I sold two vehicles and they haven't been picked up yet.

[Charlie3194]

I'm in Massachusetts and the buyer is in Canada. I listed my vehicles online in several different locations including ebay and finally after sifting through all of the Nigerian 411 scam emails I found one from a guy that was really interested. The deal went through outside ebay, however he used paypal to pay for the vehicles.

The vehicles were sold for $800 total. One was drivable, but needed some work and the other was a parts car of the same make and model of the other. They were listed as 'No delivery. Buyer must set up and pay for shipping.'. The sale went through in the middle of December with an agreement that the vehicles would be picked up by the end of the month. After the holidays I contacted the buyer and he said that the shipping company should have contacted me and that it would be another couple of weeks. A couple of weeks later it was the same thing and now here we are towards the end of February and they still haven't been picked up yet. I live in an apartment and have to keep them registered and insured in order to park them on the street. The buyer is aware of this.

What are my options as far as charging for storage? I still have the titles and they're in my name. If the buyer decides he wants his money back, am I obligated to give him a full refund?

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Shelby6718]

You could try this..............

Sounds messy. Since you did this deal outside of eBay it is strictly a typical used car sale between two individuals. Once you got payment for the vehicles, you should have sent him titles, assigned to him by certified mail, return receipt requested. Kept copies and mail receipt for yourself. They would then be HIS vehicles. However, since you didn't, I expect they are technically still YOUR vehicles and you are still responsible for them. Tags or whatever.
Is there a "bill of sale" in place for these cars?
Is there anything in writing as to time frame for pick-up? Anything covered as to his payment if he failed to pick them up?

Now, the problem is most likely with the shipper. Large commercial shippers do not drop everything, run out and pick up a couple of cars and deliver them. They "put together" a full load going in a common direction. Sometimes this takes time and time to them is commonly a couple of months. However, this does not do you any good.

If you chose to put them in storage this would be between you and the storage facility and you would be responsible for the bill. If you make some type of agreement with him to reimburse you for storage, get it in writing. But again, you would have to pay the storage facility and he would have to pay you.
Now, my thought on this would be to send him his titles as described with a letter stating that if the vehicles are not picked up by the time the current tags,etc run out you will advise the state they are his "abandoned" vehicles and they may dispose of them at will.I don't know if the state of Mass. will accept your documentation as to proof of his ownership but it appears reasonable that they would. This may wake him up to get something done. But without knowing the specifics of your dealings with him this is strictly a suggestion on my part based on what you said. Also, don't forget, your dealing with a Canadian buyer. Once things start crossing country border I don't know. It could be a whole different ball game.

I'm not a lawyer or near to it but I've had similar dealings.
Good luck.

 

[teflon_jones]

You need to have written documentation of the sale. I'd send the buyer written documentation asap, and get a signed bill of sale from him.

Personally, I don't understand why anybody in Canada would pay to have two parts vehicles shipped there. It'll cost a minimum of $500 each, maybe as much as $1000 (or more) depending on their location. I'm guessing the person may never follow through on this sale because they may not have realized what the shipping costs were at that time. What kind of cars are these?

 

[MinCA]

Ask if the buyer is willing to accept a partial refund (partial, due to the time and expense to you) of maybe $500 and call the deal off. He may say yes. Then resell them. Easiest thing to do. Hope he doesn't know the following.

When I lived in massachusetts, my ex'f family went through something similar. They titles were never transferred to a couple of trucks, the buyer never picked them up, even though he paid. Unless the vehicles are picked up or the buyer transfers title to his name, he hasn't officially accepted the vehicles, and the sale is still open. He has to accept the vehicles for the sale to be a done-deal.

Unless it changed in the last four years, he is still entitled to his money back if he wants it.

So write up something to the effect that here is $500 refund, the remaining to be considered storage and to cover registration and misc. costs, and to accept the refund of $500 is refund in full.