Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitigir
You can only mod it when the title is in your hand...
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That's not true. That piece of paper called a title is not the same thing as ownership of the vehicle, and in some states you get the paper title even though the car isn't paid off. When you buy the car, title (the legal concept of ownership) passes to you. Whether you get a piece of paper saying you own it depends on where you are.
In some US states, you get the paper title, but it has the name of the lienholder clearly printed on it so that anybody you tried to sell it to would know there was a lien, and that the lienholder could potentially come take it from them if you didn't pay off the loan. Once you pay off the loan, you go to the DMV to get a new paper title with the lien cleared.
In some states, the lender gets and holds the paper title and releases it to you when you have satisfied the loan.
In most states the government doesn't trust you or the lender, so the government keeps the paper title until either you pay off the loan or the lender repossesses the car and sells it to someone else.
In all these cases, however, you still possess
legal title to the vehicle. That piece of paper is only evidence of ownership, not the ownership interest itself. As I quoted above from my own loan documents, most loans actually even spell it out that you own the property.
And if you own the property, you can modify it unless your loan agreement says you have agreed not to do so.