OT: Looking for advice re: vehicle purchase saga

[NJHusky]

He gave me tracking info that showed that something was delivered to our subdivision mail boxes, but I never received it. I honestly think he sent it. The whole thing should have been no big deal - just request a duplicate. It's the radio silence that's so weird.

Lesson learned...for important stuff. Only use FedEx. I shipped a pair of skis back after a trip. The tag got separated from the ski bag. Called them when I didn’t get the skis. I described the bag and within 10 min guy in the lost shipment warehouse found them. Contrast that with the post office...send a priority mail envelope but had the zip code off by 1 digit... gave the tracking number but all they could do was say its in philly. Never got my package delivered or returned

 

[dennismenace]

In the future I would suggest having any kind of paperwork of importance sent by certified mail return receipt requested. It is worth the expense and if you're the sender it establishes evidence that you sent it and they received it. If someone is sending something important to you make sure it gets sent the same way even if you have to pay the expense. No loose ends and avoid Murphy's law or worse (scams).

Best of luck in getting this resolved. We have good days and learning days.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Better call Sal.

 

[gtcam]

IF you have his banking info - drain the account

 

[Northbound]

@Chin Diesel has a very good way forward.

There's ways in certain states of getting a title from a surrendered car (Cars that are abandoned for example) or washing them through a state that doesn't need a title for cars of a certain age (typically 15 years) which I'm sure your Tundra is too new to qualify.

I doubt you got scammed, you have the property. I had a similar situation but it was me having a hard time picking up a vintage wrecked automobile. Finally said we'll get attorneys involved and that encouraged action on the sellers part.

 

[87Xfer]

@Chin Diesel has a very good way forward.

There's ways in certain states of getting a title from a surrendered car (Cars that are abandoned for example) or washing them through a state that doesn't need a title for cars of a certain age (typically 15 years) which I'm sure your Tundra is too new to qualify.

I doubt you got scammed, you have the property. I had a similar situation but it was me having a hard time picking up a vintage wrecked automobile. Finally said we'll get attorneys involved and that encouraged action on the sellers part.

Agreed. I sent Seller and Wifey a text and an email telling them I've retained an attorney (my company's outside counsel who happens to be in CA), and that we will start legal action to include damages and recovery of legal fees if they can't provide a meaningful update by the end of the week. We'll see if that shakes anything loose. If not I'll try the Navy route next.

Colorado has a process by which I can "bond" for a net new title, but it's administratively pretty intense, and could take 6 months.

 

[mussels]

Agreed. I sent Seller and Wifey a text and an email telling them I've retained an attorney (my company's outside counsel who happens to be in CA), and that we will start legal action to include damages and recovery of legal fees if they can't provide a meaningful update by the end of the week. We'll see if that shakes anything loose. If not I'll try the Navy route next.

Colorado has a process by which I can "bond" for a net new title, but it's administratively pretty intense, and could take 6 months.

Can you start the bonding process in parallel while you try and work with the seller? You would have to research whether it's something you can call off (assuming success with the seller), or if it's initiation itself would prevent the seller from getting a duplicate assuming he comes around. That way at least you won't loose further time assuming further inaction by the seller.

While the whole thing sounds strange to me, the post office part doesn't quite make sense. There's a service our post office offers whereby you sign up and get emailed a photo copy of every piece of mail that you will be delivered so you know if everything arrived. For you it's by subdivision ?

Could see this as problematic, if things get adversarial, since if he can show it was sent and delivered, it's not out of the question for his position to be that he fulfilled his obligation, and your beef is with the post office, or that you lost it and its your problem (which is why you might consider doing the bond thing in parallel with your other efforts).


.

 

[Jaker]

CA DMV, EDD, Franchise tax boards are all dumpster fires here, no suprise the DMV can't help you.

 

[superjohn]

Agreed. I sent Seller and Wifey a text and an email telling them I've retained an attorney (my company's outside counsel who happens to be in CA), and that we will start legal action to include damages and recovery of legal fees if they can't provide a meaningful update by the end of the week. We'll see if that shakes anything loose. If not I'll try the Navy route next.

Colorado has a process by which I can "bond" for a net new title, but it's administratively pretty intense, and could take 6 months.

Good move.

 

[87Xfer]

Can you start the bonding process in parallel while you try and work with the seller? You would have to research whether it's something you can call off (assuming success with the seller), or if it's initiation itself would prevent the seller from getting a duplicate assuming he comes around. That way at least you won't loose further time assuming further inaction by the seller.

While the whole thing sounds strange to me, the post office part doesn't quite make sense. There's a service our post office offers whereby you sign up and get emailed a photo copy of every piece of mail that you will be delivered so you know if everything arrived. For you it's by subdivision ?

Could see this as problematic, if things get adversarial, since if he can show it was sent and delivered, it's not out of the question for his position to be that he fulfilled his obligation, and your beef is with the post office, or that you lost it and its your problem (which is why you might consider doing the bond thing in parallel with your other efforts).


.

this is encouraging

I'll look more into the bonding process. I do know that if the duplicate title request was actually initiated, if the original title miraculously showed up, it wouldn't help me. Only the duplicate would be valid.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

So last summer I bought a used vehicle (Toyota Tundra) from a guy in San Diego. The seller was a nice guy. Everything was transacted online and went smoothly. I wired payment to seller and paid a transport company to deliver the truck to me in CO. No issues, truck is pristine as advertised. Seller paid off his bank loan, got the title and texted me a picture of it, and one of the USPS Priority Mail envelope when he sent it to me.

