Was given a car with no title, what do I do?
 

Ok, so I was working with a buddy in the service department at a Porsche dealership here in Austin, I spotted a sad looking early 90's BMW 5 series sitting in the grass with flat tires and door damage on the passenger side, I asked my buddy what was going on with it and he wasn't sure.

Well I forgot about it, we ate lunch and he went off somewhere and then came back and joined in the conversation we were having, then says; "hey you know that BMW? You can have it" I thought he was joking but he was serious, turns out the owner had came in and wanted to use it as a trade in, the deal fell through and the owner walked away, leaving it there for about 8 months to a year.

The dealership was fed up with it just sitting there and when they heard someone wanted it, they said "tow it tow it tow it" so I had it towed home and have been cleaning it up. Runs nice, is 5 spd and is a great car. Problem is they gave it to me with no title and the car is still currently registered to Washington DC. I was going to apply for a bonded title here in Texas, got the papaerwork and started filling it out when, it says you can't get a bonded title on an "abandoned vehicle" I decided to car fax it and see what's going on with it, and to my surprise, despite the car sitting there for almost a year, the registration in DC was "issued or renewed" on december 5th of 2010??? :confused: So the owner is still renewing the registration from DC even though it was rotting away here in Texas?

I'd love to keep this car and register it here in Texas because it's a real hoot to drive and it runs great, just has some cosmetic issues but I don't know what to do now?? Do I contact the "owner"? Or what????

Man it must be nice to grab free cars like that!

Yes! haha until a situation like this pops up!

*YOU* should walk away, fast. It's NOT yours. At least not yet. The technical status is "posession of stolen property".

There can be "custodial" punishment for capers like GTA. (It's a felony, out here.) You DO understand that, don't you?
















Oh nevermind, sell it to a chop shop.:cool:

I see what you're saying, can't the dealership perform a lien sale on it? I received a paper from the the dealership saying they have handed the car over to me without title signed and date by the owner of the dealership, does this mean anything? Can it help if the whole GTA thing pops up? Just curious....This is such bs :mad:

That's what I thought of as well. If the owner registered it recently, he technically never abandoned it (on paper anyway). I know he's your friend, but if the owner comes back looking for his car and your friend denies anything, it could turn bad real quick. Just saying, be prepared for something like that. Have all kinds of paperwork handy, bill of sale or some form of agreement written down with both parties signing. That way if something happens, you have that document to fall back to.

Nothing is free! Remember what you said - when you showed interest in the vehicle, they immediately wanted to get rid of it by having you tow it away. They might be passing on their problem to you.

Just be cautious.

you can run the vin or have the VIN run to see who owns it and call them and say hey.. there's a car here with your name on it and it's been sitting blah blah.

Go to a different county's DMV, replace "early 90's BMW 5" with "2000 pontiac sunfire" and see what they have to say about the story.

Dont crap where u walk :D

~Nate

Thanks, yeah I'm definitely going to be treading much lighter now until I figure this out..I'll be holding on to those documents, that's for sure

I actually have the name, address and phone number of the "owner" in DC from a BMW service receipt. I'm tempted to call and be like yeah it's been sitting at the dealership, they charge 85$ a day for storing and they appraised the car for 500$... What would you like to do?

Would the best thing to do be call? Worst comes to worst, He comes and gets it and I get my money back for the battery I bought for it...Just be a bummer, it's a fun car :(

If you call him, offer to buy it from him if he wants.

At this point it's still not yours unless you have any form of agreement that states so.

California auto lien sales and auctions, San Francisco for instance.
 

How about towing it back at midnight to where you found it at, and then dumping it?

You can *STILL* keep the papers, meantime.

If the owner paid the next years tags, that is NOT necssarily dispositive of anything; but's an indication he may want to keep it.

The laws regarding perfecting lien sales vary from state to state and one city to another, but I do know something about how they work at the abandoned/lien sale towed/SFPD seized cars used in felonies/too many parking tickets, and the weekly 130 vehicles sold at auction every Wednesday at 10am.

