I recently kind of purchased a used vehicle. I say kind of because I'm not really sure as to whether I even have any legal right to the vehicle. My wife's uncle had a used van that he had previously loaned to another family member. When this family member purchased a different vehicle they no longer required the one they were borrowing, so my wife thought it would be a good idea for us to use it. Instead of paying cash for the vehicle she spoke to him about a trade; which involved us giving him $3000.00 worth of computer software (which I installed on three of his computers) in exchange for the van.
Since then we have put over $1500.00 worth of work into the vehicle and we paid her uncle for the insurance as he didn't legally sign the van over to either one of us. It's been a little over a year since we got the van, and when the insurance was due her uncle didn't renew it. So now we are unable to use the vehicle. So I'm out $3000.00 for the software and $1500.00 for repairs and now it seems we can't use the vehicle either. Is there anything from a legal standpoint that we can do? The vehicle is still in our possession and he has done nothing to either take back the vehicle or change ownership.
Since then we have put over $1500.00 worth of work into the vehicle and we paid her uncle for the insurance as he didn't legally sign the van over to either one of us. It's been a little over a year since we got the van, and when the insurance was due her uncle didn't renew it. So now we are unable to use the vehicle. So I'm out $3000.00 for the software and $1500.00 for repairs and now it seems we can't use the vehicle either. Is there anything from a legal standpoint that we can do? The vehicle is still in our possession and he has done nothing to either take back the vehicle or change ownership.