My X is stolen vehicle?

Guys I need your opinion on this one...

I bought a 1998 Ford Explorer from this dealer 3 weeks ago. They got it from an Auto Auction in PA. The CarFax report showing that this SUV is 'clean'. The dealer gave me a temporary tag that was expired yesterday [8/28]. During this time the dealer never call me or anything. It just hit me yesterday that I supposedly already get the Reg. card, License Plate and the Title (paid cash) by now. So I call the dealer today, left a message and finally someone call me back and told me that: "The Auction said they have sent the title to us but we never got it. It has been taken care of and the new one will be arrived next week. You could come tomorrow to get extended temporary tag."
When I asked her why they didn't tell me before, they said that "I know I should've tell you last week but I was sick and Jim (her son) was away on vacation."
The thing is.. how could they sell car without having the title yet? At this point I realized I smell something fishy. But again I'm not 100% sure. Maybe it was just an honest mistake.
So.. what do you guys think? I need to know what to do by tonight before I decide to go get the extende temporary tag tomorrow morning. Should I call this transaction off? Or just go ahead..?

 

[section525]

They probably just didnt pay the auction house for it yet. I doubt its stolen.

When I was buying this Explorer, I was going to trade in my '92 Ranger with no down payment. So I did the paperwork and stuff and left my Ranger there until my Dad sent the pink slip down to me.

Anyway, I decided to just put $6k down and sell my Ranger privately (since they were only giving me $1800 for it). Well I got to the dealer and they told me they already sold my truck! They basically sold it to a lower quality dealer who sells trucks of a 'lesser' quality. Basically it was all verble and they could have gotten it back for me. But I just let it go and they gave me a check for it.

 

[m435tro]

Is it possible for dealer to get the car even if they haven't paid the Auction house yet?

 

[Alec]

Yes. They wheel and deal so many vehicles that they often change hands a few times before the paperwork catches up. It's all legit as long as the paperwork is signed, it doesn't matter who has possession of the title.

 

[Premier]

LoL this is kinda funny. When I bought my X, within the first week there was a tow truck and a cop outside my house. I was like WTF are you guys doing, and the cop said that the X was stolen from Las Vegas... I was like too f'kin bad bro but I just paid over 7k for this and your not taking it anywhere. So the cop and the towtruck left and never came back, just keep your X in the garage man untill you get your lisence plates

 

[DarkMan]

It's general practice in the car business to leave the title alone until the truck is sold to a retail customer. The truck may change hands half a dozen times between the time it's traded in and finally sold. To avoid all the registration costs (and sometimes to duck under taxes) the title only changes hands once on paper, from the old owner to the new owner. Not unusual.

I bought a car once, in Texas, and they sent me an Ohio title with the original owner's name still on it. I had to sign the Ohio title and take it to the Texas DMV to get a Texas title. Real pain in the butt.

Also, it's fairly common for a dealership business office to drop the ball on paper work. They either lose it or just get a couple of weeks behind on processing all the titles.