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)?
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)?