[HoodPin]

AFAIK, in the local jurisdictions, the only way to establish proper title ownership is to pay the tax. Of course VA is different from MD and DC in that VA hits you up every year, instead of just the year of purchase.

I believe that if you have a Bill of Sale (notarized would be better), that should eliminate any ownership problems. However, if you ever intend to sell the car, if the purchaser intends to title it, in local jurisdictions (particularly MD) you cannot simply transfer the title signed over to you. Most vehicle titles have signature blocks for puchaser and seller. Once they've been filled in for a particular sale, a subsequent buyer cannot present it to the DMV to apply for a title. The only parties that I know that can accept that title would be intermidiary wholesalers, who can legally own vehicles without titling them. IIRC, many titles have a box for a wholesaler to fill out, but they must be licensed/registered legally in some manner.

As long as you don't plan to sell, not re-titling can work. However, if you intend to sell to someone, who might want to get it titled, then you could have a problem.