Fourth Time's The Charm

That's four visits to two different municipal offices in an attempt to transfer the title of my shiny new Rav4 into my name.  A couple of points you may want to take note of, just in case your find yourself buying a car outside of a dealership.

1. You have 20 business days to transfer a title in the state of Texas.  (Transfer the title and pay the sales tax.)  If you take longer than 20 business days, the state of Texas gets a teeny, tiny bit cranky.
2. You do not go to the same place to transfer a title that you do to get a copy of a title.  Two very different places.
3. If the car you are purchasing is older than a couple of years, you need proof that it has passed an emissions test within 60 days of the title transfer, at least in Harris county.
4. You pay sales tax on the value of the car, not the sales price.  Not normally an issue and, to be honest, I wasn't terribly shocked by this, but I've never been so grateful to not have had time to go shopping.

My third trip, first to the correct location, was where I discovered the little emissions test gem. My fourth visit went without a hitch and I did manage to get everything taken care of and the penalties for being five months late weren't too steep.

So now, it's all official. Five months from the start of this little adventure,  I have a shiny new 2008 Rav4.