Transfering a car title

[JaSSon]

Well, I pay for my car. I made the downpayment, and I make the monthly's. Problem is, both the car and the loan are in my father's name. What do I have to do to get it switched over to my name? Is it as simple as going to the BMV and getting the title transferred to my name? Or do I need to take out a loan in my name, and pay the current one off first?

[Guest nixon]

$32 fee to transfer title to another name.. do it at the dmv place or whatever.

[Dave1647545494]

if theres a note out on the car the bank holds the title you have to pay it off first. so you can either take out a loan in your name and pay off your dads loan or wait for his loan to be paid off and then go transfer the title from his name to yours

[Bahnstoermer1647545488]

Yeah, what Dave said. You have to pay off the loan your dad has one way or another before you can put it in your name.

 

Thing is, if you're young he probably has a much better credit rating than you (no offense, this is just how it works, and I'm young too) and your interest rate will be much lower if it's his name. You may have to have him as a co-signer anyway, which may or may not be worth the trouble. I never used credit for a long time, didn't buy it if I couldn't afford it, which is a good policy but I should have financed something to make payments and build a long credit history. If you're in the same situation, it might be worth the hassle, but most loans have a an early pay off fee (mine on the car I just sold was 3% of the unpaid balance). And of course, the car is never really "in your name" until it's all paid off anyways, also as Dave said. The bank keeps the title until then.