Hello all!
Mine is a tale of awful mistakes and complications - and we feel like we've hit a dead end!
The situation is as follows: my father has co-signed on a car loan for a friend a year and a half ago (yes, a very bad idea). The guy has skipped the country, leaving car my Dad's responsibility. Which would be possible to deal with, if not for the following list (plague) of problems:
- The title does not have my Dad's name on it, it's in the other guy's name; only the finance agreement had both names on it
- The title also has the wrong lienholder's name on it (Kia Motors instead of Kia Finance - they're different companies, apparently)
- The dealership where the car was bought is out of business
- The car/title was registered in New Jersey, my Dad is a resident of New York.
The New Jersey registration has expired and we are trying to get the car registered in New York. New York DMV refuses to do anything until they see my Dad's name on a title. Changing the title in New Jersey is not possible because NJ DMV requires proof of NJ residency (which, obviously, my Dad does not have). It's a dead end and neither DMV can offer any help or solutions.
Kia Finance have been nice but absolutely useless - they've sent us letters to take to the DMV and claimed that they've contacted both DVMs to no avail.
It's been 2 months of this nightmare.
Beyond that, my Dad is unable to keep up with the car loan payments - he'll have to sell it somehow, while definitely taking a loss on it (the car's blue book value is $11,000; the financed loan is for $14,000, and about $11,000 of that is still owed).
Does anyone have any ideas, experience or tips on what to do in this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Mine is a tale of awful mistakes and complications - and we feel like we've hit a dead end!
The situation is as follows: my father has co-signed on a car loan for a friend a year and a half ago (yes, a very bad idea). The guy has skipped the country, leaving car my Dad's responsibility. Which would be possible to deal with, if not for the following list (plague) of problems:
- The title does not have my Dad's name on it, it's in the other guy's name; only the finance agreement had both names on it
- The title also has the wrong lienholder's name on it (Kia Motors instead of Kia Finance - they're different companies, apparently)
- The dealership where the car was bought is out of business
- The car/title was registered in New Jersey, my Dad is a resident of New York.
The New Jersey registration has expired and we are trying to get the car registered in New York. New York DMV refuses to do anything until they see my Dad's name on a title. Changing the title in New Jersey is not possible because NJ DMV requires proof of NJ residency (which, obviously, my Dad does not have). It's a dead end and neither DMV can offer any help or solutions.
Kia Finance have been nice but absolutely useless - they've sent us letters to take to the DMV and claimed that they've contacted both DVMs to no avail.
It's been 2 months of this nightmare.
Beyond that, my Dad is unable to keep up with the car loan payments - he'll have to sell it somehow, while definitely taking a loss on it (the car's blue book value is $11,000; the financed loan is for $14,000, and about $11,000 of that is still owed).
Does anyone have any ideas, experience or tips on what to do in this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
