redmonkey928

Wondering if anyone has a thought of suggestion on how to handle some issues with a car that was traded into a Porsche dealership, or frankly, someone to tell me I am crazy since this is not making sense to me.

I traded a Porsche to a Porsche dealer on the east coast back in Feb. 22' towards a used 911. Signed all of the paperwork and sent the title for the car I was trading in back and the dealership which they received that on Feb. 18th. The new car was delivered on March 12th, and the car I sold was physically taken that same day by the same transporter, thus completing the transaction.

Towards the end of April, I received a toll violation from the state of NY showing the car I sold with my MN plate and registration in the photo (the violation occurred on 3/15/22 after the car had left). I questioned this and in the course of the next day or so, another violation came for a parking ticket dated later in the day on 3/15/22. I hung onto the violations and have continued to receive about a letter per week with a different stance on the violations from the state of NY.

I contacted the dealership I sold the vehicle to of course in this process, and spoke with them which they denied this never happened. When I sent them a copy of the violation with a photo of the car and showing my MN plate, they proceeded to hang up on me mid-conversation since that was sent via email while on the phone. My next step was to reach out to Porsche NA and the RMV for MA. The RMV got back to me immediately and said that this was an attorney general issue, they wouldn't get involved with this.

Porsche NA opened a case, and has since more or less shared nothing other than they think it must be the transporter that drove the car, not the dealership. But, the dealership will pay the tickets and there would be no help in finding out about further fines/reported to insurance/etc. In all of this, Porsche NA's final suggestion is to file a police report in NY, and then hire an attorney, and resolve that way. I explained that is hugely disappointing as that seems like a waste of time and energy on everyone's part when there has to be an easier solution that they could help to resolve this internally. So it seems like the best course is potentially pay the fines as they continue to come in, and reach out to my insurance co.

Any advice on this or has anyone ran into a similar issue? MN is clear that the plate stays with the car, and the owner is liable is the plate is used post sale - even to a dealership who should have had dealer plates on the car. I would like some answers, but the follow-through from the dealership and Porsche NA is beyond disappointing to be honest...

BergGt3

Have you already sent proof to NY that you were not the legal owner on that date thus not responsible?

In my state we pay a small fee and report a sale to stop liability.

Larry Cable

I had a similar problem (in Ca) I sold a car to a dealer in TX and registered the change online with the Ca DMV, several months later I received a registration renewal for the sold car!

I ended up having to write to the DMV with copies of the necessary paperwork to re-inform them of the change of ownership - I suspect that the TX dealer did not file their paperwork with Ca to complete the transaction

NHmacan

If the dealer is going to pay the fines then I would not think much more about it. If you do have proof that you relinquished control of the car before the date of violation I would think the prosecutor would drop the fines. Why did you ship the car with your plates on it?

seatactony

Did you report the call as sold to your DMV? That's the seller's responsibility here in WA and you can do it online. I usually do it the second the car drives away for this reason.

Also seems nuts (and, respectfully, maybe wrong) that the plate stays with the car but the former owner somehow remains liable for that plate.

redmonkey928

MN DMV states the plates stay with the car, not the owner.

seatactony

But I would guess that is within MN. Rules of locale where car was going control. WA is the same and I pulled my plates off when I shipped my last GT3 out of state.

redmonkey928

Which will definitely be happening in the future.

rcg412

Surprised the dealer would want your plates.

Palting

This would also seriously aggravate me. Porsche NA finally took care of it by having the dealership pay for the fines, but it was still a major hassle. So, no, you're not crazy to be mad, but I would drop it and be done with it now. Lesson learned for the future.

redmonkey928

Totally a lesson for the future, but in the meantime the dealership and Porsche NA are dumping it all on myself to fix it all. I should rephrase and state they are offering to reimburse, but not going to do a darn thing. The Porsche NA rep said "file a police report, and retain an attorney would be your best bet". Thank you Porsche NA, in all seriousness it is a joke that is a) happened which I take partial fault for trusting, and b) the follow-up to the citations.

NHmacan

How much money are we talking about?

BryanCO

Who has the plates now? If the dealer, have them send you the plates, pay the tickets and never send your plates again. You may be “right” in terms of not being legally responsible but you sent the plates (not sure how this is trusting) and the other solutions are not worth the hassle.

redmonkey928

Nominal - couple hundred dollars of fines. Certainly the dollar amount is not what is the most upsetting.

Have done that for years and years, and this has never been the case. Local DMV told me years back to leave the plates on the car even if dealership is to a dealer outside of MN. But again, lesson learned going forward that wont happen.

mwar99

I'm not sure how you can't easily prove to the state you no longer owned the car. Obviously in hindsight the plate should have been removed, however if legally you don't own the car, registered to you or not, I don't see how they can make you responsible. And I wouldn't think you would need a lawyer.