Get a Used Car's Title in Your Name Within 30 Days

A handshake and a set of keys doesn't make a used car yours in Texas. Buy one from a private seller and the title has to land in your name within 30 days of the sale date, or the late fees start stacking up. You handle that at the Johnson County tax office at 2 North Mill Street in Cleburne, the same counter that does your registration and license plates.

Bring the signed-over title and a filled-out Application for Texas Title and/or Registration, the form everybody calls the 130-U. The smartest move is to drag the seller along with you to the counter: if the title's been signed wrong, or there's an old lien that was never released, you find out standing right there instead of three weeks later with the seller's number going to voicemail.

Where it gets sticky is a title that isn't clean — missing, bonded, inherited, or coming in from out of state. Each of those has its own paperwork path, and it's worth a quick call to the office at 817-558-0122 to learn which one you're on before any money changes hands.