Jfrahm

I was just checking a free carfax to see if the new owner of my 928s ever registered it. He hasn't. Should I contact the state and report the sale? I know some states have a form on the title that you send to the DMV to report a sale but CO does not have that.

I wonder if the car was parted out or (as is common in CO) being driven w/o plates and insurance. At least I have a bill of sale... but that's just a piece of paper. If the car was involved in an accident I don't know if that would hold up, with me being the last registered owner.

-Joel.

ErnestSw

As the registered owner you still have liability for the car. Check with a used car dealer to find out what your state laws are and what recourse you have.

Randy V

You're kidding, right Ernest?

Big Dave

Call the seller and tell him if he doesn't register it and get your name off the title, you'll report it stolen.

Otherwise, call the state registration office. I'm certain this has happened before.

Ell

I like Daves suggestion. Call the guy up. If he will not resolve the issue, then report it stolen. to bad the car is no longer insured, if he parted it out you would hit the lottery.

Bad advise, make a note to myself: Do not give illegal advice out.

Gretch

ErnestSw,

I call bull caca....................Cite a legal link please.............

athenian

Am I missing something here???

Why should you or anyone else care if the new owner has register or re-title the car you sold to him a while back??? As long as you have notified your insurance company that the vehicle is no longer insured, have removed the registration tags at the time of sale and turned in your plates to your local DMV (if that applies in your state), then you no longer liable for a car you no longer have!

The new owner may very well decide to part the car out or keep it in his garage without ever driving it....I personally have 4 (four) cars I purchased last year sitting on my driveway without registration or license plates....I'm working on them at the moment....I have the titles for them, all in the names of the previous owners....So what??? When I'm good and ready I will register and re-title the car(s) or sell them outright without doing any of that....Why is that illegal?? At least in NY state you're not forced to register or insure a car if not driven in public roads.

I don't think you should be worried about what the buyer is going to do with your car....It's NO longer your problem...You have a bill of sale and he has your car and a title....It's obviously not stolen because he has proof of ownership...Whether or not he will register HIS car at all, should be up to him....Maybe he wants to keep it in his garage as a collectible!

Cheers

NYDolfan

Athenian:

That's exactly what I was thinking ! If you got your money - turned your plates in and notified your ins company - you're done with it. It's the property of the guy who bought it to do with it as he pleases. At least in NY.

Where in Hudson Valley you hiding your shark?

Cobey

I would guess that, like the PO of my car, Joel did not remove the plates. The new owner would need them to get the car home, legally, and later tranfer them and the title over to his name. Since that last bit didn't happen, Joel's local government still think he owns and drives the car.

Jfrahm

In CO you can keep the plates or transfer them to another car.

The concern is liability, but as you say this must happen all the time, in fact does in CO. Buyers often have no intention of getting insurance and plates. I suppose if the DMV was unaware of my sale of the car I might have to prove it was not mine in the event of an incident with the car, but that is probably commonplace and therefore not too hard.

It's probably in a back yard somewhere with some mechanical problems.

Thanks,
-Joel.

Jfrahm

Re: plates,

In CO you do _not_ let the plates go with the car. I almost forgot to get them off this car, but thankfully grabbed them at the last minute. I have had buyers ask for them, in some cases I think they wanted to drive on my plates as long as they could. I left plates on a car once by mistake and got $100 in parking tickets for my trouble.

The DMV claims you are supposed to get the Bill of Sale, go to the DMV to get temporary tags, and then pick up the car. In reality people drive off w/o plates or use the plate off of another car to get home without getting pulled over.

It's worse now that owners need proof of insurance to get plates. Buyers try to take off with your plates all the time so they can drive w/o insurance for a while.

-Joel.

aircooler

Here in Canada, the plates are the owners with some provinces, but in others the plates belong to the car.

I have 2 friends that have had a similar problem. One sold the car, but when he was renewing his license some months later found that there was a number of parking tickets and a photo radar ticket that he was responsible for. It seems the person he sold the car to had not registered the car and received these fines and did not contest them (for obvious reasons).

As the fines were not contested, they were applied to the registered owner of the vehicle. Last I heard he had to pay all the fines in order to renew his license, and was trying (with great difficulty) to show he was not the owner at this time, and to get the money back.

If there were a number of photo radar tickets, he would have had even more trouble with his insurance, as they will raise their rates in relation to moving violations. This is another argument against the minis that is photo radar ticketing!

Another friend traded in his vehicle at a "dealership" for a new car. He also had 3-4 parking tickets that had been issued after he traded the car. He had to scrap it out with the dealer, to be reimbursed.

As with so many other things, ya just got ta cover your ***, cus no one else will!

TJQuill

With a bill of sale and notice to your insurance company, you should have no problem with liability if there is no state requirement for notice to the DMV.

If you report a car stolen which you have sold, you will most assuredly wind up with a conviction on your record for filing a false police report and be subject to liability to the guy who you filed the false report against. Not a good option IMO.

aircooler

Rightly so TJ..........however in Canada you are taxed/penalized first, then may ask questions later (if you can ever find out who to ask).

Dozman

If you have a bill of sale, Then I would not worry about it. Even if you notify that state's secretary of State. Do you know how long it will take the Sec of State to notify the purchaser? Yet alone the time they must give the purchaser to reply to the Sec of State?

You have your bill of sale. Don't worry about it.