sold a car 2 years ago and I'm getting stuck with parking tickets

[Lovehound]

If the seller truly notified DMV of the sale and can prove DMV received it, then all he need do is tell any collection agencies that he no longer owns the vehicle. Since the DMV filing shows the name/address of buyer, it seems to me the simplest thing to do is to print out that form, or better, print out the whole pink slip before the form is torn off showing buyer's signature, then mail a copy to the collection agency and tell them, "That's the guy you want, not me. I don't own the vehicle any more." Then just ignore further demands.

[JanND]

Try your States Attorney's Office....Consumer Fraud and Protection Dept. Talk to them about this situation....The new owner is committing a crime by not registering, likely no insurance either....maybe not even a drivers license.

This is putting you into a very tenuous liability situation....And who knows who actually has your car. Very scary when you think of the possibilities. Someone doing a hit and run, committing a crime and just the parking tickets.

In N.D. we are required to remove our license plates and keep them when we sell a used car.


Did a bit of research: Several different responses to other's in similar situations. Hope this helps.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=sold+a...&setlang=en-US

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by JanND

In N.D. we are required to remove our license plates and keep them when we sell a used car.

OMG! Such a simple solution!!! Too bad CA DMV is not that smart. They could even charge the new owner for the new plates. But no, our state bureaucracy is a stupid as a rock!

That would be a "lead pipe solid smack in the head" for sure solution to these types of problems. Permanent!

[cb73]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

OMG! Such a simple solution!!! Too bad CA DMV is not that smart. They could even charge the new owner for the new plates. But no, our state bureaucracy is a stupid as a rock!

That would be a "lead pipe solid smack in the head" for sure solution to these types of problems. Permanent!

If the buyer bought a car with no license plates, didn't register it, then committed a crime with it, how would that help the police locate the car? If they didn't register it and just drove around for two or three years, how would the police know when the tags expired without doing a full traffic stop?

A lot of DMV law is based on the needs of law enforcement. There continues to be a HUGE number of cars still running around without proper licensing or tags--adding no license plates to the mix would NOT be helpful.

[Lovehound]

If a buyer received the car with no plates and the original turned in the plates and reported it was sold, then he would be legally disconnected from the vehicle.

Hey, it's California. How many vehicles out there do you really think are fully legal including insurance?

At least cars with no plates stick out.

Note also, after you have several renewal stickers on a plate it's easy for somebody to razor off the top few layers and slap that on their unregistered plate, if they have a plate.

And also again, how many people would notice if their front plate is missing? How many people would report it if they did?

When you get right down to it, criminals always have an advantage and probably most criminals are never caught. -- No, make that most crimes are never solved. There's a difference if you get me.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by cb73

Ok, first, the ticket was issued by a parking agency--or more often than not a private company contracting with the city. The parking ticket billing for most cities has long been turned over to private companies who get paid only when you pay--not when they listen to you.

The billing agency gets a printout of the vehicle record. If the person you sold it to didn't transfer ownership it will still show you as the registered owner, with the Release of Liability down below. They KNOW that the name on the release of liability is the one who owes for the ticket. They will bill everyone on the record in hopes that someone pays.

Second, your liability for the car cannot revert back to you because you missed a deadline to turn in a copy of a release that they probably already had shown on the vehicle record. That's called "tell him anything to make him pay."

Third, if they're sending you to collection, it's not DMV, it's the parking agency. DMV wouldn't have asked you to send to DMV for a copy of a Release that they themselves are holding.

Respond back to the agency billing you in writing--or to the collection agency if they've moved to that already. Provide yet another copy of the Release, remind them that you do not have any liability for the car after the date of transfer shown on the Release of Liability and tell them you will be happy to discuss it in court.

If it does show up on your credit reports, respond to the credit reporting agencies that you don't owe and they refuse to give you your day in court to prove it.

The only other thing I could suggest is to call the regular DMV phone number and ask them to bring up the license number and ask if the Release of Liability clearly shows up on the vehicle record and contains the full transfer date. (They cannot give out info over the phone, but you can ask yes-no questions--"does it list John Doe as the buyer as of 1/1/2010.) Just because you wrote it on the form doesn't always mean it was keyed in correctly. If there is a problem, DMV can pull a copy and correct the vehicle record.

Hope this helps.

You are awesome~

[Lovehound]

And all of it rests on your proper notification to DMV that you have sold the vehicle. Forget that and good luck proving it's not your car.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

I already suggested that, facetiously. Technically it's fraud. You can go to jail for that. Good move, turning a traffic ticket into jail time. Not!

I think the issue has already been resolved. Seller says he has proof of sale. All he needs to do is respond to parking fine demands by replying with proof he doesn't own the vehicle, and in a nice way tell them to pound sand.

That's one thing about many collection agencies. They try fraudulent means to suck money from anybody they can name. Sometimes they scare people who don't know better into paying. The difficult part is proving fraud.

But selling the same property twice, that's easy to prove if there's two bill of sales, two signed pink slips selling to different buyers.

I make it a firm principle of my life to never intentionally violate the law. It's hard enough to not screw up and accidentally violate the law, but doing it on purpose is plain stupid.


Maybe you and I just share an odd sense of humor. That's why I posted it first, as a joke. But in reality, you probably couldn't find the vehicle anyway, not unless the parking tickets are grouped near a possible residence.

You'd need a duplicate pink slip from DMV to pull it off if you did find the vehicle. You'd be documenting the fraud case when you request the duplicate. All the DA has to do is come up with two people who claim they own the vehicle, both of them with pink slips you signed. My advice: plea bargaining.

I already had this happen. I sold a boat that needed work and the guy was way ok with it. Turns out his wife wasn't and tried to get me to return their money a week later. I told them I already bought another one. Guy ditches boat on a side street and keeps the outboard. I get a ticket and impound notice in the mail. Guy gave me a fake phone number. I asked if I could pay the fees and ticket to get it back. Of course they said. I put another motor on it and sold it for more than the first time.

The only one breaking any law was the guy that bought it. This straight from DMV. He had a certain number of days to get it titled, didn't then abandoned it.

I understand this case is different but if he's intentionally running up tickets on it he could have a case to dispute sale and get it back all legal like I did. They will tow it at some point and I doubt the new "owner" will go the legal route.

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

I understand this case is different but if he's intentionally running up tickets on it he could have a case to dispute sale and get it back all legal like I did. They will tow it at some point and I doubt the new "owner" will go the legal route.

Yeah, this is the best part of your post. Eventually the "new owner" will get so many tickets the vehicle will get towed, and then the joke will be on him.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

Yeah, this is the best part of your post. Eventually the "new owner" will get so many tickets the vehicle will get towed, and then the joke will be on him.

Probably east to vector the vehicle based on tickets