Actually, what I really meant was don’t you have to sign (& date) the back of the title? If you had that on the seat next to you (& not buried somewhere under stuff), I’d think a cop would be inclined to believe your story that you just bought it.
I once did this, and my agent asked for the name and phone number of the buyer, so he could contact them.
About a week later, the agent called me to pick up a $25 gift certificate – he had contacted the buyer to make sure he knew the insurance only went to the end of the month. But once he was talking to him, he offered to insure all the buyers vehicles, and his price underbid the buyers existing insurance company, so the buyer switched insurance. And my agent was very happy about this.
No Fucking Way. You’ll drive up there, and the asshole will Low-ball you, figuring you really want to sell that car.
No Fucking Way.
True, this is possible, though I’ve never taken the car or motorcycle to a buyer more than 30 minutes or so away from me, so a round trip wouldn’t be a big deal. (And the potential low-ball thing never happened.)
Probably the down payment requirement helped (with letter of intent of sale for the buyer), since they came to see the vehicle the one time already, so they can’t be all that far away.