T-10: Title In Hand

Title Terrors: A Tale of US Mail

A Sample Generic CO Title (not the real one!)

Today was the day that we at long last took full possession of M's title.  It's a long story, and goes something (well exactly) like this:

I took a loan for part of M's purchase price because I hadn't had one in just my name since I was 20 and bought my first car (a baby blue Toyota Celica, which some of you might remember).

Since we were taking M on an adventure through Canada and Alaska, I thought it would be nice to know that she was completely unencumbered and that her title was safe and sound in our safe deposit box.

So, I simply made an electronic payment for the payoff amount listed and figured the title would arrive in a couple of days via FedEx, UPS, or some sort of tracked mail.

Boy was I ever wrong!

Upon receiving notice from the bank that the loan had been discharged and was now closed and that the title should have arrived, I gave them a call (since it had not).  I was then told that since I didn't send a certified check, they were waiting 15 days to be sure the transaction was not returned. (A real possibility as all you PaySimplers know-- so fair enough.)

I was also told that the title was slated to go out regular mail the following Thursday.

What??? Regular untracked mail?  Via the US Postal Service?  NO!!!!!!!!!!

(Those of you who have heard my rants about the Conifer Post Office and our now former (I think) surly postman cannot possibly be surprised at this reaction.)

Composure regained, was there not any way I asked, to have the title sent via a tracked service such as Priority Mail or FedEx?

The answer was alas no.  Had I paid via certified check (which I would have had to obtain by trudging to a branch during regular business hours) I could have included an extra fee for expedited tracked shipping.  However, as the loan was now closed they had no way to collect payment for expedited shipping and I was stuck with regular US mail.  But not to worry-- in the event the (ORIGINAL!) title did get lost in the mail, they would send a letter I could use to get a duplicate title issued.

My reaction to that-- been there, done that, not again!  (When I paid off that original Celica the bank lost the title and I had to get a duplicate.  No fun, and possibly a problem when going to sell.)

So, fingers crossed-- I waited.  Thursday came and went, and I began counting the days.  Then, much to my surprise and delight I got my daily Informed Delivery Digest email from the USPS, and the envelope with the title was there and clearly marked.  

(If you don't know about the Informed Delivery Service-- you should.  It is so cool.  Sign up, and for free you get an email with a scan of the front of each piece of mail that will be delivered to you that day.  If something doesn't arrive you can report it.  Enough reports and they may investigate your post office/carrier or they may go searching for your lost mail.)

Anyway, back to the story.  I excitedly checked the mailbox-- the junk solicitation was there, but no title.  So, I reported the piece missing and figured it would probably show up the next day.

Next day-- no title.  We went down to the post office together (as Bob didn't trust me not to take someone's head off), and asked them to look for it.  The person we spoke with was, uncharacteristically for this post office, friendly and helpful and even a bit empathetic.  They would be on the lookout she said-- check the mail car, etc. 

Next day-- no title.  Lisa getting a little panicky now.

Next day-- the Informed Delivery email included a bent and battered picture of the envelope containing the title.  And, said title actually arrived in the mail. (It appears that it got lost in Denver sorting and that my assumptions about the ineptness of our local post office were, in this case, unfounded.)

So today, we headed over to the DMV to get a clean title with the lien removed. 

No wait, no problem, $7 (you guys in NY and NJ can eat your heart out at that one) and M has all her papers in order and is ready to take off on our Great Alaskan Adventure.

So are we.  T-10 and counting.

--Lisa