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Bought a car on craigslist. big trouble

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budda117

Junior Member
Here's my situation:

I am a 19 year old college student in the DC/MD/VA area. I had been saving up for several months to get a car, and a few weeks ago

I finally got enough money to get one. I went on craigslist (yea, i know) because I could not find a dealership selling the car i

wanted for the amount i had. I found this guy who was selling a 1993 Honda Civic for $1500; i test drove it, had the engine looked at

and everything. It seemed like a good deal. On April 25th, I bought the Civic from him; i have a notarized bill of sale to prove it.

Here is where things get dicey. The guy who sold it to me had recently purchased it from someone else about a month ago. There were

temporary New York tags on the car (which in hindsight, I probably should have found weird because the guy lived in DC) and the tags

did not expire until May 16th. (Also, I dont know if this is relevant, but the temp tags had apparently blown off in the wind and the

guy reported them stolen before finding them laying somewhere. So I drove the car with the tag info taped to my back windshield with

STOLEN PLATES written above it).

Anyway, since the current tags didnt expire for another few weeks, I did not head directly to the Motor Vehicle Administration;

officially, my mother bought the car so it would be in her name and my insurance costs were lower, but she works so she couldnt take

off her job to go to the MVA. But since the car had temp tags on it and I had the sale information on me, I went ahead and got it

inspected. No sense in buying $20 temp tags if the car has some already, right?

Sooo the car failed inspection. Initially, the mechanics who inspected it gave me a quote of $993 to get it fixed, but i couldnt

afford that. After about another week, I managed to find a guy who would fix it for $700. Problem was, the guy who sold it to me had

canceled his insurance on the car, so now the temp tags were no good. In hind sight, I probably should have tried to get temp tags of

my own then, but I figured since I had the car insured already, why not just get it fixed and worry about that later? Mind you, this

is the first car I've ever bought
. On May 3rd, exactly one week after it failed inspection, I drove it to the mechanic to get it

fixed, luckily managing not to get a ticket before i got it there.

A week later (last Monday), the mechanic calls and says it would be done by the end of the week. So I'm thinking "Cool, now since I

lucked out the first time by not getting a ticket, I should probably just go get my temp tags to be safe". So today, May 12th, I got a

friend to drive me to the MVA so i could get the tags. I get to the information desk and show them the title.

The guy had never registered the car and gotten a title in his own name; he had bought it from somebody on April 2nd then just

handed it over to me. My mother signed the title in a space reserved for dealership transactions; we had missed it! Apparently, you

can only sell a car legally after you have had the title transferred into your name and received a new title; I had not known this.

The man had essentially sold me a car he did not legally own yet. That being the case, I could not get tags, and so cannot pick the

car up from the mechanic.

I called the guy up and told him the situation. The first time, he said he was at work and would call me back; evening came, no

call. I called him back and he said he would talk to the DC DMV and would call me back shortly. Three hours leter, no call. I tried

calling again, only got voicemail. BUT, when my mother called on HER phone, he answered. After a short discussion with her, he informs

us he has to work and is going out of town this weekend, so the matter would have to wait until next Monday. I found this out and got

upset because I need a vehicle next week; the DMV takes up to 10 business days to mail titles and if this man does not request a new

title before the end of THIS week, I will be without transportation for a while. PLUS, I have no guarantee he wont give me the run

around all over again
. When my mom called him back to tell him this, once again we got voicemail.

This has to be grounds for a lawsuit....the guy sold me a car illegally! If im just %^&* out of luck transportation-wise, then oh

well...but if that is the case, I need to be compensated. If the guy would just go to the DMV, pay the $27 and get the title so i can

officially buy it, I would be fine. But if not, I'm out $1500 for the sale price of the car, $700 for repairs on the car, and $112 for

the insurance I paid while "owning" the car. Also, if i dont get the title by May 26, I'll have to pay another $58 for another

inspection (the inspection station gives you 30 days to get the car fixed so they can sign off on it). In total, I'm looking at about

$2370 in losses here, which is a LOT of money for a broke college student. Plus, i dont know how the "being compensated for the

trouble i went through
" thing goes, but the last few weeks have been pretty stressful.

