In the state of Georgia, once a car is used(titled, no longer under MSO, mileage could be 3 or 2 or 1 or anything) a legal sale is done with no warranty and no recourse.

The real problem here, is that you are still swirling this nothing burger situation around in your head. Only mistake you made was to let the N.J. Turd drive off with plates registered to you. The plate surrender and the fact that you seem to be feeding off the drama of the speculation from many in this thread, is much more telling about you, than the jerky Jersey boy!

Absolutely agreed that you should have reported the plates STOLEN, not lost. Now you just lied to authorities after 15 or more arm chair experts told you what to do. You have done more to harm yourself in this entire operation than the Jerky Jersey boy. I just went through the entire thread again, and I am coming to the conclusion that you are a drama seeker. You got 7500 for a vehicle that most would not pay 3000 for(no matter how much went under the hood), so that is your saving grace, but you either love the drama(likely) with this thread, or you are just so meek that you refuse to do the proper steps to even protect yourself properly. I am still quite perplexed as to why you surrendered your plates with the sale in the first place!

3 second search brings this up...Requirement number 1 for seller:

Selling a Vehicle in New Jersey
The seller and the buyer will have different responsibilities in the sale of a vehicle.

As the seller, you must:

Remove the vehicle's license plates and surrender them to any NJ Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) office or regional service center, provided the plates are not being transferred to another vehicle.
Sign the back of the title, and include the following information:
Name and address of the buyer.
Date of sale.
Mileage odometer reading.
If there is no room on the title or there is a discrepancy in the reading you must also fill out and sign a Odometer Disclosure Statement (Form OS/SS-2).
Sale price of the vehicle.
Transfer the title within 10 business days from the actual date of the sale.