After my mother passed away, my father gave me her 2002 Nissan Sentra. Six months later, I was still struggling to get it registered correctly, all because of the way her name was listed on the car's title. While this is an extreme example, it shows how difficult it can be to sort out the complexities of motor-vehicle regulations.
My 10 years spent buying and selling cars for Edmunds.com's long-term test fleet should have prepared me for this Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) impasse. I've spent hours untangling the DMV registration processes and trying to avoid just such title problems for the test cars we've bought. But even an expert can be stumped.