Long story short….didn't really want to sell private due to hassle and a few known issues (evap system leak and small power steering fluid leak) on the 2003 Ram. Overall it still runs well. Has pretty low mileage for age of vehicle (about 178k). Was hoping to get $1500 but figured dealer would squeeze me

Filled out Kelly Blue book and only one dealer came back interested. I took it there today. I was there about 5 min, finance and service guys come ask me a couple questions…meanwhile, I hear a couple of sales guys at the front asking the girl that greeted me if I was selling it and how much I wanted.

Dealer offered $750 but a salesman asked if I would take $2000 for it….sure

Now the shady part. We agreed to meet up on Wednesday and close the deal but he says "…we'll figure it all out but I don't want you to sign over the title. I can get it transferred much faster"

Pretty sure that's illegal and leaves me open to various liabilities. Thoughts?

Note: I should have mentioned I live in Georgia.

My great uncle traded cars forever and never took title since he was always flipping cars. That was 30-55 years ago and he could flip a car in a couple of days, 10 days max.

I wouldn't ever do that in today's world.

This is kinda common and called a wild title. Even if you sign the title, they can just say they're you if the next buyer doesn't ask for ID.

I thought if you are selling to a dealer they don't require you sign the title like you do in a private sale

I can't comment on signing the title, but I would submit a Vehicle Transfer Notification with Texas DMV.

https://webdealer.txdmv.gov/title/publicVehicleTransfer

From the website:

YOU MUST SUBMIT THE VEHICLE TRANSFER NOTIFICATION WITHIN 30 DAYS TO REMOVE LIABILITY

If you submit a transfer notification within 30 days of sale, the buyer shown becomes the vehicle's presumed owner and may be subject to criminal or civil liability for parking tickets, toll violations, fines or other penalties that occur after the date of sale.

Shady stuff like this (plus potentially disgruntled buyers creating issues down the line) is why I recently ended up selling my 2013 Chevy Sonic RS to Autonation for $2k. The AC was out (and not just low on freon), the cooling system was like playing whack-a-mole with leaks, and there were random other issues with it. Cosmetically, it was great and it only had 80k miles, and it was also a 6 speed manual - which might make it more desirable to a small audience, but limited the potential buyers. Autonation listed it a few days after I sold it (so likely didn't do anything more than an oil change) for $10k. I hope some poor sucker doesn't pay anywhere near that for the car, but it's not my problem now.

Sounds like the dealer is trying to jump the title. Weird because usually they will have you sign the back, then never actually transfer it into their name. Sketchy for sure, but not necessarily a huge problem on your end since the burden to transfer and pay the taxes is on the buyer/dealer. You could still sell it to them, take your plates, drop insurance, and get a copy of the bill of sale to prove you sold it to CYA if anything crazy happened

I know it's a PITA, but I would just toss it up on FB Marketplace for a couple grand, someone will buy it almost immediately I guarantee it. Or you could also consign it at an auction house so you know the title transfer is legit.

GA has an aggressive tax on title transfers

Prolly tryna avoid that