release to the DMV to get the new owner's title.

Thanks Geoff, that's what I was thinking. I'll have to see if he has that, If not, can he go to AAA or does he have to go to DMV?. DMV lines in Calif can be a hassle.

USAA's titles are physically housed in Sacramento, IIRC, and they say it takes two weeks to get a title after payoff. It's always faster, but it's never next day or two.

He probably has it, Craigster, but if he doesn't the lines are pretty short on days other than Monday. Thursday is a great day. He can also make an appointment. I'm afraid I don't know the answer to the question whether or not he can go to AAA to get it or not. Sorry.

Thanks for the replies. I think they will both be there for the wire transfer to USAA and wait for electronic transfer of title to AZ DMV. Funny, if you try and access AAA's site in Az, it reads your ip address and automatically redirects to AAA So Cal, pretty frustrating.

Yes, you can handle title transfer at AAA in CA.

Yeah I know, the deal is going down in Az and don't know if they take care of DMV stuff there too.