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she illegally sold my car! how to get it back!?

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ddaughety

Junior Member
So I'm from VA... while I was living in Milwaukee, my mother, who had co-signed for a car with me (although I made the entire downpayment, payments, insurance payments, DMV payments, tax payments, etc. which all amounted to about $15,000). She decided to take it upon herself pay off the loan with her home equity line of credit. Then after about a month, she decided to forge my signature and sell my car! What rights do I have to get that car back or to recoup the money I spent on my car?? I don't want her to go to jail for fraud or anything (even though that's what she SHOULD do I don't want to cause too much family drama) but I do want the car back. Am I legally entitled to get the car back from the current owner since it was illegally sold? She has admitted to my dad that she forged my signature on the title to get it "sold" and we tried to order a copy of the title from the DMV but they wouldn't send it to us. SHe also forged my sisters signature when she sold her car, but that was different because my sister gave the "okay" to just sign it. I come home from Milwaukee one day and I think my car has stolen, little did I know, the car was sold. PLEASE HELP! [email protected]
 


seniorjudge

Senior Member
ddaughety said:
So I'm from VA... while I was living in Milwaukee, my mother, who had co-signed for a car with me (although I made the entire downpayment, payments, insurance payments, DMV payments, tax payments, etc. which all amounted to about $15,000). She decided to take it upon herself pay off the loan with her home equity line of credit. Then after about a month, she decided to forge my signature and sell my car! What rights do I have to get that car back or to recoup the money I spent on my car?? I don't want her to go to jail for fraud or anything (even though that's what she SHOULD do I don't want to cause too much family drama) but I do want the car back. Am I legally entitled to get the car back from the current owner since it was illegally sold? She has admitted to my dad that she forged my signature on the title to get it "sold" and we tried to order a copy of the title from the DMV but they wouldn't send it to us. SHe also forged my sisters signature when she sold her car, but that was different because my sister gave the "okay" to just sign it. I come home from Milwaukee one day and I think my car has stolen, little did I know, the car was sold. PLEASE HELP! [email protected]

Why can you not get a copy of the title to a car that you say belongs to you?
 

ddaughety

Junior Member
It was SOLD. Obviously, I don't own the car anymore. My mother changed the locks to the car, took the title out of the glove box, forged MY signature on the title and sold it to god knows who. I contacted the DMV in VA and they said they either can't or don't have a copy of the title that they can release to me from when the car was transferred from mine and my mothers name to the new owners. I don't know why I cant get a copy ask the DMV that question because I'm wondering the same thing.
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
ddaughety said:
It was SOLD. Obviously, I don't own the car anymore. My mother changed the locks to the car, took the title out of the glove box, forged MY signature on the title and sold it to god knows who. I contacted the DMV in VA and they said they either can't or don't have a copy of the title that they can release to me from when the car was transferred from mine and my mothers name to the new owners. I don't know why I cant get a copy ask the DMV that question because I'm wondering the same thing.
If you don't want to file criminal charges against her, then sue her in small claims court for the dollar amount of the actual damages you suffered.
 

ddaughety

Junior Member
Which could include what?? Any amount that I paid on the car?? Also, so there is no way to get the car back?? I wanted the car back more than the money, but hey, money is nice too.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
ddaughety said:
Which could include what?? Any amount that I paid on the car?? Also, so there is no way to get the car back?? I wanted the car back more than the money, but hey, money is nice too.
You're looking at Fair Market Value (or, possibly, ACV) - which may or may not be as much as you put in to the car. Also, it will likely be over the small claims limit in your state ($2,000). Also, your claim may be countered by the amount that your mother paid off on the loan.
HOWEVER, you really should file a police report, otherwise you will have a much tougher time proving your case.
 

ddaughety

Junior Member
I've been looking at fair market value for the car however I don't know how many miles it has on it now. But when she sold it, it had about 10,000 miles on it, and FMV for that car with that amount of miles on it would be at least $20,000. I would want all the money I put into the car, which would be about $15,000 minus the "payoff" that she voluntarily paid off at $10,000. Which leaves me with not a lot of money. So is there no way to physically take the car back?? If I file a police report, could I get the car back? The small claims court seems almost like futile idea, I don't even live in the area anymore and the expense alone to get back there for court would be a lot...
 

ddaughety

Junior Member
She was afraid since I was in Milwaukee that I wouldn't make payments (however, I had never even been 1 day late in the 16 months that I had the loan). So she first paid off the car with her home equity line of credit, so if i indeed did NOT make the payments, they would be more affordable (amortized over 30 years vs. 4 years). Once she decided that she didn't want a car tied to her home, she decided just to get rid of it! She first had the nerve to call my friends and ask if they wanted to buy it and then (from conversations with other family members) I believe she took it to a dealership and gave it to them
 

justalayman

Senior Member
ddaughety said:
I've been looking at fair market value for the car however I don't know how many miles it has on it now. But when she sold it, it had about 10,000 miles on it, and FMV for that car with that amount of miles on it would be at least $20,000. I would want all the money I put into the car, which would be about $15,000 minus the "payoff" that she voluntarily paid off at $10,000. Which leaves me with not a lot of money. So is there no way to physically take the car back?? If I file a police report, could I get the car back? The small claims court seems almost like futile idea, I don't even live in the area anymore and the expense alone to get back there for court would be a lot...

Just about anything you do is going to get mom in trouble.

Was mom on the title or just on the loan?
 

ddaughety

Junior Member
Mom was on both, title and loan. The title read "Me AND Mom". I asked my friend who is a law student and he said that some states read "OR" and that means that one person can sell the car without both parties signing, but if it reads "and" that both parties do need to sign. I don't really want to get anyone in trouble, i just want my car back!
 
Just like justalayman said....just about anything you do to try to get the car back or get compensated may get your mom in trouble. That's really interesting that she went thru all that trouble for nothing...... Have you talked to her about compensating you since you came back??
 

justalayman

Senior Member
ddaughety said:
Mom was on both, title and loan. The title read "Me AND Mom". I asked my friend who is a law student and he said that some states read "OR" and that means that one person can sell the car without both parties signing, but if it reads "and" that both parties do need to sign. I don't really want to get anyone in trouble, i just want my car back!
Like I had said before, just about anything you do will get mom in trouble in one way or another.
Chances are you aren't going to get the car back. To try to do anything, you would need to involve the courts in some way, whether it be civil or criminal. In either case mom is the offending party.

If you want to press criminal charges, you may get the courts to require mom to pay your losses but they will also punish her in addition to that.

If you file this in civil court, unless you want to do it without an attorney, there is that expense to consider. You may be able to recoup that but final say would be up to the court. Even with this, it is possible for mom to get into legal (criminal) trouble as well. (the civil court judge could recommend to the DA to look into the possible criminal charges)

So it's up to you but anyway you look at it, mom is getting into some sort of hot water if you wish to continue.
 

ddaughety

Junior Member
Yes I have talked to her and she refuses. She has put my brother and my sister both against me saying they will never speak to me again if I press charges or sue. Mind you, my mother recently married into money as well as sold her house where she net about $600,000 dollars. I find her claims ridiculous that she "can't afford to pay me" because this is now merely pennies to her.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
ddaughety said:
Yes I have talked to her and she refuses. She has put my brother and my sister both against me saying they will never speak to me again if I press charges or sue. Mind you, my mother recently married into money as well as sold her house where she net about $600,000 dollars. I find her claims ridiculous that she "can't afford to pay me" because this is now merely pennies to her.

Well the ball is in your court. Either call the cops, call an attorney or write it off. Not much else you can do.
 

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