If the seller was the owner's wife, does this make things any more legal than if I were to sell my neighbor's truck without him knowing (what I mean is, does the wife automatically become an owner because they're married)? How do the laws work in Michigan? Also, if the owner is incapacitated does the wife have power of attorney, making this sale legal? If husband and wife bought a car, do both of their names appear on the title or just one of them? Just curious.
Bob
Not sure about Michigan, but in Indiana you can choose between and/or if you have two people on a title. If it says "and" both parties have to sign it. If it says "or" either party can sign it.
bravenrace wrote: In reply to peter: Seems like you could work all that out after the police find the vehicle.
Depends on locality. A lot of places have LEOs with a very agressive response to this kind of thing. Guns & jails & who knows what else while waiting for your lawyer to find anyone interested in "working it out"..if the guy who bought it thought it was clean, I'd hate to put him through that.
I'd go see a lawyer.
friedgreencorrado wrote:bravenrace wrote: In reply to peter: Seems like you could work all that out after the police find the vehicle.Depends on locality. A lot of places have LEOs with a very agressive response to this kind of thing. Guns & jails & who knows what else while waiting for your lawyer to find anyone interested in "working it out"..if the guy who bought it thought it was clean, I'd hate to put him through that.
i would care less about buyer, i'd want my truck back. HE can chalk up the lesson about buying untitled vehicles in title states. report it stolen
I mean no offense to anyone by saying this, but I think that both the person who sold the truck and the buyer of the truck need to be given some reason to think more about their actions. It sounds like the person who sold the truck should have more supervision to help them make responsible decisions, and the buyer needs to be more careful about making sure they are actually purchasing a vehicle from the owner. I would also vote to report it stolen, at least from the details given.
patgizz wrote:friedgreencorrado wrote:i would care less about buyer, i'd want my truck back. HE can chalk up the lesson about buying untitled vehicles in title states. report it stolenbravenrace wrote: In reply to peter: Seems like you could work all that out after the police find the vehicle.Depends on locality. A lot of places have LEOs with a very agressive response to this kind of thing. Guns & jails & who knows what else while waiting for your lawyer to find anyone interested in "working it out"..if the guy who bought it thought it was clean, I'd hate to put him through that.
i think you are putting a lot of unneccessary b.s. on the buyer for this if you report it stolen. cars are sold all the time without titles and it is very possible the buyer lives in a state where they aren't required for cars of a certain age. (i do). and incidentally, the reason some states dont require tham after a certain age is because people loose stuff like titles and the car shouldnt have to be scrapped because of it. __it happens. yes it stinks when loved ones lose their minds and do something stupid. doesnt mean some honest joe just trying to buy a truck should have to sit in a a jail cell waiting until the ex-owner can be contacted (presumably through a chain of different folks with varying schedules and priorities) and drop the charges. he may lose a job or worse because of your absent minded loved one's mistake. how about the owner in this case chalk it up as a lesson about leaving important stuff in the hands of someone who cant handle that kind of responsability.... ?
itsarebuild wrote:patgizz wrote:i think you are putting a lot of unneccessary b.s. on the buyer for this if you report it stolen. cars are sold all the time without titles and it is very possible the buyer lives in a state where they aren't required for cars of a certain age. (i do). and incidentally, the reason some states dont require tham after a certain age is because people loose stuff like titles and the car shouldnt have to be scrapped because of it. __it happens. yes it stinks when loved ones lose their minds and do something stupid. doesnt mean some honest joe just trying to buy a truck should have to sit in a a jail cell waiting until the ex-owner can be contacted (presumably through a chain of different folks with varying schedules and priorities) and drop the charges. he may lose a job or worse because of your absent minded loved one's mistake. how about the owner in this case chalk it up as a lesson about leaving important stuff in the hands of someone who cant handle that kind of responsability.... ?friedgreencorrado wrote:i would care less about buyer, i'd want my truck back. HE can chalk up the lesson about buying untitled vehicles in title states. report it stolenbravenrace wrote: In reply to peter: Seems like you could work all that out after the police find the vehicle.Depends on locality. A lot of places have LEOs with a very agressive response to this kind of thing. Guns & jails & who knows what else while waiting for your lawyer to find anyone interested in "working it out"..if the guy who bought it thought it was clean, I'd hate to put him through that.
Yeah, IMO that's the question of location again. Most states here in the South allow "no title" sales to keep older vehicles on the road (po folks can't buy new). I've bought & sold cars without titles and have never had a problem. Pat, your state may definitely be different.
This sounds like the situation that is much easier to take care of with a friendly phone call than a stolen report. Actual owner (or the sane person, I'm a little confused on who sold the truck, who legally owned the truck, and who is doing okay mentally) should simply call the buyer and explain the situation. Say "hey, they weren't really allowed or legally able to sell you the truck, can we refund you plus a bit to bring it back?" and if the guy says no arrange to meet him and hand over the title (I'm assuming you have it from the name of the thread) and let lessons be learned.
In reply to Datsun1500:
Back to contacting the Secretary of State..
You might try contacting the more well-known title companies to see if anyone has attempted to title the vehicle through them.
In reply to carzan:
Heh? It's cheaper and easier to bond now a-days... I have a friend who sent a vin to the cookers at Broadway (for a '55 Chevy Gasser) at the cost of $500 and hasn't seen anything in months... International has almost doubled their fees. And they want proof it's a car, not some pile of crap body with ??? make believe ###'s. Thanx alot rat rodders!
slantvaliant wrote: One more reason not to buy a vehicle without a title.
Quoted for truth. Buyer is going to find out that they didn't do this deal correctly. I don't care how old the truck is.
if the problem is locating the buyer. couldn't you just buy a carfax? doesnt that tell you registration history? if you have the title you have the VIN number right?.......
Be glad this isn't Ct where we've gone from titles and registrations being seperate to when your registration was the title, to now where we're back to a seperate registration and title--and there's a 4-5 month backlog/waiting period to get a title because DMV only has 5 people total handling titles. Dealers and individuals now have cars they can't sell while waiting for a title to arrive. Thankfully my cars were in the registration is the title period, so I have a title....
Go to local DMV and talk to an investigator (your state have those?) and see where you get. Any chance at all it might have needed some work and has wound up in a repair shop locally, or semi-locally. If it has any kind of following (and what car doesn't?) check the interwebs's boards for a "Hey, look what I bought?"
Was it capable of being driven away? If not someone out there transported it. And there's a record of it at one of the transportation companies.
If all else fails, pay for a good size ad in Hemmings---it just might be cheaper than litigation later on. You are now aware of the fraudulent sale of merchandise, and there's at least a big misdemeanor, but more likely a felony there. And document everything you've done. Print out everything. Good luck.
Datsun1500 wrote:itsarebuild wrote: if the problem is locating the buyer. couldn't you just buy a carfax? doesnt that tell you registration history? if you have the title you have the VIN number right?.......Carfax is no good on older stuff. Another issue is time, if it is not reported stolen and he can get a new title because of this, it will legally become his truck. You can't report it stolen after the fact.
to your point, yes, unless it is reported stolen the new owner will be under no requirement to return the truck. so the question is, what is more important, the relationship with the absent minded relative, or the truck?
iif you are going to report it stolen, the police are going to ask for the story about what happened. thus, you are in effect going to have to say who stole it. in this case, the "theif" was the relative who didnt have the right to sell it.
so, unless the previous owner is willing to pursue the charges against said relative, the case doesnt really exist. and if it really doesnt exist, then the whole discussion is moot and is really good grounds for filing a false police report.
as much as i may have liked past and present vehicles. my decision would be simple........
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