Sold car on e-bay turn out to be salvage and bad title what do I do.

[chriscrna]

What is the name of your state? Arkansas
Just of the story. I bought a car last July in Florida. It was suppose to be a 1970 corvette convertible with a clean title. Kept the car till January and needed a motor for race car so I sold it on e-bay. the car was never liscenced as I was working on electrical bugs etc. I did get it insured by State Farm as a 1970 corvette convertible after providing them with the VIN for search. Anyway, I listed the car the same way I bought it, as a 1970 Corvette convertible with a clear title. It sold and money was exchanged. The seller was provided with the VIN number again the next day after the auction. He paid the deposit and the rest via cashiers check. It took around two weeks between the end of auction till the car was picked up. When he got the car he called and said how well it ran and how smooth and straight it ran. He took it to get title and turns out it was stolen in 1987 and the paper work doesn't show if it was recovered. Then it shows to be salvaged in 1988. The guy still wants the car but wants me to adjust the price to 50% of the sale price because it was salvages. Also it was issued a new VIN in Arizona by state police because the car VIN said coupe and it was converted to a convertible. the VIN is now fixed and told the guy I wouldn't sell it for half price but would refund him 100% of the purchase price less shipping and handling. He refused the offer and says he want full price plus shipping and handling and processing fees. Plus he will not return the car unless I pay for shipping and will not rreturn until he has 100% of his money. Honestly, I didn't know about the history as you can not get a CARFAX on a car that old
and I got insurance on it as a convertible without any problems. Giving him a 100% refund of his purchase price is MORE than I will ever get from the guy I got it from as he said it is up to me to find out who did the original scamming. The previous owner admits that he knew nothing about the history and actually tagged and drove the car in FLorida without incident. How can all this take place, clean title in florida-liscence-inspected and insured by him and myself without something showing up. Anyway I think I am being more than fair by giving his money back less shipping but he says If I don't pay for everything he will sue me and make me pay plus lawyer fee's. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

 

[Shelby6718]

Ark or Fla title?

You state you never licensed ? the car. Did you ever transfer the Fla title into your name and have an Arkansas title issued to you? If so, Ark should have picked up on this.

 

[chriscrna]

title

I never got the car transfered over to Arkansas because I was going to get the electrical system lined out and then get it painted and a new top. I did get insurance so I could drive it home and full coverage in case the garage caught on fire or it was stolen. I gave the VIN to state farm and they gave me insurance with now problem. I went to the state police and they said it wouldn't help if they ran the numbers because 1987 was too long ago for them to get info on the car. I really have no way at this time verify if the guy is telling the truth on the whole thing. Carfax won't be of any help because the car is too old. I tried to call the detective in Arizona that was suppose to have issued the new number and title but he hasn't returned my call. E-bay said I don't have to refund him at all and if he wants to return it then the buyer will have to pay for return shipping which he isn't willing to do. He say's he will litigate and get the shipping amount back, all expenses as well as attorney fees. I feel like I am offering him a deal as good as anyone out there would offer by returning the full purchase price and the non-refundable deposit. By doing this I stand to loose close to $16,000.00 on the car and the buyer only $3000.00. We both should have checked the VIN before we bought and we didn't because on paper it all looked good. This isn't a case of the car being a POS because he aggrees the car runs and drives great, its just that it now has a salvaged title that we knew nothing about. The previous owner bought the car with a loan and had tags and insurance on the car as well so I didn't think anything was wrong and the car didn't handle or drive like had been in any accident. Mechanically it is great. He agreed to buy it "as is" with no warranty writen or implied. I just feel bad that I unknowingly sold him a car with a bogus title and I want to make it right within reason.

 

[Shelby6718]

More problems than you thought

I am not an attorney or near to it, but I am a licensed motor vehicle dealer and I can tell you that when you handed over the Fla title to the buyer without transferring it into your name in Arkansas you comitted what in most states is a felony called "title jumping".Actually, the person you bought it from committed a crime by not filling the title out to you and leaving it blank.Unless you are a licensed dealer you cannot reassign titles Even if he filled your name in on the assignment portion of the Fla title, you could not then fill in the next assignment with the new owner. You cheated the state of Arkansas out of taxes and they usually do not take too kindly to that. Hopefully the buyer will not pick up on it and contact the state dmv or better yet, claim you never gave him a valid Arkansas title. Until a valid title is delivered, the deal is not done. Under the circumstances, this guy needs to be made whole. In other words, he should be no worse off than before he got into this deal. If I were you, I'd refund his money, pay the shipping, get it back and then go after the person you bought it from. He is entitled to be made whole and so are you. Good luck!