Belt Auction

Car bought at auction years ago, no title, owner deceased?

I live in Florida. About eight years ago my father-in-law (who is now deceased) bought a car at auction in California with the intention of restoring it. But he never did and never did anything about the paperwork. I have the eight year old bill of sale from the auctioneers with the VIN but no other paperwork. It may well have been a salvage title but he didn't even obtain that nor file papers with the DMV. Now he is dead and I have the mess to sort out. Amazingly, with a new battery it fires up and runs but the bodywork has minor damage and it looks like nothing of value. I don't want to spend thousands sorting out this essentially worthless car, however it is a runner. I can get a new bill of sale from the estate administrators, but I am sure the DMV assumes it was scrapped years ago. No papers have been filed and who knows maybe they want some huge fine for not doing the filings for eight years. Good luck! Is there someway I can put it back in service? Possibly in another State (I have relatives all over) Even scrap dealers are reluctant to take it without a title. This problem must have been faced before but I can't find a discussion on the internet. Can anyone point me in the right direction please? I'm sure it's easy to replace a recently lost title when the person does it themselves but this involves sale at auction without title, transfer of ownership, deceased person and eight years of neglect. I am 3000 miles away from California so popping around to the local DMV for a chat is not an option. And the California DMV is notoriously unresponsive and slow to those who even live in state and have ordinary business. I was hoping to hear that another state or nearby country would process without fuss or a perhaps a way to get rid of it without and endless paper chase. I realize the old man should have sorted things years ago or just left it on the streets of San Francisco to be stolen, but he didn't!

Public Comments

1. If you take the original bill of sale, the new bill of sale from the estate administrators and a copy of his death certificate to the DMV they should be able to work out a solution for you. They will tell you if there are back fees due so you can determine if it is worth pursuing.
2. Assuming the estate owns the house where the car sits then have the estate declare the car abandoned by its (suspected deceased) owner. Then the estate can conduct a lien sale and if you are the only bidder it is yours with a clean title. If someone else buys it then good luck to them, their money goes to the state in part and the estate in part to be shared according to the will.