My question involves an auto loan or repossession in the State of: Georgia
I sold a vehicle to someone, self financed, to be paid over 15 months in October of 2014. Since then not a single payment has been made although I have remained in communication with the person. (who of course claims they are still going to pay.. yeah ok).
I still hold the title, the registration and the insurance is in my name. After doing much research about this I realize that the entire way I went about it was incorrect, however live and learn not much I can do about it at this point. I also realize the insurance company most likely wouldn't be to happy about this situation at this point and I want to correct this as well.
I have a bill of sale which states the title will be transferred to her upon payment of the 15 payments including a payment schedule. My research shows that in GA for it to be a valid bill of sale in general it must contain the vehicle mileage at the time of transfer, however it does not and technically the title was not transferred. Reading various things this may or may not make it invalid, seems picky to me doubt this point matters. Also from from what I have read it appears I should have used a Conditional Bill of Sale, so I am not even sure if the loan is valid in the first place. Perhaps she can sue me for not giving her the title? Even though it does have the terms.
At this point I just want to remove my liability of the vehicle so that I can wash my hands of it so to speak. Here are a few things I have explored so far.
1) I spoke with a lawyer who said that since the vehicle is in my name and I hold the insurance plus have a key to the vehicle I can just retrieve the vehicle. They told me to call the cops first and tell them who I was and where I was going to get the vehicle as well as the make and model. I called the police and they told me I cannot take the vehicle without paperwork but wouldn't tell me what and I should not take the car. (this was a free call, maybe they wanted me to get arrested so I could hire them to defend me or maybe the cop is incorrect)
2) I spoke with the DMV and they sent me a form to cancel the registration. None of the options which allow me to cancel the registration apply, so I cannot cancel the registration thus I can't cancel the insurance. I was informed that telling them I sold the vehicle does not remove my liability to the vehicle but it would let me cancel the insurance if the vehicle is in this status, they believed. They were not 100% sure but suggested I get the new owner to register the vehicle.
3) I spoke with a company who repos vehicles and I was informed they can't repossess my own vehicle but I should get a tow company.
4) Tow company will not get involved. See number 1.
5) Spoke with the courts who told me they can't give legal advise but I can sue for the amount owed but not to repo the car. I would most likely get a judgement but I still could not retrieve the car and not like I would get the money back from the judgement.
From everything I have read I can't report the vehicle stolen since it was given to her plus she has paperwork showing the bill of sale.
The vehicle loan was for $3600 originally plus insurance of $80.00 per month. I am not worried about collecting the insurance from all of the months and quite frankly at this point I don't really care about the car loan. I just want it back or out of my name so I can stop paying the insurance/remove liability.
I have toyed with the idea of just giving her the title and possibly listing myself as the lien holder so (from what I understand) would not be able to sell it. I doubt I would ever do anything as lien holder but even if I was able to give her the title chances are she would not register it nor insure it so I would still be in the same situation.
I am pretty sure at this point she just doesn't have money to pay for it and doesn't have the intention (why would she? Free car with no insurance or registration and it appears I can't get the car back). I have spoken to her about just allowing me to retrieve the vehicle but she does not want to since she would not have a way to get around and basically said I would need to sue her to get the vehicle and some crazy lawyer she spoke with claims she would win anyway if she was sued (although I don't know if she spoke with a lawyer nor do I care and I can't imagine how she thinks she could win anything.. maybe she could though, no one else seems to think I can get it back).
All in all what can I do to get out of this situation? It seems the law is written to protect the person who has the vehicle, not the person who is being forced to remain liable for it, pay the insurance as well as the registration.
Out of curiosity, not that i'd do this. But since it is for all purposes my vehicle, can I "ruin" the car (say water in gas tank) or some other way to destroy and it not be considered illegal? I am sure she'd give it back if it was broken since I doubt she'd try to get it fixed and then I can just get it towed off to a junk yard, cancel the registration and the insurance and be done with this.
I do know where the car is and have a spare key, if I didn't mention that.
While I understand this problem falls on me and how I approached it, I was just trying to help someone out who was going through a divorce and got in a car wreck which totaled the vehicle they had. Unfortunately some people take advantage and not much can be done about that. I don't sell cars regularly (if it is not obvious) and I don't intend on selling any again. I'd rather seem them crushed.