What should I do? Do I have proper grounds for a small claims suit? Would I win, and how much am I really entitled to? And, is

there any way i can circumvent all this and get the car titled without him? Because i really need transportation now....

Thanks in advance for any helpWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


justalayman

Senior Member
Cancel the insurance and get whatever you can back from that and forget the rest.

make a demand for the price you paid for the car and the repairs. The guy will likely balk at that.

If the guy refuses, what you do after that is up to you. You might consider negotiating the amount of money. If you cannot reach a point you are willing to settle for, your only other choice is to sue the guy.

just be aware that you will have to do something with the car until your suit is resolved and that might cost you money. Unless you have some off street parking facility to store the car, you are likely to end up with parking tickets or even towing and storage fees.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
NY does not have "temporary tags" like the ones you described. you either get plates, or you have no plates.

Even dealerships dont give "paper plates" on brand new cars.

What made you think the tags were real? did you check with NY? does it have a NY title?
 

budda117

Junior Member
Yes, it has a New York title in the name of the man who owned it before the guy who sold it to me. Actually, the paper tags are DC temp tags (i just checked) which makes me think the guy who sold it to me just put insurance on the car and paid for temp tags, but never did the inspection and titling part
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
There were

temporary New York tags on the car (which in hindsight, I probably should have found weird because the guy lived in DC) and the tags

did not expire until May 16th. (Also, I dont know if this is relevant, but the temp tags had apparently blown off in the wind and the

guy reported them stolen before finding them laying somewhere. So I drove the car with the tag info taped to my back windshield with STOLEN PLATES written above it).

officially, my mother bought the car so it would be in her name and my insurance costs were lower, but she works so she couldnt take off her job to go to the MVA. But since the car had temp tags on it and I had the sale information on me, I went ahead and got it

Problem was, the guy who sold it to me had canceled his insurance on the car, so now the temp tags were no good. In hind sight, I probably should have tried to get temp tags of my own then, but I figured since I had the car insured already, why not just get it fixed and worry about that later? Mind you, this is the first car I've ever bought.

On May 3rd, exactly one week after it failed inspection, I drove it to the mechanic to get it fixed, luckily managing not to get a ticket before i got it there.

May 12th, I got a friend to drive me to the MVA so i could get the tags. I get to the information desk and show them the title. The guy had never registered the car and gotten a title in his own name; he had bought it from somebody on April 2nd then just handed it over to me.

My mother signed the title in a space reserved for dealership transactions; we had missed it! Apparently, you can only sell a car legally after you have had the title transferred into your name and received a new title; I had not known this.

The man had essentially sold me a car he did not legally own yet. That being the case, I could not get tags, and so cannot pick the car up from the mechanic.

I need to be compensated. If the guy would just go to the DMV, pay the $27 and get the title so i can officially buy it, I would be fine. But if not, I'm out $1500 for the sale price of the car, $700 for repairs on the car, and $112 for the insurance I paid while "owning" the car. Also, if i dont get the title by May 26, I'll have to pay another $58 for another inspection (the inspection station gives you 30 days to get the car fixed so they can sign off on it). In total, I'm looking at about

$2370 in losses here, which is a LOT of money for a broke college student. Plus, i dont know how the "being compensated for the trouble i went through" thing goes, but the last few weeks have been pretty stressful.

What should I do? Do I have proper grounds for a small claims suit? Would I win, and how much am I really entitled to? And, is there any way i can circumvent all this and get the car titled without him? Because i really need transportation now....

Thanks in advance for any helpWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Oh jeez.

NY does not use "temp tags"

In NY it is fine if a title is signed by the original owner, then sold to a third party, as long as the middle man doesn't sign the title.

Titles cost 50$ in NY.

Where do you live? you've got like 3 places listed.

You can get all your money back for the insurance.

I don't know what your going to do with a junk title, you need the other guy to get a title in his name, if he signed as the buyer......

IS THIS A NY TITLE?????
 

budda117

Junior Member
I understand that NY doesnt use temp tags. But DC does. I bought the car in DC from a guy who lives in DC, but i live in Maryland. The guy put DC temp tags on it after he bought the car from someone who had a NY title. I hope I'm explaining this correctly...
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
Yes, it has a New York title in the name of the man who owned it before the guy who sold it to me.
So your problem is that the dude who sold it to you, signed as the buyer.

