Can a Mortgaged Car Be Transferred?
2 Answers
Mortgaged cars cannot be transferred. If a car has been mortgaged, it means the ownership rights of the car temporarily do not belong to the owner. Below are relevant details about mortgaged cars: 1. Purchase Considerations: When buying a mortgaged car, it is essential to check the mortgage registration details in the "Motor Vehicle Registration Certificate". If the last mortgage registration has been canceled, it indicates that the car's secured debt has been fulfilled, and it is no longer a mortgaged car, making it eligible for purchase. 2. Locked Status: A mortgaged car will not be locked as long as repayments are made on time. However, the car cannot be sold before the loan is fully repaid. If payments are overdue later, the car may also be locked. The "locked" status of a vehicle means it cannot be transferred or sold.
To be honest, many friends have asked me this question before, and I've helped someone deal with a similar situation before. A vehicle under mortgage cannot be directly transferred; there's a legal provision prohibiting registration transfer. For example, if you mortgage your car to a bank for a loan, the car is essentially held by the bank, and you can't transfer ownership until the loan is fully repaid. However, it's not entirely impossible. If you find a buyer willing to help pay off the loan, you can first release the mortgage status and then proceed with the transfer at the DMV. The whole process is quite time-consuming: you need to get a loan repayment certificate from the bank, queue at the DMV to cancel the mortgage registration, and only then can the transfer be completed. I've seen cases where people tried to sell the car privately without releasing the mortgage, and the buyer ended up having the car repossessed by the bank after driving it for two years.