I sold a vehicle to someone, self financed, to be paid over 15 months in October of 2014. Since then not a single payment has been made although I have remained in communication with the person. (who of course claims they are still going to pay.. yeah ok).
I still hold the title, the registration and the insurance is in my name. After doing much research about this I realize that the entire way I went about it was incorrect, however live and learn not much I can do about it at this point. I also realize the insurance company most likely wouldn't be to happy about this situation at this point and I want to correct this as well.
I have a bill of sale which states the title will be transferred to her upon payment of the 15 payments including a payment schedule. My research shows that in GA for it to be a valid bill of sale in general it must contain the vehicle mileage at the time of transfer, however it does not and technically the title was not transferred. Reading various things this may or may not make it invalid, seems picky to me doubt this point matters. Also from from what I have read it appears I should have used a Conditional Bill of Sale, so I am not even sure if the loan is valid in the first place. Perhaps she can sue me for not giving her the title? Even though it does have the terms.
At this point I just want to remove my liability of the vehicle so that I can wash my hands of it so to speak. Here are a few things I have explored so far.
1) I spoke with a lawyer who said that since the vehicle is in my name and I hold the insurance plus have a key to the vehicle I can just retrieve the vehicle. They told me to call the cops first and tell them who I was and where I was going to get the vehicle as well as the make and model. I called the police and they told me I cannot take the vehicle without paperwork but wouldn't tell me what and I should not take the car. (this was a free call, maybe they wanted me to get arrested so I could hire them to defend me or maybe the cop is incorrect)
2) I spoke with the DMV and they sent me a form to cancel the registration. None of the options which allow me to cancel the registration apply, so I cannot cancel the registration thus I can't cancel the insurance. I was informed that telling them I sold the vehicle does not remove my liability to the vehicle but it would let me cancel the insurance if the vehicle is in this status, they believed. They were not 100% sure but suggested I get the new owner to register the vehicle.
3) I spoke with a company who repos vehicles and I was informed they can't repossess my own vehicle but I should get a tow company.
4) Tow company will not get involved. See number 1.
5) Spoke with the courts who told me they can't give legal advise but I can sue for the amount owed but not to repo the car. I would most likely get a judgement but I still could not retrieve the car and not like I would get the money back from the judgement.
From everything I have read I can't report the vehicle stolen since it was given to her plus she has paperwork showing the bill of sale.
The vehicle loan was for $3600 originally plus insurance of $80.00 per month. I am not worried about collecting the insurance from all of the months and quite frankly at this point I don't really care about the car loan. I just want it back or out of my name so I can stop paying the insurance/remove liability.
I have toyed with the idea of just giving her the title and possibly listing myself as the lien holder so (from what I understand) would not be able to sell it. I doubt I would ever do anything as lien holder but even if I was able to give her the title chances are she would not register it nor insure it so I would still be in the same situation.
I am pretty sure at this point she just doesn't have money to pay for it and doesn't have the intention (why would she? Free car with no insurance or registration and it appears I can't get the car back). I have spoken to her about just allowing me to retrieve the vehicle but she does not want to since she would not have a way to get around and basically said I would need to sue her to get the vehicle and some crazy lawyer she spoke with claims she would win anyway if she was sued (although I don't know if she spoke with a lawyer nor do I care and I can't imagine how she thinks she could win anything.. maybe she could though, no one else seems to think I can get it back).
All in all what can I do to get out of this situation? It seems the law is written to protect the person who has the vehicle, not the person who is being forced to remain liable for it, pay the insurance as well as the registration.
Out of curiosity, not that i'd do this. But since it is for all purposes my vehicle, can I "ruin" the car (say water in gas tank) or some other way to destroy and it not be considered illegal? I am sure she'd give it back if it was broken since I doubt she'd try to get it fixed and then I can just get it towed off to a junk yard, cancel the registration and the insurance and be done with this.
I do know where the car is and have a spare key, if I didn't mention that.
While I understand this problem falls on me and how I approached it, I was just trying to help someone out who was going through a divorce and got in a car wreck which totaled the vehicle they had. Unfortunately some people take advantage and not much can be done about that. I don't sell cars regularly (if it is not obvious) and I don't intend on selling any again. I'd rather seem them crushed.
Repossession: Retrieve Car Sold to Someone else Who Will Not Pay
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