Seems a shame:

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/1236592445.html



tino

 

"Please note that there is an issue with an old lien that was paid off but will take an act of God to get removed as the company that placed the lien on the car is no longer around and the DMV won't renew the registeration untill its signed off."

The PO is on the bottom of a lake?

A lien can always be contested. When the lien holder fails to respond in a reasonable amount of time, it's removed. SOunds more than fishy to me.

 

I emailed when the listing came up a day or so ago, no response.

Lien is usually from work performed isn't it? Something like a loan and they would just retain title until it was paid.

Wow do I hate to see these weird cheap tempting cars while I have more than fits in my garage etc.

 

Yes I would be quite careful of any liens on the car. The lien is an encumbrance over the car's ownership which entitles the owner of this security interest to take possession and sell it where the proceeds go to paying off any debts (any remainder would be reverted back to the legal owner of the car). In any case, it is not something you want on the title and sounds kind of fishy. Usually if the company had in fact been liquidated, or wound-up in some way, this lien would have been accounted for as an asset almost certainly during the winding up and should be struck off the title. It is true that liens can be 'struck off' from titles after a certain period of time has elapsed (so that business over property can go on), but the amount of time for a lien to lapse over a car can be something like 5 years after a filing date (depending upon jurisdiction) and even then it can be qualified on technicalities. Be careful!

 

Course the curious thing is that the seller can't legally sell to anybody but a dismantler or dealer, or any private party that buys it, and can't sort the registration out could force them to refund the money and take the car back.

OTOH I could be all wrong.

Unfortunately if it really is a parts car, its not worth $5k. It "might" have $8k to $10k in parts, but time to sell and labor to remove and ship and you might as well work at McDonalds.

 

If anybody was unsure, its an automatic. Which means only the front of the car is useful to me.

 

Lien, no problem. I ran into the same thing with a toyo once. Signed the release myself: Edward G. Toyota. It's only a problem when you really don't know if the loan is paid or not.
In a second circumstance, A Mazda this time, the lender had a typo on the original documentation, for the VIN. The bank had a lien on a car that they had no record of, however, when the bank officer, checked the name on the title, it showed the car loan she had taken out, was paid in full. Same year car, same person, same bank, same make, model. VIN was not exactly the same, so the officer would not sign.
No problem , signed it myself. " Dick Decent "
Is it fraud? Probably, but with what intent, who is injured?