Tonight my girlfriend was pulled over for expired tags. She bought a car on August 21st and was issued a temp drive away plate at the time of purchase. All paperwork was signed and the title was to be sent to Wachovia who issued the loan. Wachovia was then supposed to send her the paperwork so that she could get the vehicle plated.
A few weeks go by and no paperwork. She calls the dealership who sends her 2 new temp tags and claims they are taking care of it and that they are sorry for the inconvenience. Then a few months go by and the dealership keeps blowing her off and they send her new temp tags every couple of weeks. Finally they quit sending temp plates all together and stop returning phone calls.
She finally gets Wachovia involved and they contact the dealership. The dealership tells Wachovia that they are still trying to transfer title from the previous owner to the dealership, then from the dealership to Wachovia. So technically they sold her a car that was not yet legally titled or owned by the dealership.
She is up to date on her payments and has paid the loan on time every month. She also paid a $1000 deposit to the dealer at purchase. What are her options?
The police impounded it, and she is stuck with no proof of title or ownership besides the bill of sale. Wachovia claims to still not have the title. The police said it is her responsibility to have the car titled and there is nothing they could do. To make matters worse she was on the way home from her grandmother's funeral. They pulled her over and as soon as the cop gets back to his car, three more sqaud cars show up. Each officer sits in the passenger side and questions her (all male). This isn't the first time either. She was once pulled over for speeding and a few days later the cop pulls her over on the way to work for no reason. He says, "Hi Jen, I recognized your car and just wanted to say hi. Maybe we can grab drinks this sometime." She was also mugged back in July and the responding officer tried asking her out after filling out the police report. WTF?
Anyway, I ran down there with the bill of sale and all the paperwork she has, and they told me no dice. So they towed it and locked it up in impound.
So Technically she has been paying for a car that neither she or Wachovia "technically" own. Is there any way that she can back out of the entire loan and get her money back. It seems as though she could ask Wachovia for a full refund of her payments and sue the dealer for the down payment as the dealership now has both the title and the money. Therefore they own the car and the money, and the bank and the my girlfriend own nothing.
Can someone who has a bunch of free Carfax reports run one and do a screen shot, then send it to me? The VIN is 1LNHM87A22Y612527. Post here or email me with the current titled owner as well. Thanks! Jason jrobinsonchicago@gmail.com
Last edited by OriginalSin : February 8th, 2008 at 01:20 AM.
What a shitty deal. Unfortunately I can't give you any advice and it's so late there are very few here that likely can. If you have an attorney I'd be getting him out of bed, or calling him first thing tomorrow. Good luck and keep us posted. So sorry for you and your girl.
Bastard cops hitting on her really sucks worst of all. I'd let the attorney know about all that shit as well.
I have a friend that has a boutique practice and all he does is sue car dealers that jerk people and play shell games with titles. Juries have no problem popping the shit out of a car dealership involved in fraudulent activities.
Check with your state bar referral service for a "consumer" lawyer. You should be able to find one that will take the case on a contingent basis with no money up front.
Good luck. Oh, and she should file a complaint with Internal Affairs for the cop hitting on her.
edit: If you are in Illinois, go here and type in your county and you should get some names:
Yep, in PA you call the PENNDOT dealer licensing. In NY you call the DMV Vehicle Safety. I am sure there is a dealer unit in that state that governs the dealers actions (all states require dealers to be licensed) they don’t move too fast so you will need to get an atty as well and file a lawsuit. All payments will have to still be made until a judgment is rendered, this will probably take some time (that sucks-but you will win and get your $ back plus damages)
What a shitty deal. Unfortunately I can't give you any advice and it's so late there are very few here that likely can. If you have an attorney I'd be getting him out of bed, or calling him first thing tomorrow. Good luck and keep us posted. So sorry for you and your girl.
Bastard cops hitting on her really sucks worst of all. I'd let the attorney know about all that shit as well.
Come on guys! Anyone ever dealt with anything similar?
The exact same thing happened with a recent car purchase of mine. After a few months of waiting I made some phone calls to a few friends including a judge that has known me practically all my life. He basically issued a court order that gave them like 30 days to get me ALL of my info or the car would go back to them and they would issue a full refund.
I had title and plates in hand like a week later.
Sorry to hear about the whole impound thing though, that blows.
Last edited by Doug at RSI : February 8th, 2008 at 07:51 PM.
