Vehicle Repossession How can I get my vehicle back from repossession /

[amandasetgo]

I have multiple questions and any advice is welcome and very much appreciated. Here are the details of my situation and some background...

I recently bought a 2009 Nissan, in full, from a private party. January 14th, 2015 I had the car registered and titled in my name in the state of South Carolina. My vehicle title is clean and clear, as far as liens go, according to the paperwork and the South Carolina DMV. However on February 18th, I go outside and my car is gone!! Come to find out it was repossessed because a man in the state of Georgia who previously owned the vehicle took out a title loan on the car in March of 2014 at a Titlebucks store in Lawerenceville, Georgia, which is owned by TitleMax of Georgia INC. Well apparently this man got the loan and never paid it, the amount due is over $8,000 which is what I paid for the vehicle Shortly after the loan was taken out, the vehicle was in an accident and deemed a total loss and salvaged. It was then sold at an insurance auction to somebody in Florida, and then sold to the man that I purchased the vehicle from. Even the Florida title that was signed over to me when I made the purchase did not have a lien on it. According to Titlebucks, they still have a title for MY vehicle and the lien is still valid. I've called the SC DMV and they state that my title is active, I am the legal owner and there is absolutely no loan or lien against the title. Today when I called the Georgia DMV (and I recorded the conversation) they stated that I am not the owner, that there is a lien on the title, however the loan was just placed on the title yesterday, which is February 19th AND ONE day AFTER my vehicle was repossessed!! The Titlebucks location where the loan was taken out in Georgia will not work with me at all. The district manager continues to argue with me, says that the car is not salvaged, they have no knowledge of an accident, and that I dont have a title for the vehicle. He has also called me a liar and even denied the loan being put on the title yesterday, even though they are the only ones who could have done it!! I've been to the wrecker place where my car is being held, the city police station, the county police station and magistrates court and the only thing I've been able to accomplish is getting a "claim and delivery" set against the wrecker company, along with a court date, so my vehicle can not be moved from there and hopefully the judge will order them to release my car on the court date. This is just one HUGE and COMPLICATED MESS!!!! Everybody I have spoken to has never even heard of this happening before.

So, my questions are... How is this situation even possible? How are there two active titles on one vehicle? What can I do to get my vehicle back? (Besides paying off the loan that is more than what I paid for the car) Am I going to be able to get my vehicle back and how can I speed up this process? Has anybody even heard of anything like this before? Any advice would be greatly appreciated and it is definitely needed!! I have two small children and no other vehicle, so we are stranded, and I have no money to buy another one. I just spent $8,000 on this vehicle and only had it for a month and a half before it was taken from me. Please help!!!!!

 

[army judge]

I have multiple questions and any advice is welcome and very much appreciated. Here are the details of my situation and some background...

I recently bought a 2009 Nissan, in full, from a private party. January 14th, 2015 I had the car registered and titled in my name in the state of South Carolina. My vehicle title is clean and clear, as far as liens go, according to the paperwork and the South Carolina DMV. However on February 18th, I go outside and my car is gone!! Come to find out it was repossessed because a man in the state of Georgia who previously owned the vehicle took out a title loan on the car in March of 2014 at a Titlebucks store in Lawerenceville, Georgia, which is owned by TitleMax of Georgia INC. Well apparently this man got the loan and never paid it, the amount due is over $8,000 which is what I paid for the vehicle Shortly after the loan was taken out, the vehicle was in an accident and deemed a total loss and salvaged. It was then sold at an insurance auction to somebody in Florida, and then sold to the man that I purchased the vehicle from. Even the Florida title that was signed over to me when I made the purchase did not have a lien on it. According to Titlebucks, they still have a title for MY vehicle and the lien is still valid. I've called the SC DMV and they state that my title is active, I am the legal owner and there is absolutely no loan or lien against the title. Today when I called the Georgia DMV (and I recorded the conversation) they stated that I am not the owner, that there is a lien on the title, however the loan was just placed on the title yesterday, which is February 19th AND ONE day AFTER my vehicle was repossessed!! The Titlebucks location where the loan was taken out in Georgia will not work with me at all. The district manager continues to argue with me, says that the car is not salvaged, they have no knowledge of an accident, and that I dont have a title for the vehicle. He has also called me a liar and even denied the loan being put on the title yesterday, even though they are the only ones who could have done it!! I've been to the wrecker place where my car is being held, the city police station, the county police station and magistrates court and the only thing I've been able to accomplish is getting a "claim and delivery" set against the wrecker company, along with a court date, so my vehicle can not be moved from there and hopefully the judge will order them to release my car on the court date. This is just one HUGE and COMPLICATED MESS!!!! Everybody I have spoken to has never even heard of this happening before.

