Sellers proof of ownership.

Sailmachine · #1 (**permalink**) 07-01-2010

Lets say you were buying a boat in NC. The seller never registered the boat thus has no title. A bill of sale is all that is needed to register a boat in nc but that only proves that sale occurred between the seller and new buyer. It does not prove where the seller got the boat. or that the seller even owns the boat. Any thoughts?

kd3pc · #2 (**permalink**) 07-01-2010

trailer boat?? And you live in another state...?

Usually you or the dealer, can have local law enforcement run the numbers to see if there is anything there. May or not prove anything.. Many states will require a title of some sort AND a bill of sale, notarized. There are too many totaled, hurricane and unscrupulous boats out there.

IN VA it is a royal pain to get a salvage title, and you would likely have to get two or three...trailer, boat, engine...and a cost for each. Have to have the state police look it over...etc.

Only Harleys are worse..

tomwatt · #3 (**permalink**) 07-01-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by kd3pc

Only Harleys are worse..

Now there's a thought... wonder what kind of genoa goes best for a Harley?

Proof of ownership (back to the OP)... I've been leery of boats offered with little or no original title, or USCG registration engraved on the boat and the owner claiming not to have ever had such a registration. It's a problem for sure.

sailingdog · #4 (**permalink**) 07-01-2010

It is a big problem. One possible solution is if he has the bill of sale from when he bought the boat and the previous owner's title or registration. Without that, you're pretty much in a grey area and the chances that the boat is stolen or a salvage boat with possibly serious structural issues is pretty high.

This was a pretty common problem just after Katrina and the other hurricanes trashed the south... and the insurance companies actually setup a website to help track boats that were declared as total losses to help prevent people from selling them without fully disclosing what they were.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailmachine

Lets say you were buying a boat in NC. The seller never registered the boat thus has no title. A bill of sale is all that is needed to register a boat in nc but that only proves that sale occurred between the seller and new buyer. It does not prove where the seller got the boat. or that the seller even owns the boat. Any thoughts?

NCC320 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-02-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailmachine

Lets say you were buying a boat in NC. The seller never registered the boat thus has no title. A bill of sale is all that is needed to register a boat in nc but that only proves that sale occurred between the seller and new buyer. It does not prove where the seller got the boat. or that the seller even owns the boat. Any thoughts?

NC has not always required boats to be titled. In 1970 and 1976, when I bought my first two boats new, both were not titled and a bill of sale was all that was required to show ownership. Boats that I have purchased in NC after 1995 (don't know when the rules changed) all required titling. So for those buying older boats, it will be rather common that the owner only has a bill of sale to show that the boat is his.

ArcherBowman · #6 (**permalink**) 07-02-2010

I was started to discover that Tennessee does not title boats, either. It does title TRAILERS, and you REGISTER your boat with the TN Wildlife Resources folks, but no title is ever issued.

MikeAR · #7 (**permalink**) 07-02-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArcherBowman

I was started to discover that Tennessee does not title boats, either. It does title TRAILERS, and you REGISTER your boat with the TN Wildlife Resources folks, but no title is ever issued.

Arkansas is like Tennessee. In our case, we received notarized bills of sale each for the boat, trailer and outboard. The state titled the trailer and issued a permanent tag. Boat is registered through state.