Hope you get to a speedy and satisfactory solution, I'm sorry this happened to you!

 

Having a past life as a civil legal recovery specialist, I have been holding back my post on this one because the outcome looks bleak and the story stinks. OP thanks for chiming back in but with all respects this is not the right place to seek advice for such a serious legal matter. Not sure if you have already but open the phone book or talk to a close mate that knows a lawyer who specializes in civil law. Either in your area or where you bought it to save possible jurisdictional issues down the road. I expect the police will see this as a civil matter but I could be corrected on this as I am unsure as to U.S. law. I wish I could help more....Good luck!

 

Really think your best course of action is to pay of PFS yourself and just get the title from the seller ASAP.

 

There is one very grey way to go about this, at least with canadian laws. I'd never need to do this because it wouldn't happen to me and I'm not sure I'd be able to check my morals or ethics at the door to actually proceed with this shady plan, but hypothetically say I needed to because I spent every dollar of equity I had on this car or osmething. This is how I'd do it and it'd work:

I'd book that car into the shop I work at for a major whatever. Engine out build, full body customization. I'd disassemble the car significantly, start storage fees on it for as much as possible a day, order returnable parts, whatever to start a huge paper trail for a massive build and bill on a car that half of it is now missing and god knows where (safely stored by the 'owner' of the car and not the 'shop' for reinstall later). Doing that takes a 150k car and turn it into a devalued disassembled car missing an engine and other stuff which makes it worth 50k or whatever. At the same time you now have charges that needed to be paid to get that devalued car back, so 50k+ in parts/fees/whatever that is provable that exceeds what the car is conceivably worth to sell as is. Then you throw a mechanics lien on it which trumps every lien, including a title lien.

Then as teh shop you sit back waiting for them to find the car, or call up PFS and go hey, your car is here, here is the state of it, and here is our bill we're owed money for and would you kindly pay our bill so we can release it to you in the state it's in. Almost guaranteed the finance company goes oh god instantly.... or... takes a few days for a manager at the finance company to go OH GOD, we're not giving you a dime for that lump of scrap. Then they say sell the car for what you can get and if it exceeds the amount you're owed we get teh rest. A week or 2 later the shop provides them proof they sold the car for less (to someone you trust) than what you're owed but a believable amount, they release their lien on it and go after the previous POS owner through normal collection channels.

I've washed 'title' (we don't have physical titles here. We have a well organized government system for lien checks) liens off vehicles that way multiple times 100% above board with the finance company and totally legitimately without having to fudge a thing, so that is how I know the process works. Without a car that's worth more than what they have to pay for it to get possession of it the finance company clears the lien when the shop with the mechanical lien sells it and goes after the POS for the full amount. mechanics liens in the states trump title liens as well so I assume it would work in the states as well.

 

DP

 

At the very least, know the payoff amount so you know how big a problem it is. Will PFS release the title to the new owner or will it go to the seller for his signature? I wouldn't be too anxious to give him the pink slip so he can rack up another loan.

OP, we feel for you. This should have been a happy event.

 

Was probably a stolen vehicle! Seller just stringing you out! UGH!

 

If you are the person I know with a Spyder, feel free to PM me. I don't practice law in the subject-matter you need, but might be able to help you find a referral. I know you may be hesitant to pay for a lawyer at this stage, but after 7 months and significant monetary value on the line, this is what lawyers are for.

 

WOW ... to be blunt, it's fascinating how naive some people are, even those intelligent enough to be in a position to spend $100K+ on a car.

My advice, is that until you get confirmed payoff and can verify the account is at least paid up to date as agreed, I would keep that car in a LOCKED garage 24/7. If he is behind on the payments, and you take your car out and drive it, or park it in public places, your car can get spotted and get hooked/repoed and you'll very likely be out the money you paid for it. For all you know, this clown is probably leveraged to the hilt and you'd be hard pressed to collect anything even if you sue him and win.

What Zhao suggested would require placing a mechanic's lien on the car by a tow yard, body shop or repair shop. This is not an easy process and takes time. The shop also has to publish a public notice of a lien sale in order to legally "sell" the car and probably has to notify the lien holder as well PRIOR to selling the asset. You can see how this can become problematic if PFS responds to that notice and offers to cover the outstanding fictitious bill, or sues the shop for not making an effort to contact them in so long and racking up exhorbitant charges (i'm assuming you wouldn't actually dismantle the car and frankenstein modify it as Zhao implied). Also, if you ever sue the seller, trying to do this in a shady way will probably not look good for your case. I am not an attorney but I would consult with one ASAP in your case.

Your best case scenario is for him to pay off the car and give you the title - or if the balance is low, with your attorney's advice, pay off the remaining balance and get the title, then sue to recover the amount you paid in excess of the originally agreed upon amount. The problem is the title will likely be sent to him by PFS, and you'd be relying on him to actually get it to you. Or, you can part out the car ...

Bad position to be in but hey ... there are so many chuckleheads out there now that this scenario is probably not that uncommon. can i ask how old you are?

 

I might be the only one that thinks this, but my suggestion is that you try to continue to work it out with the dude.
My guess is that he needed the money for something else and was hoping to play catch-up and it’s taking longer than he thought (this is a hunch and solely based on your non-disclosure of who he is).
That doesn’t mean that you can’t threaten him with what everyone else is saying here.
Sometimes less is more, but it’s hard to say without knowing everything that you know…
I wish you luck and I’ll remind you that you do have the car and the paper trail on your end.

 

You might want to hold off posting in a public forum until this is resolved to your satisfaction.

You never know who is reading.

No need to lay out your game plan IMO.

 

this is also true.

 

Locking this thread per OP request.