Funny stories about different transactions. Bill_h, I'm glad to read that in the Motor City, it's somewhat of a free-for-all. It just seems appropriate, being the home of the U.S. auto industry. One thing that can work well for selling a car -- if you're replacing it with a new or used car from a dealer -- is what dealers around here call a "courtesy trade." You and the buyer of your car agree on a price as usual, then you and your buyer go together to the dealer where you're buying your new car. The dealer shows your old car on the sales documents as a trade, with the value being the price the buyer is going to pay for it. This saves you on sales tax in many states. The buyer then purchases the car from the dealer for that price. I know of many dealers who will do this for free, as a service to the person buying the car from them. A few charge the buyer a standard "paperwork" fee. They're willing to do it even though they make no money on the sale of the trade because it can help you buy the new car, since the buyer is presumably giving you more for it than the dealer would have.

Sorry for not getting back sooner, been at the freaking mechanics shop too much! So basically I took the advice and got the repairs done, I think I was freaking out a little bit. I now have had the tires replaced, the front tie rods, the front hub bearing, and now I get a PO410 code from the computer. Looks like something has gone wrong in the "smog" pump. I have checked the fuses, they are OK. So looks like that was the cheap fix option. I am going to take it back to the shop to check it out and see where the problem is. I am hoping that it is just a leaking hose and not the pump itself or the relay, because that is going to cost me. Looks like the pump has to be either bought from GM, no one else makes the part, or a rebuilt one. So this repair will cost me. And I called the warranty company, since this is not an internally lubricated part, it is not covered. Next time, it like 3 years when the car is payed off, I will learn to research the vehicle better first and make sure the warranty is going to cover the things that break down the most. Thanks for all the advice people, I have never been in this kind of a situation before. I had a 96 Dakota that only had to put new tires on and fix the exhaust(twice) in 6 years. Wrecked it and had no choice but get a car fast as I had no other transportation.

Sylvia, In Ontario, before one can sell a vehicle one must purchase from The Department of Motor Vehicles a packet of materials that must be filled out giving a good deal of the pedigree of the vehicle. I think that s/he can not transfer the registration of the vehicle without parts of it. Anyone who buys a vehicle here without that packet of information has rocks in his/her head. In some provinces, I believe that the registration plates go with the vehicle, so if the new owner neglects to register the transfer, the problem that you refer to could develop. But they, too usually carry a date, which enables law enforcement people to ascertain easily whether required renewals are current. The annual notice about your requirement to renew your vehicle registration would be sent to your address. Here, however, a renewal sticker carrying a month must be bought annually to affix to the licence plate - in my case, as I was born in January, my current stickers read "Jan '04". In order to obtain that renewal, the new owner must sign an application certifying insurance coverage, etc. - which would mean that s/he would have to forge your name. Which, in the case that you describe, would get him/her into deep doo-doo when the authorities caught up to her/him. Not a wise course of action. But it could cause you trouble until your birth month rolled around. Also, when you go to renew your vehicle registration next year, all of your unresolved traffic, parking tickets, etc. have been sorted by the computer to be added to your account, so you must pay the annual registration fee - plus the price of all those misdemeanors. No pay - no play. Or - you don't get your licence renewal. In Ontario I own the plates, so when I sell the car I take them off. If the new owner wants to keep them on until s/he can drive it somewhere, I go along to remove them when s/he arrives at the vehicle's new home. None of this, "I'll just return them to you tomorrow, to save you the trouble", kind of stuff. My ownership of the plates has one drawback - if I'm not to get a replacement vehicle, to which I could transfer them on the vehicle registry, (paying a fee, of course), the plates sit on a shelf bringing me no benefit for the balance of the year whose renewal I'd paid for. If the new owner hasn't taken a set of plates from a vehicle that's been disposed of, s/he must go to buy a new set. A situation that does not entirely displease the Department of Motor Vehicles. Interested as they are, in common with all wage earners, in increasing their income. joyful guy

Not enough info. to make a decision. How many times a week/month do you use it? can you park a car for free? if you only need to use every once in a while just rent....