Confounding title problem with NJ used car dealer

[ms1024]

I am considering purchasing a used car from a used car dealer who is not in possession of the vehicle or title (yet). I'm concerned with being able to acquire legal ownership of the vehicle, but I don't see how that's possible.

Here's the situation:

1) Dealer A owns the vehicle and purchased it wholesale at closed-bid from an auto dealership (the car was a trade-in).

2) Dealer B (whom I'm working with and would be paying) is advertising the car for sale, but is not in possession of a title or the vehicle. Dealer B knows Dealer A personally and Dealer A has agreed to sell the car to Dealer B.

My concern is without a title in my hand, there's no other way upon paying to prove my ownership of the vehicle. Dealer B is saying when I pay him for the vehicle, he will then pay Dealer A and "reassign" the title to me (of course I would want to do this in the presence of Dealer A and B). Is this even possible? I'm in NJ and can't find any information on the MVC site about this.

I'm certain this is a scam, but I'm not sure. What other ways can transaction be legit?

[Ray paulsen]

I don't see a problem here, it's a common internal transfer, unless your dealing with non registered dealers.

I can't make further comments unless you provide the names of these dealerships for me to check for authentication.

[ms1024]

Originally Posted by Ray paulsen

I don't see a problem here, it's a common internal transfer, unless your dealing with non registered dealers.

I can't make further comments unless you provide the names of these dealerships for me to check for authentication.

Dealer B is registered, but one of my concerns is I know nothing about dealer A. If I knew, I'd be able to check, but when buying a used car doesn't the bill of sale need to be from the *real* owner? Anything else seems to defy common sense.