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Well.....today I put the famous....or infamous Maryland DMV to the test. I had a doctor's appointment up in the big city, so I figured I could stop at the DMV on the way home and get my M titled all proper-like. So I took the title from the M I bought from Carter a few months ago up there to get it transferred over to me. Now just a little background is in order. When I got the truck the title Carter had for it was actually for a different M37. But the guy Carter got the truck from is a good friend of his, so I got in touch with him and he was nice enough to file for a duplicate title for the truck I just bought. The good news is he lives in Maryland, so we weren't talking about an interstate title transfer, which I think would have been a bit more difficult.
So armed with my duplicate title, a bunch of printouts of recent Ebay M37 auctions (to justify the price I paid), pics of the truck in the condition I bought it, and a bag of money..........off I went. Now I figured I would be best served if I went to one of the DMV offices that was out in the country, which I did. It was jam packed with city folks. Guess they figured they could drive 20 minutes to not have to wait a few hours at their local DMV. So......in I went, got on line to get a number, and then on the other line waiting to be called on. All told it took about 30 minutes, so I'm not complaining.
My biggest fear was determining how much tax I'd have to pay on this thing. I've heard from others who recently titled vehicles at the DMV that if you don't bring a notorized bill of sale witnessed by both the buyer and seller that the DMV would use Blue Book values for determining the value of your vehicle. Now M37s aren't in any Blue Book, but Dodge pickups from the early 50's are.......and they go for serious money these days. So I was afraid they'd assess the value in the $8-$10K range when I only paid $2750 for the truck. And to make it a bit more complicated when I got the duplicate title from the previous owner he filled in the purchase price on the back of the title as $1500, which is what I assume Carter paid for the truck when he bought it a few years back.
So there I am waiting in line for my number to be called........and I see there are two people handling the titling stuff. One's a younger gal, not very happy about dealing with idiots all day long....and the other is an older gentlemen, looked like a retired farmer to me, who was just taking it all in stride. I figured I'd get the gal. But, as luck would have it, the M37 gods were smiling on me today and I got the guy. He took my title and started punching things into his computer.....pausing every now and then.....then punching in more keys.....then pausing......and the whole time I'm waiting for him to ask me how much I really paid for the truck. He didn't ask to see the pictures, never asked for the notorized bill of sale, nothing. He finally looked up and said.....that'll be $190. $100 for the title transfer and $90 for the tax. I couldn't pull the bills out of my pocket fast enough. He handed me a receipt for the money and told me I'd have my title in about 5 to 10 days. I thanked the man, took my receipt, and high tailed it out of there before he could tell me he made a mistake.
So one down.....one to go! Only that one has a Virginia title. Stayed tuned, as I think that one is going to be a bit more of an adventure!
regards,
bob
with DMV