Well, the title never got here – lost in the mail. Seller initiated the process with the CA DMV to get a duplicate title. But he is in the Navy, and within a few days he deployed at sea somewhere. Fast forward 7 months, and I still have no title, and thus can’t register the vehicle. I have called, emailed and texted the seller, but haven’t heard a peep from him since Aug. 6, 2020. Through a bunch of Googling public records, I found a woman of roughly the same age as Seller who has shared his address. I managed to find her on LinkedIn, tracked down a phone number and called a few times. She answered after several tries, and turns out it’s Seller’s wife.

She was super nice, apologetic, and over the course of a few conversations she figured out that the duplicate title request was never processed by the DMV. So she said she would re-start the process. Then she decided to ghost me too. I haven’t been able to reach her by phone, email, or through LinkedIn since early December.

It's not like they have some sort of scam going here - the vehicle is in my driveway. They have no reason to not cooperate, and they both seemed like genuinely nice people. But jesus, this is pissing me off. The CA DMV will absolutely NOT share any info with me because I'm not the vehicle owner of record. Any advice on where I go from here? Get an attorney? Is there a way to contact deployed military personnel? Send a thug to the wife's office?

You sure that you didn’t buy a stolen truck ?

 

[Adios]

Seller probably told his wife to stop corresponding.

 

[mussels]

this is encouraging

I'll look more into the bonding process. I do know that if the duplicate title request was actually initiated, if the original title miraculously showed up, it wouldn't help me. Only the duplicate would be valid.

On the positive side, I don’t have any expertise in this and could be totally wrong. Just seems that if plan A hasn’t worked after 6-8 month you should start looking at plan B.

Have you tried following up with the post office using whatever info he gave you?

 

[87Xfer]

Got a text back from the wife saying that the duplicate is still in the hands of the DMV and she will do her best to get an update. Fingers crossed.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Got a text back from the wife saying that the duplicate is still in the hands of the DMV and she will do her best to get an update. Fingers crossed.

Good job and good luck. I'd just encourage to keep the attorney pressure on a steady consistent basis. Not less than every week, prob 2 x week. Basically now its a game where the consequences of doing nothing for them have to be worse than what they should do to get resolved.

 

[87Xfer]

Well, looks like a more concrete threat of legal action helped. I just got a call from the guy's wife saying that she spoke to people at the DMV and they expect to get the duplicate title to her in 2-3 weeks. We'll see. Thanks for the advice and the BY mojo!

 

[8893]

Well, looks like a more concrete threat of legal action helped. I just got a call from the guy's wife saying that she spoke to people at the DMV and they expect to get the duplicate title to her in 2-3 weeks. We'll see. Thanks for the advice and the BY mojo!

Is she throwing in a bottle of love potion, too?

 

[87Xfer]

Is she throwing in a bottle of love potion, too?

one can only hope

 

[Improviser]

Is she throwing in a bottle of love potion, too?

Sounds like a "gratuitous promise," if she makes such a promise.

Just recalling a doctrine I learned many years ago.

 

[87Xfer]

For anyone interested in the outcome, the title arrived this week along with a dozen cookies from a San Diego bakery. My wife said she's going to let me eat a couple first to make sure they aren't poisoned.

The vehicle is now registered, a scant 10 months after the bill of sale was signed!

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Congrats! Was watching this thread to see how it turned out.

 

[uconnfan68]

For anyone interested in the outcome, the title arrived this week along with a dozen cookies from a San Diego bakery. My wife said she's going to let me eat a couple first to make sure they aren't poisoned.

The vehicle is now registered, a scant 10 months after the bill of sale was signed!

Yea!!

 

[Chin Diesel]

For anyone interested in the outcome, the title arrived this week along with a dozen cookies from a San Diego bakery. My wife said she's going to let me eat a couple first to make sure they aren't poisoned.

The vehicle is now registered, a scant 10 months after the bill of sale was signed!

Okay.

Smart move by wife not to dive in on the cookies.

What flavor cookies? Beware of the old swap out of chocolate for X-lax.
Soft baked and chewy or crunchy?
Was the packaging from the bakery intact or could they have been messed with?

Not just poisoning but some snail trails or other insidious tricks. Macadamia might not be the only nuts on that cookie.

 

[Northbound]

Okay.

Smart move by wife not to dive in on the cookies.

What flavor cookies? Beware of the old swap out of chocolate for X-lax.
Soft baked and chewy or crunchy?
Was the packaging from the bakery intact or could they have been messed with?

Not just poisoning but some snail trails or other insidious tricks. Macadamia might not be the only nuts on that cookie.

It's doesn't seem like much but tea cookies, vs tea bag cookies are a REALLY big difference.

 

[87Xfer]

Okay.

Smart move by wife not to dive in on the cookies.

What flavor cookies? Beware of the old swap out of chocolate for X-lax.
Soft baked and chewy or crunchy?
Was the packaging from the bakery intact or could they have been messed with?

Not just poisoning but some snail trails or other insidious tricks. Macadamia might not be the only nuts on that cookie.

Adventurous Mix

I've tried a couple, no ill effects yet. The nuts on the other end of this deal are in uniform, at sea, so I should be safe on that particular front, unless the wife brought in stand-in gonads.