Unusual situation with a car we sold...

abarnum619 said:

Hello, My husband and I live in Roseville, CA, and we have an interesting situation that we could use some advice on. We sold a 91 Honda Civic about 1 1/2 years ago. We filed the release of liability with the DMV, and never heard anything about the vehicle again. About three weeks ago, my husband received a notice to appear in court for a misdemeanor charge of providing false registration in Nevada County. When we called the DA's office, they were not much help, even when we explained that my husband had never been to Nevada county, and this was some kind of mistaken identity. The only information that they gave us was which Police Department made the case. We spoke with the officer there, and found out that the person we sold the car to apparently never registered the car in his name or applied for the new title (we couldn't fin the original when we sold it). Also, this person has apparently been created fake registration stickers and putting them on this car. Anyways, that is the back story... Today, we reported for court, and the charge on my husband was dropped since we provided the release of liability. At this point, we are concerned about this being an ongoing issue. We don't want to have something like this come up every year or two where we have to report to court because the car is still technically in our name. We would like to see if there is a way we can regain possession of the vehicle, since it legally is still our car. Also, it may be helpful to know that we have since found the original title. We found it the last time we moved. Does it seem plausible that we could regain possession of the car? If so, what steps do we need to take to do so? Thanks for your time, Amber

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abarnum619 said:

I'm not suggesting we just go take the car back, I'm saying that since the buyer never finished the paperwork, and we have the title, we are still technically the owners.

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abarnum619 said:

Thanks, but really, there is no reason to be a jerk about it. I am just repeating what I was told by the police. You know, there is a way to give advice without being obnoxious and rude.

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LSCAP said:

I’d like to bump this up to someone who knows CA laws

Can she fill out the title with the buyer’s name, and date of sale, and send it in to the DMV?
I ask because in my state -a property tax for cars too, state- they want the property tax on it and want to know if it was bought by someone in this state. For taxes.

And that would help, by showing that it was sold, if anyone else chases them for problems with the car.

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