Fake Tags Car bought on Craigslist Curbstoner
Kelly ...No Reseller License
Drives Teal Mercedes
Called about Listing on Craigslist for 98 Volvo V70 with "reg threw 2015" "clean title" on April 10.
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Drove from my home in Santa Rosa to Vallejo on April 11 se vehicle from Kelly at Vallejo, CA. Pink slip showed two names. Kelly said she was selling car for her father and her father was out of state and he had done a smog test a couple months ago and car passed. He was coming back in a few days and would bring the smog certificate. Apollo.... name was on Title. Dan ...Aptos, CA was actually the last known owner and was on bill of sale. Car was advertised as being “reg threw 2015...clean title...pink slip.
We turned in our old car to Pick n Pull where our mother-in-law met us and gave us a ride to Kelly's. We paid Kelly the $1500 and drove car home. Went to CHP to check out registration and was told that the reg expired May 2013. The 2015 sticker was fake. It is a felony to drive a car with fake tags and car could be impounded.
Also, The coolant has been leaking and have found out the radiator has a hole in it.
I have been trying to contact the seller since these discoveries. Unfortunately, we keep getting the message that the voice mail has not been set up yet. So I have been leaving numerous text messages. She never responds.
My brother is on SSI disability with a serious illness. We have no car here now. The $1500 was all the money we had to buy a car with. We are victims of fraud. I called Vallejo law enforcement and was told this is a civil....not criminal matter.
I few days later, a friend drove us to Vallejo to see Kelly about car. She wasn’t at her duplex so we talked to her neighbor, James, who was there at the time of the sell and shares duplex with her. He said Kelly often sells used cars. He believes her last name is Williams. He also said she has a reseller’s license. We explained what happened and he hoped we could get our money back. Then Kelly pulled up to her driveway. We told her that we have been trying to call her. She said she lost her phone. We told her the car had false tags and had not been smogged or registered like she said and we wanted our money back. She said she had no money. I said we would go to police and take her to court. She said do what you have to do.
Next we will make a complaint with DMV and hopefully be able to verify her name with her License plate no. and address. It appears she is a curbstoner...private party who illegally flips cars. The DMV have been cracking down on curbstoners recently and hopefully will work with us to stop her.