My friend’s father is selling a car, and I would really like to buy it!

I’m familiar on how to tell if cars are a good buy and all, but I’m confused on all the technicals of the transaction. I don’t think I know how to properly search for my answers too because I see too many blogs/guides showing up that are like “make sure you’re getting your money’s worth!” and talks about things like looking at the brake pedal being worn out to see if the car is good.

I think the car initially costed about $21k, and I think there’s $12k left on the loan right now. Friend’s dad said that he knows $12k would be too much for me, so he said I could give him $8k for it. Then, because that would just be too much for me at the moment to give, he said I can give him $6k and the other $2k when I can (as in he’ll pay the rest and I’ll pay him back for it).

This is basically the best deal of my life for the worth and sentiment of the car, but there’s a lot I don’t know here that I need to ask.

Like, one, what is a car title? Isn’t this something that says I would have ownership of the vehicle? Is this extra to pay for? What happens if I don’t have it? Is that something he can keep even when he wouldn’t have or use the car because it’d be “mine?”

The title is just a thing I’ve heard of loosely. It’s that I don’t understand that in its entirety, and I don’t know what else I’m unaware of that is essential info.

I think $12k is how much is left on the loan, so I suppose that means the car is being leased/is being paid off, but the idea is that we’d be paying off the rest of the loan so I can get it.

I just want to know what I need to and should know and what are important questions to ask, things to understand, etc.

Sorry if this is the wrong section for this. Please let me know if it is.