[joedoh]

its not bad, there are a few caveats I have found though.

it doesnt work for ANY truck, it will have to be a Kansas truck originally, if the VIN is in the database as being from oklahoma or nebraska or I guess 47 other states, they will admonish you and slap your hand and tell you to go have an inspection done.

usually there will be an entry of the VIN and then 30-40 years of nothing, if there is a recent registration (last 20 years or so) they want you to find the last registered owner. this was the case with my trailer, it was old enough to be sold on a bill of sale but it was last registered in 99, I had to hunt down a title in order to regsiter it. I did that today too.

you have to be the expert. sometimes there is NO record, that is where provenance helps. The form the seller signs is a kind of affidavit to the history of the truck and a release from obligation. I also get an extra affidavit for farm use just in case. If it comes back with no record, you have to have supporting docs to how you determine the year and model. in this case the VIN was 5AL so a 41 3/4 ton, you also have to get the weight rating correct, the plate says 5800 lbs so that is easy.

they can always stop you at any point and tell you to get an inspection, in this trucks case I would have probably punted, I dont really invest any time or money until the title is taken care of. but the guy I bought it from was 93 and owned the truck since the 60s, I had the farm affidavit so I knew it was a local truck and pretty low risk. I will tell other Kansas guys, be careful buying on a bill of sale if the guy lives downtown and has only had the truck a couple months, unless he has a bill of sale from the farmer.

so it LOOKS easy, and in most cases it is, but only because I read the rules and know what to expect. I have seen guys just get rolled at the tag office, a good tip is: if they start smirking while you are talking, there is a good chance you arent going to be happy. I stick to 49 and down because everything else needs a MVE (VIN inspection) and the trooper that does it is... thorough. and super enthusiastic about his job on the front lines of auto theft where he has to wear a bulletproof vest over his medals for valor (/s).