Lexxxi,
Well the good news is I worked in the vehicle finance industry for years. The bad news is its in Canada. Although, there are differences between the 2 countries. The advice I give you will be very similar no matter which country your in. Since there is still an active loan, then there is a lien attached to the vehicle ( i get that you already know this). So it will depend on who is financing the vehicle. Now most finance company's will consider a transfer meaning you come on the loan and they remove your cousin and you continue to make the payments and the ownership change will be easy as they will provide the required documents. Then there are some finance companies that allow you to go on the loan but will keep your cousin on the loan as well (so as a co-signer). Again you will then have access to documents that will help you get your name on the ownership. You can have the loan paid out usually in full then its a matter of getting your cousin to sign over some documents and show a paid in full letter or discharge of lien letter from the finance company. Some banks will payout the lien for you if they know what you are doing they will cut the payout right to the original finance company (just make sure you trust the person you are buying it from and since it is your cousin i'm sure they won't burn you). In Canada, some dealerships will involve themselves as a middleman for a few and they can help with the transfer switch if you don't trust the person (referring to the bank loan way of doing things). Lastly, and well not legally most liens are usually just state wide, like in Canada they are only province wide. Although, I am not sure if this will work in the US or not because I am not 100% positive if the lien is attached to the registration paperwork or not in Canada they are separate. So as an example if you had a bill of sale and the registration signed from the person who signed the bill of sale you could take the vehicle to another province and register it there(but if the loan is ever defaulted on and the finance company begins to look for the vehicle to repo it and figured out it was registered to you, which they can they will repo it from you still liens are inforceable against 3rd parties). Again, I am not 100% sure if this way would work in the US or not. It happens all the time in Canada though. Hope this helps some. My suggestion do it the legal way have you and your cousin call the finance company together and see what your options are based on their policies.
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