I wanted to share a simple but easy tip when selling your motorized property to anyone (even a dealer!). In SC, when you sell a vehicle, the only document needed is the clear title with both parties' signatures on the back. No bill of Sale, no notary. What most fail to do, as the seller, is keep a photo copy (front & back) of the signed title.
Two issues can arise from this:
1. You forget to call your insurance agent to drop the vehicle, keep in mind the tag has to be surrendered before we can drop the insurance. You notice it is still on your policy several weeks or months later. The agent can only drop the vehicle on the date you called, without proper documentation. Anything outside of 30 days requires Underwriting approval for backdating and in most cases, if you have renewed in between that time, chances are the credit will only go as far back as the inception date of the new policy period.
2. Worse, the police show up at your door because the vehicle you sold has been involved in an accident and you are still the registered owner because the buyer never went to the dmv to transfer the title. If you do not have a copy of the title to prove you sold it, this could cause a huge legal issue. SC titles do come with a small form that you, as the seller, can use to notify the DMV of the vehicle being sold (you don't need this to surrender the tag), but most do not fill this out as it is not mandatory (these can be mailed in but again, keep a copy!).
MY SIMPLE TIP: Take a picture of the signed title. And/or Create or pick up a bill of sale from the DMV, for your own sake of having a legal document proving you are no longer the owner of the vehicle. This also comes in handy when your agent has to backdate the endorsement to drop the vehicle you forgot to call about.
ANOTHER AWESOME TIP: As of 2020 the SC DMV has made it super easy to surrender your tag online. Go to scdmvonline.com and hover over Vehicle Owners. Click on License Plate Return and fill out the rest. You have to have the registration to do so. The Vehicle No. they need to process is only on the registration (can be an old one) and this is different from the VIN or the Vehicle Identification Number.