Dealer selling car without the title

I posted this in my other thread but was hoping for some additional responses.

We went to go pick up our car last night after rushing our bank, telling Toyota we need the car ASAP, and being told we were all set to come and get it, and.... We get there and they tell us they can't give it to us yet because they don't have the title! Huh?! Is this normal? Selling a car you don't have the title for yet?

They said they are waiting for it from Toyota (I guess toyota financial) because they were buy it off of someone's lease. But why no mention of this before? How can they sell it without it being officially there's yet? My husband and I are really annoyed that this didn't come up until we were there to pick up the car.

To top it all off, when we asked when they would have it they said they don't know.

Should I be worried or is this a relatively normal thing for dealerships to do?

 

It's already been more than a day or two though. They have known since Saturday that we wanted the car and we put a deposit on it so they wouldn't sell it. We finalized everything Monday, so they should have started the title process by then. It doesn't sound like it'll be ready today. It's just so frustrating and this is absolutely the last thing we need to deal with right now.

 

My previous thread was "Would you buy a Prius with 91,000 miles on it?"

To answer the other questions:
The car is used.
It has 91000 miles
I don't know who is listed on the title. The carfax says it was a personal automobile. Toyota said they are buyi g the lease off of Toyota. I am not exactly sure what that means.
I dot know the original location of purchase but I presume it was this dealership. The carfax says it was sold in NY and was services at this dealership exclusively the whole time it was leased.
It's not a test drive or loaner vehicle.
We are financing, but not with Toyots. We used our personal credit union. Also putting down $5000. They have not taken this money yet. They told us to hold on to it until we pick up the car. Perhaps that is a good sign.
The dealer is doing the registration and we will be driving off the lot with permanent plates. Since they told us we could pick up the car I presumed that was all done.

This is not by any means my first experience with a dealer. This has never happened before and I have bought both new and used.

 

Thanks for the reply. I actually just called them and the manage said they have the title but are waiting for the lean to be lifted. I don't know if that's more annoying or less annoying. He said something about driving there today to pick it up. I guess he meant the paperwork listing it? He said they thought they would have it yesterday but it didn't happen.

They are giving us a loaner car for the day, maybe two. That tells me they are at least trying. It's not about Memorial Day plans being messed up. We bought this car because my husband has stage 4 colon cancer and has nearly daily doctors appointments. They are too important to miss. If he doesn't get treated he will die within months. There is no time to mess around. That is why we were rushing the car and needing it right away. We explained and having the loaner will do for now.

 

Nope. We still have the loaner car and still haven't paid the down payment. They say the paperwork is in the mail and they are just waiting for it to arrive. Very frustrating. Hopefully today though. If we don't have it in a few days ill try contacting my bank and see if they can lean on Toyota for us a bit. In the mean time, we just keep calling to ask about it.

 

The first person who said they don't have the title was wrong. They have the title but there is a lean because they are waiting for paperwork to show the previous loan is paid off. They said it has already been sent and is in the mail. Should arrive today or tomorrow. I already updated all of this.

We have their car and still haven't paid our down payment. They are motivated to rectify this. We won't drive away with the car until we are 100% sure all is good. As I said before, if the issue persists, I will contact our bank.

Lien, not lean.

 

Yeah, I don't really understand it 100%. They said something about buying this car themselves off of Toyota. They said they called to let them know the car had been paid for and they need the lien lifted. Now they are waiting for it in the mail. They said they have to wait for it to show but if it doesn't come by Friday they will call and ask for it to be lifted. I don't understand why they can't call now. They said they have to wait. What am I supposed to do?

 

I agree, they are doing what they can. We did call our bank anyway (More to protext ourselves than to give the dealer a hard time) and they called the dealership to find out exactly what was going on. Our bank feels they are on the up and up. The dealership has not cashed the bank check, so that is a very good sign. apparently we bought the car the same day it was turned in. The bank said they were a little over zealous, thats all.

I think the sales guy was trying to help us out because we got into a conversation with him about my husbands health issues and he could relate. They were also having a one day sale, so the car would have been more expensive if he didn't sell it that day. This is an excellent car and we feel we got lucky finding it. So again, I feel like the sales guy was trying to help us out by putting us in a solid car at a good price. Plus, they are clearly doing their best by giving us the loaner car. I very much appreciate that. He has also thrown in a few freebies.

I am more than willing to be patient as long as I understand the process, which I do now. I just wish they had communicated with us that there would be a delay when we bought the car, and explained why. If they had done that we wouldn't have been so worried.