And now, a title has to be issued to the buyer, so he can sign it over to you.

OK well, then why don't you find out if you can have the title issued to the dude, by paying for it, then when the dude gets it, have him sign it and send it to you.

I don't know what you are going to do until then, basically this is a full loose loose situation.

Sure you can demand he pay you whatever, you could even sue him, but you probably will not win for the repairs, or anything else you did above buying the car from the guy, because before you did anything you should have gotten it titled. and even if your young and didn't know this, SURELY your mom knew you should have.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
I understand that NY doesnt use temp tags. But DC does. I bought the car in DC from a guy who lives in DC, but i live in Maryland. The guy put DC temp tags on it after he bought the car from someone who had a NY title. I hope I'm explaining this correctly...
yea, sorry, I finished the first post a second time before i saw you answered the mysterious tags issue.

Please note, you can still get back all your money from the insurance company, by explaining that the car was never, and could not be registered.
 

budda117

Junior Member
The bad thing is that this really could be solved quickly if he just got the title like you said! But he looks like he's giving us the run around. Is it possible to get a court order to force him to get the title so he can legally sign the car over? I'm not money hungry or anythin i just want my car
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
The bad thing is that this really could be solved quickly if he just got the title like you said! But he looks like he's giving us the run around. Is it possible to get a court order to force him to get the title so he can legally sign the car over? I'm not money hungry or anythin i just want my car
Send the title back with a certified letter, asking him on record to please take the title he signed as the buyer (its probably dated as well, you have a deadline here) and you cannot register and use the car, and if he doesn't do it and get it back to you in the next 60 days properly titled, and signed, you will sue him for the amount of the car.

Then Hope that moves him along.

By the time you get a court order requiring him to get you a clean usable title, the original signature would be expired.
 
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budda117

Junior Member
But if i send him the title, couldnt he screw me over completely? Someone told me i shouldnt let the title out of my sight, and i had to go with the guy to the DMV
 

budda117

Junior Member
and the back of the title i have says he was supposed to have transferred the title within 30 days of April 2nd, when he bought the car, so the deadline has already passed!
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
and the back of the title i have says he was supposed to have transferred the title within 30 days of April 2nd, when he bought the car, so the deadline has already passed!
You might then, forget the dude who sold you the car, and ask the title holder (on the front ) nicely by mail, if he might PLEASE have the title reissued (at your expense you can do it yourself online) and sign it again and send it to you. leave the date off is always a great bet in NY because they do have the 30 day expiration rule. make it extremely easy for the title owner by, paying for it, ordering it, warning that you are doing it, and sending a SASE for them to send it back to you...

Then you can sue the guy who actually sold you the car, fir the cost of the reissue. If you can never recover the car because of the title you might as well sue the guy for it all, and let the judge decide how much he owes you.

And its not about letting the title out of your sight, its about reading the title fully and closely and making sure you absolutely will be able to use it. If it is an out of state title that you are not familiar with it, read it extra close.
 

budda117

Junior Member
I had thought about that too. I was unable to attain a phone number for Seller #1, and the address on the front of the title is different from the address he wrote on the back when he sold it to Seller #2. Neverhteless, I called information and looked up both addresses, yet still couldnt find him.

Soo now that Seller #2 couldnt transfer it into his name even if he wanted to because of the 30 day limit, and i cant get in contact with Seller #1, what can i do???
 

BL

Senior Member
and the back of the title i have says he was supposed to have transferred the title within 30 days of April 2nd, when he bought the car, so the deadline has already passed!
Title Staus lookup.

NYS DMV Title Status Look Up

If the seller has a title certificate that was transferred to the seller by another person, the seller cannot use that title certificate to transfer the ownership to you. The seller must apply for a title certificate only and transfer the new title certificate to you.

One of a couple of things you can do .

Cancel your Ins.,get a refund .Request your money back for the auto plus repairs . Sue if necessary.

Send a RRR Certified mail requesting a set up date to go to DMV with this " seller " within the next 14 business days , or make a copy of the title ,return it to him requesting what you want .

For about 50 bucks you may want to consult a local general practicing Attorney and have him/her draft a nice legally worded letter for you to send to the " seller " on the Attorney's official letterhead . ;)
 

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