Why aren’t people titling their motors ?

I’m looking at a boat to buy and the seller has transferred the papers on the boat to himself, but he has not transferred the papers on the motor, so he tells me in Texas you don’t have to Title a motor

Also if you were doing this shame on you I am also finding, Lots of people just take their plates to the courthouse and have them renewed or title it as a homemade trailer, which is illegal and lie.
I am running into this more and more, come on guys title this stuff

Signed
Fed up

Shame on you for coming on TFF just to pass judgment on others. Just Kidding. But, really.

in tx motors have to be titled to be able to be sold legally a lot of folks don't do because game wardens don't check the motor serial number on a lake stop.the reason some don't do it is because they don't want to pay taxes an registration on them.

How does one transfer a trailer title to yourself? I bought a boat recently and not sure how togo about it so I can sell it properly...

It's pretty simple,
Boat-title
Motor- title
Trailer- title or bill of sale depending on gvwr.

I just bought a river boat, motor, and trailer. It had been sold, sold again and no transfer of tities. Since I knew the original owner, I bought the boat. motor, and trailer because I could get his signatures. It did come at a price to the second owner. I paid 1/2 of his asking price because I had to get the titles and bill of sale.

Does the trailer have a title? Depends on GVWR. May just need a Bill of Sale.

I’m sorry , what I meant to say was he did transfer the title from the previous owner to himself and do the proper paperwork on the boat only nothing on the motor

The last two boats I purchased the owners lied about paperwork on the trailer, so call your insurance company and tell them you got a homemade trailer, they’re gonna want lots of pictures and they will see this is not a homemade trailer , There in lies the problem
Next tell them that you want your motor insured, the insurance company will not ensure a motor that is not in your name

Fed up

When you're buying an older used boat, a lot will be titled homemade trailer.. doesn't make them illegal. Boat and motor need a title though.

I agree some trailers are homemade , But what I’m finding over and over again is the person not doing the proper paperwork and just filling out a form saying it’s a homemade trailer at the tax registration office

You run into the untitled motors all the time that they try and tell you that you don't need it. They can't even sell it that way. No title then no sale to me

+1

this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Actually it's "^^^^^this", plus a had written bill of sale with both the boat I'd number, TX#, and a specific dollar amount and the engine serial number or TX#, with its specific dollar amount. Additionally a specific dollar amount for the trailer is needed on this same bill of sale.

So

Here it is.

Signed title of boat
Signed title of motor
A written bill of sale for all three with dollar amounts for each
Numbers on the bill of sale matching the boat and motor to the sale


Simple....yeh right.

when I went to the TPWD to do all this a while back, I told the girl there" I read the boat registration "matrix"" and then I said screw it.....and got all the papers and just made the drive. She said their process is confusing for their own employees....and almost impossible for a regular person to comprehend.

The reason Texas Parks and wildlife has gotten tougher is due to the amount of fake documents turned in by fisherman

By fisherman? What the hell does that mean? We are talking boats and motors.....so a duck hunting boat owner or a ski boat owner is fine....with their little tin boats, but us fishing guys are full of [censored]?

Are you saying we aren't?

All this so call " BS Paper Work " IMO came about because some boat owners failed to do the proper paper work in a timely manner win buying or sale a boat etc . It's real simple make sure paper work is legit or take your $$ and find one that is . Real simple

I'm guessing this is on lower priced boats that were never financed, and the 2nd owner, did not care bout xfering the titles. Titles do exists when whoever purchased the boat.

The cost is part of the reason people don't transfer titles, and register. They buy the boat with no intentions to ever sell.

The boat (14' with 10 HP motor) cost me about $225 to transfer titles, register, and plates for the trailer. This was on a $900 rig. All these fees have gotten out of hand. 25% tax and title of a purchase price is ridiculous.

No I didn’t mean only fishermen were not titling their boats, I think of everyone as fisherman. My mistake ,But having said that the first guy i call this morning about a boat he was trying to sell, first thing I asked do you have the papers no I didn’t transfer them, he says it doesn’t matter as long as they’re not dated, I said thank you for your time sir.

And yes this happens more with Lower end boats ,If I was looking at boats from 40 to 70,000, I’m sure I wouldn’t be having this problem

The thing that gets me is they get this money every time the boat/motor/trailer/car/truck/etc... changes hands during its life. Same piece of property sales taxed over and over again. It is crazy.

If SELLER has title, but, never transferred it to HIS name, then whenever you present a Bill of Sale FROM him with $ amounts for boat/motor/trailer, YOU WIILL HAVE to pay for HIS transfer, THEN yours. Its called "Title Skipping". I bought a trailer. He had Title, but it was STILL in the persons name HE bought it from. He did NOT get it transferred into HIS name. All I had was that Title & a Bill of Sale from him. The Clerk at the vehicle registration office was KIND enough to assist me in what needed to be done, but, it wound up COSTING ME, another $225. In other words I had to pay what he was too cheap & lazy to pay. I reluctantly paid it & got tags & Title in MY NAME. Yes, I did call him. Yes, He responded exactly like the cheap_ss b____rd he was. I got the c channel trailer I wanted , but , since he hadn't had any luck selling it "because " of that I actually only offered half of what he was asking. I STILL came out on the good end. Or track down previous owner & see if they will send you a Bill of Sale. Most times you can't locate them or they're deceased.
Just a heads up to those who don't/won't go do what they're supposed to do: expect to take half or less than what you want for it or keep it. Its BS. Everything I own HAS a Title In MY name & always will.

I agree with you that it's a bad situation.....but calling him a cheap [censored] bastard (maybe he's just lazy) when you only offered AND PAID half his asking price kinda makes you one too. Sounds like you got a good deal and had to spend a tiny bit extra to get it. Sounds like it was worth it.

Just sayin