Buying a Nautique in NC title question

[mtrader]

So I am looking at buying a boat this weekend in NC and the owner of the boat tells me has a registration for the boat but has never had a title. He bought it 23 years ago from Pennsylvania and only got a bill of sale. It is A 2001 air. He has a lot of service history and the boat is very clean. He tells me all I need is a notarized bill of sale for me to get it registered. I am wondering if I do need title since I will be registering the boat in Florida. Has anyone ever dealt with this. I read on the NC wildlife and marine website that older boats did not need a title but now they may need one. The boat is really nice and I would love to go up this weekend and get this deal done. Any help or feedback is appreciated.

[srock]

Was it on a private lake? Holding an open title to avoid paying taxes may be a problem. You technically will be "purchasing" it from the prior Pennsylvania owner. What happens when the State of Florida reaches out to the prior owner. I would be very careful with this becasue Florida will be looking for a title. I would ask your local tag agency first.

[jpwhit]

The boat owner is correct, that at that time having a title for the boat was optional. But even if the boat isn't titled, it should have a NC Wildlife Resource Commission registration. Based on the registration number NCWRC should be able to confirm if the boat was ever titled or not in NC. You really need to know if it ever was titled in NC. Because if it was, and he doesn't have the title. Then that'll be a problem.

With all that said, your next step is find out what is required by Florida for an untitled boat coming from NC. It varies state by state. Some will only require a bill of sale. Some require a bill of sale and a copy of the NCWRC registration, and some will require the boat to be titled in NC before you can then transfer the title to your name in Florida.

I bought an un-titled boat from SC and brought it to NC. In that case, NC did require the owner to get the boat titled in SC before I could then transfer the title to NC. Titles for boat in SC are still optional today.

Don't forget about the boat trailer, assuming a trailer is included. That is separate from the boat and has the same situation where a title may be optional and the rules for transferring it state to state just depends on the to and from state. In NC, trailers are handled by the DMV and all trailers in NC are titled. When I bought the boat from SC all the NC DMV required was a notarized bill of sale from the owner in SC. SC doesn't ever title trailers.

[mtrader]

I dug some more and boat was never titled in nc. He does have nc registration. I will get a notarized bill of sale from the seller. Trailer has a certificate of origin from when he bought it from the dealer. I am asking Florida transfer agencies to make sure I have my ducks in a row.

[Sailfun]

I would want to know if he has paid NC property taxes. That could become a issue.

[mtrader]

Just fyi. The seller was great. He ordered me a title because before 2007 titles were not needed in NC. It came in the mail a few days ago and all is good. Super happy with my purchase.