My understanding is that there are two ways to obtain a title for an
untitled car in Maryland. The first is, as other people on the list
have described, by finding the last person with good title, getting that
title reissued to the last owner, and having that person sign the title
over to you. Your second (and as far as I know your only other) option
is to ask a Maryland court to issue a writ of mandamus directing the
Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a title to you. The
people at the DMV will help you with either option, and the people at
your local court house will help you with the second option. The trick
is to find the right person at the DMV and the right person at the court
house to lead you through this. It doesn't cost very much to go the
court route and it can be a lot less trouble than trying to locate the
last person with good title. If you go to court, you have to explain
what efforts you've made to locate the prior owner, state how you
obtained the car, etc. and then court will issue the writ and the DMV
will send you a title. You don't need an attorney to do this. The
helpful person at the DMV/court house will show you the papers that
someone else filed when they asked for a writ and you can use those as
your template. Good luck!
Martha DeGraff
Poolesville, MD
Two '71 Bs (one perfect, one mostly in the basement)
Adam Arabian wrote:
>
> New question:
>
> I am transporting my untitled basket case 51 TD to maryland to finish
> putting it together. What options exist for re-titling a car that
> basically doesnt exist in paperwork anymore? A title was issued in '51
> and was lost in the intervening years, and the transfer to me was just a
> friendly purchase of a beat up hulk. According to the state of
> Maryland, I have to get the title re-issued, but thats kinda tough based
> on the availability of the person I got it from in the first place.
>
> Anyone have any experience with this? I'm wondering what the procedure
> would be if I had pieced it together from a bunch of other cars (which
> is basically what it will be by the time I replace everything that needs
> replacing).
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Advice?
>
> TIA
> A. Arabian
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