Car with no titles

[Rory McNeil]

I hear people say that some states don`t require an actual title, and that a "Bill of Sale" is all you need. But without any title of other registration documentation, what is to say the person providing the bill of sale is the legitimate seller? What would prevent somebody from stealing a car, or knowingly buying a stolen car, and then writing a bill of sale for that car? Every now and then, you hear about somebody who had their Mustang or Corvette stolen , and then years later, it was found at a car show, all restored by someone else, who had no idea that their car was stolen, and sold a few times in between they bought it. Then the police seize the car, and the previous owner that it was stolen from, gets the car back, and the guy that bought, and spent lots of money on the car, is left with no car, and no recourse for the loss of "his" car. Sounds pretty risky to me.