Legal advice, auto purchased, no title in my possession?
I agreed to purchase a vehicle from my best friend in nov06, he moved to florida then and couldnt take the car, i agreed to make payments of roughly $500 per month, the total cost was to be $5500 , the car is now payed off, i have possession of the car, but no key and no title, since it was my best friend i dont have anything in writing regarding the deal, i do however have $5500 worth of deposits slips from the payments which i deposited into his account, do i have any legal recourse? i can not reach him now that i have paid him off, changing the key is not a problem, but i really need the title
Answers:
You're out of luck. As it stands, right now you don't even know if your "friend" owned the car.
Why don't have try to run the VIN through Car Fax? Better yet, have the police run the VIN and see if it's been reported stolen and who the legal owner is.
Check with your county records clerk. There is a way to make a copy of a title. I'm not sure what the specific requirements are. You'll have to, of course, be able to prove that you purchased the car.
you can file papers to have a court give you title. Each state has different rules. have you tried asking at the DMV?
You may have a bigger problem if your friend had financed the car and didn't pay it off. In that case you'd have to deal with the lender too.
The problem maybe is that your friend may have lost the title to the car and does not have the information to request a new one.
What you can do is go to the DMV in your state request the form to get a copy of the title for your friend. Also pick up the form to transfer the title to your name as well.
Send the form your friend needs to complete to get a copy of the title. Once he gets it, he can sign the title over to you.
If he does not sign the title over to you, then you can go to small claims court in your town, and sue him to have the title of the car turned over to you or have your money returned to you.
I do not know what is the maximum amount you can collect in your small claims court but at least you may get some of your money back.
What happens is that once you file papers, you need to ask the clerk how to have the served on your friend. Usually they will give you the name of the sheriff living in your friends area and as long as you have a picture of him and pay the process service fee to have the papers served, the sheriff's office will serve the papers.
A hearing will be held and a judgment will be issued.
If you have a money judgment against your friend, then you can find out how to attach his bank account and take the money back.
Hope this helps
File a title application at the D.M.V. You will need a bill of sale. The seller can be found by inquiry to the Florida D.M.V.
Write them and explain the situation and include copies of any paperwork you have. It'll take a while but you'll get a response. Once you have Title you can register the vehicle. Go to a dealer of that cars make with your Title or registration. The Service/parts department can make you a new key. If nothing else works, file a fraud complaint with the Florida Attorney General, consumer affairs division. This will stir things up a bit!
The answers post by the user, for information only, FreeLawAnswer.com does not guarantee the right.
Answer question:
More Law Questions and Answers: