If the car is registered to you, & if you purchased it legally, then I would almost bet you bought it from OG Davis. I'm not real sure why all of the concern about getting a title in GA. GA is a non-title state for cars 15 years old and older. All you can get is a tag receipt when you register the car in GA. Even if you show up with a TN title in GA and register a car 15 years old or older you DO NOT get back a GA title. Just a tag receipt.
Herb, GA has the most
SCREWED UP system for tags and titles in existance. To make the system even worse than it used to be, a couple of years ago they changed the tag reciepts . . . now the tag belongs to the person, not to the car. If you sell the car, you KEEP THE TAG AND THE TAG RECIEPT. Then you have to pay to transfer the tag to another vehicle or turn the tag in to the tag office. If you don't have a title, all you can give the person you sell it to is a bill of sale.
Now you CAN get a title on a car that's over 15 years old IF . . . 1) the person you buy it from is in phyiscal possession of a valid title to the car and it's in their name; 2) they properly fill out and sign the back of the title; and 3) you pay the title transfer fee. What happens 99.999% of the time is this . . .
Let's say I buy a 1971 Super Beetle from a guy that's owned it for years. He has the title in his name. He fills out the back of the title and signs it over to me and also gives me a bill of sale. I go get insurance on it and go to the tag office. I show them the bill of sale, they run the VIN, verify it's not stolen and is insured, take my $20 tag fee and give me a new license plate. I don't "need" to transfer the title, I have the bill of sale and the seller's signature on the original title in my possession, so I'm not worried that he will pop up one day with a replacement title, claim I stole the car and take it back. (He can get a replacement title by paying a lost title fee because the state's records still show he holds the title, but it will state it's a replacement title and if the original title shows up, it makes the replacement invalid). Anyway, back to my story . . . I'm not worried about ever losing the car to the previous owner 'cause I got his signature on the original title, and I don't want to pay the transfer fee (it was $18 the last time I transfered a title, but it may be much higher now . . . it's been a few years). Now, for as long as I own the car, I'm OK. Three years down the road I want to sell it. I can't sign the title over to whoever buys it 'cause it's not in my name. Once the car leaves my possession, it can NEVER be titled in GA again. Even though it might have 10 different owners purchased tags for it, ove the next few years, the states title records will still show that the "legal" owner is the guy who sold it to me.
Like I said, it's a SCREWED UP SYSTEM. With the way the tags work now, it makes it a whole lot harder to sell an old car to someone in a state that requires a title. It can still be done, but it's not as easy as it used to be . . . and it never was "easy."
