I made a huge mistake. Having been pretty new to the US, I did not make sure that the guy whom I sold my car actually transfers it to his name. He didn't. Now I got a letter from a towing company, that I have to pay for the car, which was in an accident. I haven't seen the thing for five month, and now this miserable little @#$ crashes it, and has it towed away, and I'm to pay.
I can't prove the car was not mine at the time of accident. (The title has a date on it, but he has the title.) I will go down to Miami Monday to ask for a police report, find the bastard and... ? How do I make him pay? As far as I see there are two possibilities: the car is still mine, he crashed it, he pays for it. (I haven't payed insurance on it since October- because I sold it... and it does not have a license plate.) Or the car is his, he crashed it, he pays for it. (He still has the signed title. Only if I knew. I asked around, I checked the tax collector's website, but I saw no warning that I had to take the guy there to make sure everything was in order...) And I lost his name (I thought I never see him or the car again), and his phone is pre-payed, disconnected, end of story. The only way to find him is with the police report.
I messed up, didn't I?
What the hell should I do? I'd love to settle it with a 12-gauge (I guess too many Clint Eastwood movies), but what do I do after finding the guy?
Should I go down to the towing company, and pay for it, remove it? I don't have a key, and I'm not sure it's drivable. Should I wait until Monday when I know his name and address? Every day it's 20 bucks plus. What if I get a junkyard to remove it? If the car is mine, I can do that -but he has a valid title he didn't bother send in, and it's my money they ask for, not his...

Anyway, every suggestion is welcome.

I sold my car to some guy last summer. I got a letter from some towing company 90 miles from here saying they had towed the car and wanted payment. My reply? Pound sand. Actually I called them and explained that I had sold the car six months earlier and they said to never mind. I was contacted by the state of Colorado about it also, and when I spoke to them they said the same thing. I think the ball is in the towing companies court to prove it was YOU who was driving the car when it was in the accident. My guess is the towing company will just sell the car at auction to recoup their losses and that will be the end of it. The one thing I certainly would NOT do is pay them anything for a car you don't own.

As long as the victim of the accident has not tried to make you liable then I think you are in the clear. Tell the towing company you don't care that they towed it. They can have it. They can't make you pay for it as far as I know.

Paul

Do you have a receipt that shows when he bought the car? That might help

My guess would be to toss the body into the swamp. :-)

I’m just kidding. We had a house trailer that had the same problem. (Well it was abandoned with taxes left unpaid not in an accident)

If they do come after you about it see if you have any proof of selling it to him (receipt, signed paper work, possibly even a witness) and start from there.

However as the others have said usually if you don’t pay the bill the towing company just keeps the car. (Things could be deferent in Florida so you may went to check that out.)

Another thing to consider is that the towing company may place the non-payment of the towing cost (plus the daily storage fee) as a debt due and report it to the credit reporting agencies.

You need to convince them that you are not the owner, do not just ignore them. As stated above, if you have any proof of sale, even a record of cashing a check received from the buyer. Use that to try to convince them.

There is virtually no way for the buyer to have titled and registered the vehicle without a bill of sale from you. This can be a simple hand written piece of paper that gives information like VIN number, purchase price, date of sale and both of your names.

If he didn't get a bill of sale, he probably just slapped some old plates on the car and drove it til it dropped.

Just curious guys, but don't you have to go to a license/plate bureau to officially
sell a car and turn over ownership, in the USA?

We may have our little faults up here in Quebec, Canada but you cannot
let the other guy drive off without officially documenting the official transfer
of ownership......it is your only protection.

Cheers,
Joe

dealerships handle them But IIRC ina Private transfer it's up to the Buyer to go to the DMV.

I agree with Matt. In the US, between two private citizens, it is up to the buyer to register and title the car in his name. The seller has to provide a bill of sale, and sign the back of the title and registration.

It is in your best interest to ensure you maintain a record of the transaction. If the buyer had killed or injured a person and you were still the registered owner (according to the DMV), the injured person could sue you for damages.

It would be up to you to prove you sold the vehicle and were no longer liable.

Thank you for the answers. Not very encouraging... I'll try my best to talk to the towing company.

Andras,
If you signed over the title to the new owner then the car is no longer legally yours, whether or not he has ever applied to have the car titled in his name or not. You sold it, accepted money for it, and signed away the title. That is all you are responsible for.

Jim

I agree, but you have to be able to prove it.

For example, I buy your car but I never registered or re-titled it. You did not keep a record of the transaction (like a bill of sale, signed photo copy of the title, bank record for cashing the check or money order).

I’m driving the car and have an accident. I leave the car at the scene and disappear.

Cops come, track down the owner of the car using the VIN. They show up at your door step. You tell them it wasn’t you driving and that you sold the car. They say, “Yeah, we’ve heard that one before.” The infamous SODDI defense (some other dude did it).

If you pull out your copy of the record of transaction, you are all set. If not, you’ll have to prove that you did sell it and were not the legal owner of the car. This could be as easy as having a friend vouch for you that the two of had a conversation about you selling the car a month ago.

In Indiana when you sell a vehicle you have to write down the mileage at the time of the sale, the selling price and date on the back of the title and get it notarized.
You cannot register the vehicle if the title has not been properly transfered...

Shaun

SODDI Defense, classic. Heard it a hundred times but never knew what it was called.

Same here in Kentucky. I bought a friend's old car for my son and we had to do all sorts of notarized stuff to be able to let my son get it registered in his name. Fortunately, our administrative assistant is a Notary Public.