DMV, Carfax and Insurance Co's

When I bought my used L series last January, I did a CarFAX on it and only got that it had been previously owned in New Jersey. By the time that the 30 day subscription lapsed, it had only updated to show that it was owned by Saturn of Larchmont. My ownership was not visible and I was disappointed in the quality of the data. It wasn't worth the cost of another subscription to look into it further.

From what I have seen, an in-state title change goes through in about a month or so. Out of state titles take several months. I think that it was almost 3 months for the title for the Saturn to get to me (originally on lease registered in NJ). Similar timing when I got a car from Massachusetts and registered it in NY.

Thanks to you and Larry for the replies.

I was curious what Carfax said about my SL2 that burned. Nothing came back. When I read the FAQ's at Carfax they said that the insurance company may have not applied for a salvage title when they totaled the car. And I'm thinking the slowness of the paperwork machine may be contributing too.

I tend to agree with you. I tried Carfax originally on the recommendation of my 27y/o son; also on the strength of Google.com using Carfax (enter your VIN on google and you get carfax asking for your credit card # to process your report). I am a big user of Google and generally trust whomever they partner with. Not this time though.