Pennsylvania people

I am selling my Element and a guy is coming from near Pittsburgh to get it. He keeps asking me to go get the title notarized. Says his notary states he needs a notarized title and bill of sale.

Is this standard practice in your neck of the woods? I haven't used a notary public, like, ever. In Michigan you just fill out the title, sign it over, and hand over the keys.

Only time I've ever needed a notary to go with a title signing was when there was a third party involved, like a bank that owned the car. Seller paid it off, never cleared the title, etc.

If you own the car outright, and there's no deceased spouse as a co-owner or anything funky, then you don't need to be notarized, period.

<<< Bought and sold over 100 cars, used to work at a dealer for 2.5 years

The only time I ever had a title notorized was when i bought one from PA - they make a huge deal about it... just take it to a bank or anyplace they can notorize it and have them do it when you sign the title over..

Need a notary in Ohio. I think PA has even more stringent requirements than OH. IIRC, had to fill out some other form for a PA guy who was buying my car, but it's been several years, so I can't remember what was on it.

Guess I should amend to say I've dealt with titles in FL, GA, WA, OR, and CA.

You Nor'Easters are berkeleying weird then to need a notary.

A PA title requires a notary. If a Michigan title needed to be notarized, PA will honor that requirement.

If Michigan does not require a title to be notarized then PA will not require it when the title comes into PA. A bill of sale will help if the clerk is new, but any PA tag place with a seasoned clerk won't have a problem with it.

I've bought cars from Delaware and brought them to PA. DE does not require their titles to be notarized. Its never been an issue.

The tag place will require the car to be present to verify the VIN when bringing an out of state car into PA. If the car is not present, a pencil rubbing of the VIN is required, or a form can be completed. If the car is running it's easiest for them to verify it.

Hope this helps.

^^^ what he said.

This is one of many reasons I was happy to get BACK to NJ from Pa. Some of the rules are just weird

mad_machine wrote: Some of the rules are just weird

Like trying to buy a six-pack of beer?

bludroptop wrote:

mad_machine wrote: Some of the rules are just weird

Like trying to buy a six-pack of beer?

How about trying to buy a six pack on sunday?

Ohio titles need notarized, but I don't see why that's weird. I think it's weird that legal ownership of the second largest investment most people make could be transferred without a notary.

Edit: To the OP's point, if there's not a spot on a Michigan title for a notary, then you shouldn't need it. But if the guy is all up in arms about it, see if your bank has one on duty and if they'll notarize it.

SC title used to require a notary. No more.

Michigan titles do not need to be notarized. You just sign it to him and PA will issue him a new title.

I drove around for 30 minutes with the PO of the Mustang I bought in Michigan trying to find a bank to notarize it before one finally told us it wasn't necessary.

PA requires you to have a notarized signature and make sure that the name you sign matches the title or it will come back on you.

I bought a trailer once from a guy who had it titled in his name followed by " Paving" and when I got home - they wouldn't give me a title w/o him sending me a signed/notarized paper stating that he was authorized to sell equipment for the paving company.

mad_machine wrote:

bludroptop wrote:

mad_machine wrote: Some of the rules are just weird

Like trying to buy a six-pack of beer?

How about trying to buy a six pack on sunday?

Or from your local grocery store or gas station.

In reply to dculberson:

My child's birth certificate didn't need a notary when my wife and I signed it. Neither did our marriage license. Both of those are way, way more important than a car title.

A Louisiana title needs to be notarized.

PA does require a notary to transfer the title. When I read it initially I thought your buyer wanted the bill of sale notarized which isn't standard practice.

Honestly the easiest way to handle it is just to to the local AAA in PA and have them do it. Otherwise the PA DMV will give you a huge run around. That's been my experience at least.

I live in PA, I've brought in cars from NJ and Delaware without having them notarized in the state of origin. You need to use a good notary office to do the title transfer. Bring the car to the notary office and have a clearly written bill of sale. It shouldn't be a big deal.

+1 on what Andy said, if you are bringing an out of state title to PA you dont need to have it notarized unless the state of issue requires a notary. I've sold dozens of cars from NJ to PA and never once notarized a title going into PA.

Javelin wrote: If you own the car outright, and there's no deceased spouse as a co-owner or anything funky, then you don't need to be notarized, period.

You're wrong, period.

Oklahoma also requires a notarized title (at least the one I dealt with did).

Yeah his notary said it shouldn't be a problem when I talked to him today.

Here is the complicated part. The title shows a first lien on the vehicle as I had a loan. I paid off the loan today, and all the bank does is sign the title and date it saying the loan is paid off. That's literally it. Both the bank and the Secretary of State (Our DMV) say it's good to go, I can sell it without waiting for a new title. But with PA's loopy notary rules is this gonna cause a E36 M3storm when the guy comes?

I may head back to the bank and have them notarize a document stating the loan is paid off, just to be sure. I don't want to have any crap come up on a Saturday afternoon after the guy drives 6 hours to pick up the car.

PA requires a notary, when buying a car from a PA resident. Not when buying it from out of state. BTDT several times with that state, in virtually all combinations.

If it's an easy thing for you to get a clear letter or such from the bank, it certainly won't hurt the prospective buyer.

mad_machine wrote: ^^^ what he said. This is one of many reasons I was happy to get BACK to NJ from Pa. Some of the rules are just weird

Like being allowed to pump my own gas?

Every time I've bought a car the title had to be signed over in the presence of a notary. Inconvient, sure, but oh well. At least notaries are usually family businesses, I don't mind stupid laws so much if they support the little guys.

Can we go back to the part where, if I read it correctly, the PA DMV will accept a pencil rubbing of the VIN?? I know I'm only a Canadian here, but that sounds kinda weird to me.

It needs to be notorized, but you don't have it done. It just gets done when he processes the title at a tag dealer. You just sign the title over. Most of the ones I've transferred the seller wasn't there. I'd say most if not all tag dealers are notories as well.