Title nightmare in PA

Animistic Katie · 03-25-2022, 03:54 PM

We just bought a partially converted short bus and have to reconstruct the title with the seller.

Backstory: we live in Pennsylvania and bought the bus here. The bus was titled as a truck in PA which we thought sounded simple. We ran the VIN and saw no issues. Bus was originally bought in New Hampshire and the now seller is the one who got it titled as a truck here. We privately transferred the title only.

When we went to transfer the tags at a full auto notary, they said there was a director’s court order on the title and we had to go to PennDot to sort it out.

PennDot explained that they put the order on the title after it was titled as a truck because that isn’t legal or whatever. The seller is nomadic so I assume he missed his mail when it happened. We’ve been talking to him throughout this.

So now what we have to do is have the seller fill out an MV-426B and go through the process of reconstructing the title as a motorhome before we can fully transfer ownership to us.

My questions are:

What do they care about? The bus currently has a rough build out with a bed, a wood stove, an oven/cooktop, and solar. Obviously we would rather not put work into it until this is settled.

Would it be possible at this point to have the seller title it in Vermont to bypass all this? I don’t know if the order on the title would still come up out of state.

Hutchy · 03-25-2022, 04:08 PM

if you have the signed title and bill of sale you would title it in vermont but that being said I would think it would come up when they looked into it in vermont but maybe not? weird situation

Animistic Katie · 03-25-2022, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hutchy

if you have the signed title and bill of sale you would title it in vermont but that being said I would think it would come up when they looked into it in vermont but maybe not? weird situation

Yeah I really have no idea if we can bypass this out of state. Would be nice if we could! Very weird situation, the notary people had never even seen it.

Animistic Katie · 03-25-2022, 05:05 PM

It seems like vermont could work the more I look into it, but we’re going to try to contact them and ask about our particular situation. It is older than 15 yrs and we do have a bill of sale.

Now I’m wondering about inspection. It looks like we’re exempt from emissions but that we need to inspect it in-state if it’s registered there? Not a problem to drive it up there, but if it fails, that would surely suck!!!

TheHubbardBus · 03-25-2022, 05:16 PM

I don't know if you're friends with the seller, in love with the bus, or already mid-conversion. But if it were me and I wasn't already too far invested, I'd be demanding the sale be reversed. Maybe the seller's legit, and maybe not, but even if it's just an honest snafu, it's not something you should have to deal with or were expecting. If they want to give you your money back, get the title squared away, and then sell it back to you... maybe. But dealing with this on a vehicle you just bought? Nope... I wouldn't do it.

Good luck. I've had title issues before and they suck. Still have a motorcycle frame gathering rust that will probably never be anything other than a yard ornament thanks to my previous naivete.

peteg59 · 03-25-2022, 05:33 PM

Anything manufactured in 1999 and older doesn't require a title in NH.
Having said that, the vehicle is now in your state with a hold on it based on the VIN.

If all that is needed is that state doc filled out, simply fill it out and sign the sellers name to it. Doubtful the seller would care, he's already signed it over to you once.

If the vehicle was stolen or had a lien on it, you would not have gotten this far.
Good luck, going forward...

BarnYardCamp · 03-25-2022, 05:39 PM

I'd hesitate to go the Vermont route...simply because the next time your bus serial number is entered into the PA DMV computer it's going to get flagged again...that could be if you tried to title/register it in PA or if you sold it to another PA resident.
If you've been in contact with the guy you bought it from I'd give him the chance to fill out the forms to get it sorted out. However, I would not do anything on it until the title was correct.
Good luck!

Kelley’s Junk · 01-31-2023, 02:15 PM

Hello, new to the forum, my husband and I are just about to do the same-purchase a partially converted, short skoolie in PA. On our initial YES we'd love to tackle the remaining portion of the build-out, I was very excited, but then found it is still titled as a bus in PA...finding that the process to transfer to us may be very complicated and I'm a bit nervous and overthinking everything.

Wondered what happened with your situation and what route you ended up doing?

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