I went to several of them, and actually bought one once for a beater, a 1986 Chevy Cavalier 2.0i wagon (named "Harvey 4 Banger", riffing on Harvey Wallbanger cocktails) that I used as a daily driver in SF, for a couple of years - where to my delight, no one dared CHALLENGE my right of way in that thing, when I came charging down the streets of SF in it.


When a car is towed by the towing company, for any reason. they have a constructive lien for the tow charge and the storage charges, which easily can run to about $1,500 in a couple of weeks!!! That's usually more than the towed car is worth --- a LOT more.



The lien holding tow company takes about a month to perfect a lien. They can't sell the car at auction for a month a least.

They remove the license plates before the auctions, nowadays, first, because for years a lot of bottom feeders and illegal aliens bought the cars at auctions, never plated or registered or insured them, or smogged them or transferred ownership - just drove them - causing mayhem to other cars in accidents and headaches for prior owners when they had wrecks or tickets later.

The tow company has to have a 10-28 run on each car first off, and then they must send a registered letter to the LKA of the owner, advising them of the tow and lien hold and how to redeem the vehicle.

After the requisite 30 days passes, the car becomes the property of the towing company and they sell the cars at auction, each Wednesday at Pier 70across 3rd street from SFPD Potrero station.

About 130 cars a week, no keys to start them, and hour to inspect all 130 of them, bidding starts at $100, and takes about 60-180 seconds per car. You have to be alert. If you win, you pay in CASH only at the window, and you get a bill of sale and title. Smog and DMV registration and new California plates are your problem, but the tow company gives a clean title and all parking tickets are erased.


There is a vendor on premises that will cut you an ignition key for $25. Or there was in 2004 last I was there.

My little Cavalier wagon, that I got there for $325, started up with a lusty roar, "Muffler bandage" falling off, and as I'd done my due diligence, (battery and horn worked and tires were not low or flat) and it had a few gallons of gas still in it, so I was the first guy out of there!!

ALL cars MUST be out of there the auction by 5pm, that day, and the losers are often abandoned by unlucky auction winners that could not get them out in time for some reason.


~~~~


There must be some similar way it works in Texas and other states.


If you want the BEEMER maybe it could be yours, but the dealer would have held the lien.

I think it could be done.


For the San Francisco auction, better explained, take a peek here at the tow company's own website, with some pic's of recent auction cars too.


www.autoreturn.com

"What happens to unclaimed vehicles?" (from their 2011 FAQ:)


What happens to unclaimed vehicles?AutoReturn requests authorization from the DMV to sell unclaimed vehicles. This is to recover towing, storage, city administration and other fees, in accordance with applicable laws.

A vehicle is deemed unclaimed when it has been left for 15 days (if valued at less than $500), 30 days (if valued between $500 and $4000), and longer for vehicles valued at more than $4000.

If the sale price of a vehicle is less than the total amount due to AutoReturn, the owner remains responsible for the balance.

If the sale price of a vehicle exceeds AutoReturn fees, we pay the S.F. administrative tow fee, outstanding DPT tickets, and applicable SFPD fees on the vehicle. Any remaining balance is paid to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Low-value vehicles are sold to vehicle dismantling operators. Higher-value vehicles are sold at AutoReturn weekly auctions.




So see if the dealer that had the car would hold the lien sale is what I am saying.

Be the auction winner at the dealers lien sale. Do it the right way.

see about having a mechanics lien filed against the car. Most likely the dealership would have to be the filer, but if you are willing to do the legwork, you might get the car. Otherwise, right now, it is someone elses car. Contact who you think is the owner and ask them for the car. It could very well be the person who owns it is not the one who abandoned it. Do this right or risk getting your ass in a sling.

In MI I would just go to the secretary of state and apply for a title....

-J

X2.
Friend of mine owns few garages around SLC, so far he took ownership of 3 cars over the last 4 years with Mechanics Lien, in Utah the time line is 28 days after the application. After that the title arriving in his (business) name and he can sell the car/truck/SUV to anyone. The car is not recorded or anything, just showing new owner (him) on Carfax. As long as you have a papers from the dealership showing that they have passed the car to you, you are good to go.
Good luck