My opinion: that title stuff scares me to begin with. If it doesn't have the current owner's name on it, I'm walking immediately.

When I went to look at my X, it was for sale from a dealer that sells cars from his front yard. Just slightly suspicious. When he was offering it for about $3500 under dealer book value ($11,900 for a 2000 with 34k miles on the clock), I was even a little more suspicious.

I checked it out very thoroughly on the test drive, checked all the body panels, fluids, etc. and all looked great. I offered the guy exactly what he was asking for it (claimed he couldn't sell it after 8 weeks, so he was just trying to get his investment back on it).

Turned out all was very good. I ran a Carfax when I got home and verified the mileage against what was on the vehicle, verified that it was sold at auction after being a turned-in lease vehicle about 8 weeks prior, verified no prior salvage, theft or other history. Plus, the vehicle was originally registered in the same town as what a very little bit of the original dealer sticker showed on the tailgate.

He held it for me for a week without a deposit so that I could get money transferred from some investments into my checking account. When I came to pick it up, the paperwork was all in order and ready to sign. Only downside is that they did the paperwork the first day I was there. By the time I got home and got to the tag office to get the tags, I had passed the 10 day limit in our state for getting your registration on a purchased vehicle and had to pay a $10 penalty. No biggie, though, considering the deal I got.

Of course, the X isn't a vehicle that you might only find one or two prime examples of across the country, but the same caveats apply.