The car was bought at a Copart auction. I think when the insurance loss is more than the value of the car, the title is replaced with a salvage certificate. I'm only talking about my state, New York. On the paperwork, I see the last "owner" is a Toyota sales lot. This car was a Toyota certified resale car. The sales lot was right on the Hudson river near the ocean. I think the insurance company is in Florida or Georgia. There is a weird ownership zone when the car is not owned by an individual or company. There was papers in the car that showed that someone named "Mary" in the NJ or NY area was driving the car. She couldn't have driven it much with the miles at about 1700.
I was given a NY Salvage Certificate MV-907A. This needs to be cleared with NY State before a title can be reissued and it will have the words Salvage or Rebuilt on it, even to another state. It still needs to go through NY State.
So, the seller did not have and did not give me a title. The inspection for this (not the regular yearly inspection), involves the state making sure that all of the items on the list that were replaced came new from a parts store or dealer, or used with a receipt that states the donor vin. The list basically is all doors, fenders, hood, trunk, panels and frame that bolt or weld on, engine, transmission and airbags. It's an Anti-Theft inspection. It won't pass if it needs a door or an airbag, for example, because you could put a stolen part on after the inspection to make it complete. If the shocks are bad, it's ok. If the paint is ugly, it's ok. I'm pretty sure that it needs to be safe and drive-able.
There are many salvage Scion IQs going through the auction sites still.
When you purchased it the seller didn’t have a title to give you? (This is my understanding at least from what you’ve said)…