Consumer Law, Warranties Boat ownership after marina dealer is arrested

[pheasantlover]

I purchased a boat on line, through EBay, from a boat dealership in N.C. (I'm not in NC). I received the boat and it's fine. The issue is the lack of Title. The dealer kept putting me off about getting my title on the boat/trailer. After about 6 weeks, I looked into it, and received information from N.C. that the previous owner had a bank lien on the boat for $18K. (I paid $22K for the boat). Both me and the previous owner have put claims into the local fraud dept. Sheriff, and a warrant for the dealer has been issued. He was also arrested recently for doing the same thing in another situation. Now, he is on the run. As it turns out, the previous owner had put the boat on consignment sale at the dealership, and the owner never paid him after receiving my payment. Therefore, the bank lien is not paid off, and they have the title. My question is, does the previous owner have any claim to the boat whatsoever? How can I get the Title from the Bank?

 

[army judge]

Lets just say, if you DO have title, it's probably clouded.
You have a mess.
All you can do is allow the criminal justice system to proceed.
You're likely to be out your TWENTY GRAND, even if the scammer is arrested.
The scammer sold you what he didn't own.
This is why I recommend not to buy ANYTHING off of CraigsList or eBay.
Your situation illustrates what often goes wrong.
If the scammer is arrested, he's likely to be broke and ultimately incarcerated.
Therefore, he'll have no assets for you to seize, even if you were to secure a judgment he could never satisfy it, assuming he's ever caught!

You might want to complain to eBay.
They might have a way to assist you, otherwise you're probably just gave away twenty grand.
If you paid via credit card, maybe the card issuer might help by charging it back.
If you have the boat, you should make arrangements to return it to the lawful owner, the bank.
Maybe the bank might offer you a reward.