Who gets the $$?

[testedmonkey]

What is the name of your state? CA

The girl I sold my Camry to blew the car up before she paid me off. She says she parked it, went inside, then came out 10 minutes later and "the car was on fire".

At the time I sold her the car, she couldn't afford to pay me in full, so I allowed her to take over the payments on my loan. The agreement was that she had to pay me by the 15th of every month, because the bank would hit my account for the money on the 20th.

She never supplied me proof of insurance, so I have been maintaining full coverage on the car for a year and half. The car is registered to me, because my bank won't release the title until the loan is paid. She keeps changing her phone number and rarely responds to emails, especially on the several occasions she's been late with the payment.

She didn't make the 7/15 payment. After several attempts to contact her, she emailed me on 7/31 to say the car blew up and that's why she didn't make the payment. Turns out, the car didn't blow up until the 30th, so there's no excuse for her not to pay by 7/15. She has since refused to pay the 8/15 payment, said she "just doesn't have the money."

Her claims adjustor is issuing the check payable to me, because I'm the registered owner. The loan balance is $4500ish, they're sending $6000ish because that is what the car is worth. The claims adjustor told me she has no insurable interest in the car and that I don't need to share the $1500 overage.

She wants me to give her the $1500ish difference. Legally, do I have to give her a dime?

[testedmonkey]

What, no takers? I just want to make sure I'm justified for keeping the money. If there's a chance she can take me to small claims or something, I'd rather know now.

[stephenk]

Keep the money. she is not entitled to any of it. are you also letting her out of having to pay the balance owed to you for the car she purchased?

[testedmonkey]

Her insurance is paying off the balance of the loan, so she's not having to pay me anything out of her pocket. The way I see it, I hooked her up with a car, she blew it up, and now she expects to profit from the whole deal.

[testedmonkey]

Her insurance paid off my bank loan on the car. A second check was issued to cover the difference between the loan amount and the value of the car.

Okay, so the claim check came in payable to me, the Buyer, and the Buyer's father, who actually holds the insurance policy. The Buyer signed the check and mailed it to me. I obviously can't cash it without the dad's signature. I decided to be nice, told the Buyer that if she just pays me $570 for the last two payments that I made on the car (since she flaked and didn't pay them), then I'll give her back the signed claim check. Simple... we'll trade the claim check for a money order/cash/cashier's check for $570.

She's having a fit, wants me to mail her the signed check, THEN she'll send me the $570. Yeah, right. She's trying to threaten me with court, violence, yada yada yada. In the big picture, it's chump change. The claim check we're fighting over is for $1900. It's the principal of the matter at this point.

Any suggestions on the legalities of this situation?

[Who's Liable?]

Keep the money, she failed to keep her side of the contract, by not paying the bill.

[testedmonkey]

I'd love to keep the money, but I can't cash the check because it's only been endorsed by 2 of the 3 named parties. I've signed it, she signed it, but her dad hasn't signed it yet. I won't give it back to her so her dad can sign it until she gives me $570. She won't give me the $570. We're pretty much at a stale-mate.

Last I heard from her, she's calling a lawyer. That doesn't scare me because I know she defaulted on the loan. But right now, the claim check is not doing any of us any good. What do I do now?

[Who's Liable?]

Keep the check as long as you want... and don' be a wuss and sign it over the minute she starts crying...

[teflon_jones]

Why is the check made payable to 3 people? Something doesn't make sense here. Who's the titled owner of the car? Who's on the registration?

[stephenk]

why don't you just contact the dad directly?

The check is made out to three people probally because

One is the title owner
One is the insurance holder
and One the person was buying the car

[testedmonkey]

Good point, StephenK. Her dad may not even know what she's doing.

Azmother, you're right about the breakdown on the check. The dad is the named insured on the policy, I'm the registered owner of the car, and the Buyer is, well, the buyer.

I won't hand over the check, that's for sure! I thought about it, just to say Good Riddance, but my husband stepped in and veto'd that idea. I signed the check and gave it to him. He's dealing directly with her now. Every time she threatens this or that, he calls her bluff. He explained it's a simple business matter... give us our money, we'll give you your money. It's nothing personal.

[teflon_jones]

This still doesn't make sense. If the bank still has the title in your name, and she's not the insured party, how can her name be on the check? She has no ownership (or any other association) to the car. Your bank owns the car until the loan is paid in full. I'm still confused here.

But, regardless, talk to her father about it.