How do I make sure I can transfer the car's title to my name?

Got friends? Pool the necessary money, else you could lose the car. The title is in the bank's name and will remain so until the debt is paid.

You need to pay off the loan or you risk losing everything. The lender is under no duty to accept late payments and can simply re-possess. Your best advice would be to get another loan to cover it, if you can, or put the balance on a credit card or something, so you do not lose the vehicle. Once it is paid off, assuming you are the sole next of kin, getting title transferred will not be a problem. If you have siblings, that will complicate things.

Talk to the people who hold the note on the car, and explain the circumstances. If the note has been current until recently, they will probably give you some extra time to get caught up on the payments.

There are a couple of possibilities. Has it been a full year since your mother passed? If not you could retain counsel and open a probate estate, inventory the car and ultimately get an order of distribution which you could then take to the Department of Revenue and register the car in your name. If it's been more than a year you could could retain counsel and file an action in probate court to determine heir ship. Formal notice, etc. and a brief court hearing would be required. The court could then issue an order that the vehicle is yours and you would take this to the Department of Revenue to register the vehicle in your name. You might be able to use one of the abbreviated forms of "administration" (Small estate refusal of letters or creditors refusal of letters). You would also need an attorney to help you with this.

Do not park the car where a repo man can get it. Keep it in a locked garage. If the car was in her name alone, you ma have to file a case in probate curt to get the tile in your name.