So, my questions are... How is this situation even possible? How are there two active titles on one vehicle? What can I do to get my vehicle back? (Besides paying off the loan that is more than what I paid for the car) Am I going to be able to get my vehicle back and how can I speed up this process? Has anybody even heard of anything like this before? Any advice would be greatly appreciated and it is definitely needed!! I have two small children and no other vehicle, so we are stranded, and I have no money to buy another one. I just spent $8,000 on this vehicle and only had it for a month and a half before it was taken from me. Please help!!!!!

You are the victim of a very common scam.
Your plight illustrates why a prospective car buyer should avoid buying a car from a "private seller", unless the car shopper knows the seller, and conducts a proper titlke search using a service like "CarFax".

http://reports.carfax.com/1/vin-carfax-42/?partner=GPC_4

There are many wrinkles to the scam which seems to have ensnared you, Amanda.
What you describe is a form of title jumping or title skipping across state lines to boot! Yahoo, Fooey!
You reside in SC, and the dirty deed was committed in GA.
You potentially have a cause of action against the seller in GA.
Alas, chasing eight large in GA, assuming you can locate the seller is probably not going to be cost effective.

Again, certain services like "CarFax" could have probably saved you eight large, Amanda.
This simply buttresses my admonishment to avoid buying any car from a private seller.
If this had been a licensed car dealer, the car would have cost you more, but you would have also had recourse.
Additionally, had you financed even a thousand dollars, the bank would now be assisting you in setting this right.

GA has many common law property remedies through their various court processes by which you can possibly be made whole.

The FEW protections that might have been available to you before you made the purchase with the one exception you noted above are no longer available, or wouldn't be worth the cost you'd have to expend in hopes of obtaining equitable relief.

Carfax tracks the history of every vehicle based on its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), the information of which can be helpful when you buy a used car.
You supply CarFax the VIN of a particular vehicle manufactured as early as 1981, you can purchase a Carfax report that provides you with information regarding the vehicle's title and registration history, accident history, service history, and more. In some cases, you can even get that report for FREE!

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Carfax-for-Free

Sadly, this is too late to be of much value to you today.
However, the next time you consider buying a used car, use CarFax.
Don't be bullied or hustled into "buying today", because that's usually a clue you're being scammed.

 

[disagreeable]

Absent a court action assigning ownership post consumer loan, it appears there is a 50/50 chance they will prevail in court as the vehicle was pledged as collateral. The relevant point to be determining was whether a GA title was issued and if a lien was filed when the loan went into default. I suggest you try and research the court action in GA to determines this point. I also suggest you try to obtain GA title records.

 

[disagreeable]

I would make it a point to try and obtain a copy of the court filing in GA. The title company sat on their rights by not attaching the lien immediately upon default, likely because it had already been sold. Trying to claim the vehicle based on a lien filed after legal process has been consummated in GA and the vehicle sold by the owner to his insurance company should bar their re-establishing the title and filing a lien this late in the process. That is your argument. They sat on their claim and you obtained valid title, then they tried to assert their claim in another state on a vehicle that had already been sold to an insurance company.