Trading in car tomorrow and getting new one. Everything is all set up. The Dealership is 100 miles away.
Just noticed that both my wife and I are on the title. I think this is an ‘In Kind’ type of thing where both my wife and I are 100% owners (that’s the way our house is set up). Not 50/50, and she should not need to be there.
This is Colorado. Would my Wife have to also sign it over?
My understanding is yes. Just have her sign the pink slip if she is not going with you.
In every state I am familiar with (PA, MD, WV), every person listed on the title has to sign it.
Poking around on google, Colorado is the same, according to the Colorado DMV:
Some states require titles to be notarized (PA, for example). In one of these states, your wife would need to go with you and sign the title in the presence of a notary. However, as far as I can determine, Colorado is not one of the states requiring notarized titles. As long as your wife signs the title, you should be good. As far as I can tell, she does not need to be physically present for the title transfer.
Since you will be traveling 100 miles, it’s probably best to double-check that with the dealership before you drive all the way there.
Thanks for the replies. I did just email the guy at the dealership that I have been working with over the net. The only reason my wife is on the title is that she was there when I bought the car 13 years ago, and it just seemed like a good idea… just in case. Everything is co-ownership. It’s us, a team . Never has been you OR me.
In Nevada, titles can say “And” or “Or”. Both must sign the former, either the latter.
Didn’t you just get a new Subaru lately? Getting another new car? Cool!
In California, you have a choice between AND or OR when you register the car. Not sure about Colorado, but in at least one state, both signatures are not necessarily required.
Is there any good reason not to just have them in one name? My wife and I have several cars, but each is titled to either me or her. Neither the banks nor insurance seem to care, and in the event of one of us kicking off it still seems like it would only be a minor annoyance, given all the other crap that would be going on.
So, going for the 4Runner?
Your wife will have to sign it over as others have said. Some older titles need notarization but Colorado hasn’t required that for awhile. Look on your title. If there’s a place for a notarization, then it will need to be notarized.
We bought a car whose title came from Kentucky and it did require a notarization, but we only had to notarize one of the signatures (there was only one affirmation, or whatever they call it–what I mean is, only room for one notarization) and the notary said she’d do any one of the four of us (husband-and-wife seller, husband-and-wife buyer) so we just notarized my signature and that worked for the state of Kentucky. [ETA: As a notary, I think technically it should have been one of the sellers whose signature was notarized, but…they took it.]
Probably no one is going to look at it all that hard but just to be safe, have your wife sign it before you take it.
I am a notary in Colorado. A lot of people have brought in Colorado titles that did not actually require notarization. But as I said, some of them do, and some of them required every seller’s signature to be notarized.
Only reason I can come up with is when one of you croak. If you are both on the title with “Or”, you can dispose of it easily on your own with the survivor as sole owner.
Pretty minor issue to me. When I snuff it, my wife will just sign my name anyway. 
As it should be.
Yep. Live and learn. No point in it as we are 50/50 in our wills. It just seemed prudent at the time. Now that I just gonna dive down to Denver to pick this up, it may be making it more complicated than needs to be. I just talked the to salesman I have been working with. I THINK I can just have my wife sign over (her part of) the title to me like a regular sale. An Assignment by Owner on the back of the title. But don’t want to screw it up.
The salesman also said that I could just bring it down as is, but the title work is gonna get complicated. :sigh: He’s supposed to call me back.
------- Salesman called me back. Did a self transfer of title at home so my Wife does not have to take day off and drive to Denver. I took a picture of her drivers license with signature.
Yeah, It’s the right size, has good ground clearance and is a pretty well respected vehicle for snow. Locking rear diff is a plus for my somewhat difficult driveway (bring snow boots). The vehicle has been around for a while. and is still a truck ‘based’ frame. Not too worried about putting a winch on it. Little things like it doesn’t have third row seating is a plus too.
TRD Off Road Premium. Middle of the 4Runner line up.
The fact that my 2006 Pathfinder is telling me that it’s time to do something NOW has made me pulled the trigger pretty fast.
eta -
The 50/50 in our wills does not quite sound right. We both own everything of each others. So 100/100.
I want to thank all for advice and ideas. It’s kinda exciting getting a new vehicle.
No. It’s really fun. Thirteen years and 205,000 miles, and it’s time to move on. It’s no longer a you should think about this. It is now a big flashing sign.
I go down to get it tomorrow. I absolutely detest buying cars, but it seems we have everything all straightened away. Hahahahaha. Yeah, I know I will be there for hours.
In Missouri titling it in one person’s name would almost guarantee a tax snafu if the other one happens to drop into the DMV to get new license plates.
(I know, I know, you can do that stuff online now, but in Missouri, how long it will take them to mail everything back to you can be - ummm - unpredictable, so a lot of people still prefer to do it in person.)
We had a car registered solely in my wife’s name. After she died I had to go to the DMV to get the title transferred to me. I explained the situation and the agent said I needed her signature on the title to transfer it. Uh, what? I thought I was going to be in some Kafkaesque scenario where I could never get the title transferred. I explained again that she was deceased, and the agent seemed to finally understand and I got it done. Other than that and the usual hassles about going to the DMV, it wasn’t much trouble.