I’ve heard all the excuses. "The guy I bought it from said he would look for it, but never did." "I hid the title somewhere, but I’ll send it to you as soon as I find it." "You can file for a lost title when registering a car at the DMV."

No! Please don’t do it. I don’t care how good a deal it is. Hang up. Walk away. Run if you have to.

You can't insure it if you can’t register it in your name. The insurance companies put a clause in their policies that says they don’t have to pay a claim if the car doesn’t belong to you. By belonging to you, they mean it has to be registered in your name. If you don’t have the title, you can’t register it.