how do you claim a vehicle title?

What kind of car are you looking at? Because it better be something with VVT-i or VVTL-I under the hood

well.... here in WA the first thing you can do is go to the DMV... go in there and tell them you bought this car (have the vin #) and that it had been abandoned & you just bought it for restoration (or whatever.... either way, blow smoke up their ass)

one of two things will happen.... they will give you the info, or they will tell you that the registration hasn't been fulfilled in X many years, and that they have to send a fax to Olympia to have the Vin info reinstated (which takes a few days).

if you get your info you then have another choice.... you can try to reverse look up the phone # and see if the owner is still at the registered address and contact them, try to get the title, or whatever....

if you don't get the info the first time, you'll have to wait..... however, either way you'll probably end up looking for the PO.

this is about where i have stopped (as in the past i have found cars w/o titles that i wanted).... however, i do know more of what you can do....

at least here in bellingham there is a $1500 fine for any abandonded vehicle that the city must tow to the last registered owner..... So, at least here i was planning on using that fact as leverage... ie "well i just bought this car that you seem to have left in XXXXX Y years ago. I want the legal title to the car, so you can either sign it over to me or go to the DMV and sign it over in their presence.... or i will strip the parts off of it that i want and let the city tow it for $1500 at your expense, since you're the last legal owner" I would assume that they would meet either of your demands as long as:

1) you don't tell them who you are initially or where the car is located
2) if you go to the DMV, do NOT take the car with you

why? because if they have the title, at any point they can legally get an officer to take posession of the car from you.


Now, what if the PO is unreachable at the last address? (ie, moved somewhere else.. out of city... out of state...) then there are other options that you can do in the state of WA. If they're unreachable, then the state of WA will allow you to register the car in your name. After 2 years, if the car has not been claimed by the PO then they will send you the legal title of the car (you must apply for a 'lost title' at the beginning of the 2 years).

those are kinda your choices here in WA

Ahhh, a motorcycle, I was getting a little worried there

Just get a bill of sale from the owner..you should be able to request a duplicate title at the DMV. You may want to run a Carfax on the VIN - that might flag if it's stolen or not..or you could call your local PD and ask nicely - they might run it for you.

You cock