# What's this guy's game: stranger asking me to sell him my truck **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-guys-game-stranger-asking-me-to-sell-him-my-truck/546708 "2010-07-14T20:29:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-guys-game-stranger-asking-me-to-sell-him-my-truck/546708/41 "2010-07-16T08:52:17Z")
I’ve given away a piece of crap car at least twice. But to people I knew who needed them. My Dad likes to ask people if they will sell their station wagon. But he’s cuckoo. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-guys-game-stranger-asking-me-to-sell-him-my-truck/546708/42 "2010-07-16T09:55:10Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I’ve had multiple people looking to buy my car, but only if the license plate were missing. In which case they were looking for scrap metal, and I was able to get 2-300 dollars out of the deal. You will also see people wanting to buy an old vehicle, but **only** if it does have a license plate, and the sticker indicates it has several months to go before the plates expire. These are people who don’t have and can’t get a valid drivers license, and so can’t get license plates for a car. So they try to buy a beater vehicle, that they can drive for 10-11 months until the license tags expire. Do NOT sell to them – they will never complete the transfer into their name, but leave it registered to you. Then when they get in an accident and hurt someone, that person will sue you. Plus any tickets they get will be charged to you, as the registered owner of the vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-guys-game-stranger-asking-me-to-sell-him-my-truck/546708/43 "2010-07-16T14:11:05Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > You will also see people wanting to buy an old vehicle, but **only** if it does have a license plate, and the sticker indicates it has several months to go before the plates expire. > > These are people who don’t have and can’t get a valid drivers license, and so can’t get license plates for a car. So they try to buy a beater vehicle, that they can drive for 10-11 months until the license tags expire. > > Do NOT sell to them – they will never complete the transfer into their name, but leave it registered to you. Then when they get in an accident and hurt someone, that person will sue you. Plus any tickets they get will be charged to you, as the registered owner of the vehicle. This wouldn’t work in Connecticut. Vehicle plates are not transferable from one person to another (except for immediate family members, I believe), so anybody who leaves their plates on a vehicle they’re selling is breaking the law right there. I’ve sold two vehicles here in Connecticut. In both cases, the last thing I did was to remove \*\*my \*\* plates (and registration sticker) from the vehicle. In one case, I drove the vehicle to the guy’s house and removed them in his driveway. (He then had to go to the DMV to get his own plates.) In another, the buyer brought his own plates to drive the vehicle away. I would never leave my plates on a vehicle that I was selling. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-guys-game-stranger-asking-me-to-sell-him-my-truck/546708/44 "2010-07-16T19:00:41Z")
> [@robby](#): > > This wouldn’t work in Connecticut. Vehicle plates are not transferable from one person to another (except for immediate family members, I believe), so anybody who leaves their plates on a vehicle they’re selling is breaking the law right there. Well, that’s Connecticut. Here in Minnesota, the state isn’t that desperate to gouge the taxpayers. Not yet. Let’s hope they don’t get that idea. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-guys-game-stranger-asking-me-to-sell-him-my-truck/546708/45 "2010-07-16T19:09:17Z")
> [@robby](#): > > This wouldn’t work in Connecticut. Vehicle plates are not transferable from one person to another (except for immediate family members, I believe), so anybody who leaves their plates on a vehicle they’re selling is breaking the law right there. Virginia and Georgia are the same way. Tags stay with the person, not the vehicle. Not really a gouge of the taxpayer IMHO, since you can transfer the tags to a different vehicle at a lower fee than getting new tags. To me, it makes selling a car to another private individual a cleaner/easier sale. You buy a vehicle from me, you drive away with your vehicle and the signed title, vehicle is your responsibility from that moment. I always do a Bill of Sale in addition with the date and time, with the time rounded back to the last top of the hour before they drove away. I usually call my insurance company immediately, just to cover all bases. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-guys-game-stranger-asking-me-to-sell-him-my-truck/546708.md?page=2)