The car was not repossed

In 1994 I brought a car from a used dealer in Smyrna GA. The car was a total lemon. It kept breaking down and I kept taking it back to the dealer who kept charging more to fix it. Finally I decided to take the car back. The day before I moved out of state I talked to the salesman that sold me the car and we had an agreement that I would bring the car back and I would owe them nothing and they would owe me nothing. When I got to the dealership the saleman was not there and I had to leave the car because I was on my way to airport to catch a flight to Chicago. Which the saleman knew and I am sure that's why he wasn't there.
About 3 months later I got a letter in the mail from the dealership that I owed them $3000 for a repossesion of the car. I tried calling the salesman several times. When I finally talked to him he lied to me about sending me papers and lied about their finance company, then he hung up on me. I tried calling and writing with no reply. It now shows on my credit report as repossesion. I have tried the Better Business Bureau and they never got a response from the dealer. And Equifax says they cannot remove it because the dealer reported it. The dealer has never tried to collect and I have never recieved anything else from them. How can I get this off of my credit report. Because the dealer and I agreed on me to bring the car back would this constitute a verbal contract? I know that this will probably fall off the report in year or 2 but, I want to buy a new car this year and I know this is going to effect that. I would appeciate any advice.

Thank you
Brini

Once a car is sold, the salesperson has no interest in what happens to the vehicle in the future. As far as the company that financed your vehicle is concerned, you abandoned the vehicle at the dealer that sold it. In fact, unless the dealer financed the car themselves, they probably contacted the financer of the vehicle and had them pick it up. The car was sold at auction and you are legally responsible for the difference between what it sold for and what was owed. You need to contact the company that financed the car and see what your options are.