OK, now I'm worried. I am now on the second set of temp tags waiting the dealership to get the title stuff to me... supposedly Monday. We will see.
About this situation, the cop that hit on her, needs to get looked in to. Might have something to do with why they were so hard on her about the registration thing, meaning because she refused to go out with him. What an asshole cop.
The exact same thing happened with a recent car purchase of mine. After a few months of waiting I made some phone calls to a few friends including a judge that has known me practically all my life. He basically issued a court order that gave them like 30 days to get me ALL of my info or the car would go back to them and they would issue a full refund.
I had title and plates in hand like a week later.
Sorry to hear about the whole impound thing though, that blows.
We got ahold of Wachovia and the dealership today. Wachovia called the dealership and they first claimed to have already sent the paper work to the house back in November. Wachovia called us back and we explained that we never got it. Wachovia then called the dealership again and they then claimed that they sent the paperwork to the DMV on January 8th. (Contradicting already) So Wachovia called the DMV, and the DMV said that they have no record of receiving anything from the dealership.
I ended up doing a bunch of research late last night and found that a dealership legally has 30 days to transfer title to the appropriate lien holder, or the contract becomes null and void. That date came and went way back on September 21st. The transfer law states that she can legally rescind the contract and receive a full refund of all payments made, legally washing her hands of the both the vehicle and the contract completely.
When Wachovia called back, she finally told them that she was going to exercise her right to cancel the contract and return the car for a full refund; not 5 minutes after she hung up the phone the dealership calls.
The business manager is pleading with her not to rescind the contract, telling her, "I'm going to lose my job over this. What can I do for you to make you keep this car?" She told us that she would drive new temp plates to the house immediately and get the title and paperwork over to the DMV first thing in the morning. She also stated that if we would go ahead and pay all the towing, storage, city, and ticket fees, that she would reimburse us personally. We asked what proof we have that she would take care of the costs, and she replied, "You have my word." My girlfriend started laughing hysterically and said, "So we're shit out of luck then?"
She laid it all out and let the business manager have it. She told the woman that she should have returned phone calls and sent the paperwork when they were supposed to, then told her that Sunday's paper has a large job classified section, so she had better start searching.
In the end, the impound yard is hanging on to the car, my girlfriend will hopefully get her refund plus repair cost (see below), and the dealership will get their car back after they figure out how to get it out of impound in another state with an additional 15,000 miles. She did this all by herself with no help from me other than the legal research and help here from The Alley. Thanks guys!
On another note, she had to repair the steering knuckles 3 months after she bought the car. Technically she repaired the dealer owned vehicle at her own cost, so I think that she is going to have to sue them for the $900 repair cost and the $1000 deposit payment. Am I right assuming this?
As far as the cops go, the Chicago PD will lose any complaint made under mountains of paper work and not think twice about a review. I don't want to make things more difficult for her than they already are. 3/4 of the force is on the payroll in one way or another, and this city is proud of its ties to the syndicate and its under the table negotiations. Besides, we are thinking of California in April or May anyways. She has been hit on and asked for her number by 4 or 5 cops now, and I don't see an end in sight before then. She's a beautiful girl and I'm sure she gets hit on 4 or 5 times a day anyways, it just comes with the territory.
For those requesting pics, I have no reservations. She's beautiful and smart, and I couldn't be more proud of her after the way she handled this. Consider this payment in full! Eat your heart out boys...
Last edited by OriginalSin : February 9th, 2008 at 06:24 AM.
For those requesting pics, I have no reservations. She's beautiful and smart, and I couldn't be more proud of her after the way she handled this. Consider this payment in full! Eat your heart out boys...
Pos Rep, but damn...that was too easy. We'll have to be more specific in our requests in the future!!!.
It sounds like she does have a plan laid out. Good luck with that and I hope it all turns out well. Buy her a present and take her out for dinner tonight to celebrate!
For those requesting pics, I have no reservations. She's beautiful and smart, and I couldn't be more proud of her after the way she handled this. Consider this payment in full! Eat your heart out boys...
Two words: Good GOD!!
Sounds like she is not only beautiful, but quick and witty at the same time. I loved the "shit out of luck" line. Good catch.
I own a towing company and we see this happen with dealerships all the time. My policy is as long as the customer has the bill of sale and insurance we will release the car to them.If you get out of the contract with the car dealership they will be responsible for paying the towing co.I hate that this happened to you I hope it works out in your favor.
