Car Purchased and still repoed? - California laws for car buyers

[grigorexxxcore]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for having a look at my post!

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask this question, however I hope with some auto loan expierences some people might be familar with this situation or the laws here in California.

I have a coworker who says he purchased a car a year ago from a gentlemen, after paying him cash for the vehicle, the original owner of the car said he ‘owed’ more money on the car than it was worth and would continue to make payments on the car till it was paid off. At that point my coworker never received a pink slip or of course the title to the car, I believe they have a written agreement when they made the purchase, along with text messages and voicemails, etc…

A year later, my coworkers car that he purchased got repoed because the original owner of the car quit making payments so now he is stuck of course without a vehicle and is having some trouble figuring out what might be some possibilities? I know he is looking into small claims court here in California, has anyone had any familiar experiences with this or know what the possible outcome might be? I know he doesn’t expect to receive the entire amount he paid for the car however of course that burden can be difficult to deal with.

I guess my concern is if there are laws that protect the car buyer in situations like these and if so, what the proper measures would be or what to expect?

Thanks again everyone for all your help!

[pizzadude]

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@grigorexxxcore wrote:

Hello everyone,

Thanks for having a look at my post!

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask this question, however I hope with some auto loan expierences some people might be familar with this situation or the laws here in California.

I have a coworker who says he purchased a car a year ago from a gentlemen, after paying him cash for the vehicle, the original owner of the car said he ‘owed’ more money on the car than it was worth and would continue to make payments on the car till it was paid off. At that point my coworker never received a pink slip or of course the title to the car, I believe they have a written agreement when they made the purchase, along with text messages and voicemails, etc…

A year later, my coworkers car that he purchased got repoed because the original owner of the car quit making payments so now he is stuck of course without a vehicle and is having some trouble figuring out what might be some possibilities? I know he is looking into small claims court here in California, has anyone had any familiar experiences with this or know what the possible outcome might be? I know he doesn’t expect to receive the entire amount he paid for the car however of course that burden can be difficult to deal with.

I guess my concern is if there are laws that protect the car buyer in situations like these and if so, what the proper measures would be or what to expect?

Thanks again everyone for all your help!

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I would assume that your coworker obtained a bill of sale for the car listing a purchase price.   That along with proof of his payment for that amount could be used to seek redress in court against the owner of the car.   There may be some criminal charges that would arise but he'd need to file a police report to do that.

I don't think there's any other option for your coworker since he never really puchased / owned the car in the sense that the title was never in his name.

[taxi818]

First of all . it is just a donation. who buys a car without a title. for cash.??

are you kidding. how would you know it is not stolen in the first place.

Because the seller said so?

are you kidding. im sorry. but if your friend wants. i have a bridge in brooklyn up for sale.

[Anonymous]

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@taxi818 wrote:

First of all . it is just a donation. who buys a car without a title. for cash.??

are you kidding. how would you know it is not stolen in the first place.

Because the seller said so?

are you kidding. im sorry. but if your friend wants. i have a bridge in brooklyn up for sale.

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i couldnt have said it better

[jim44]

Unfortunately for your co-worker Pizzadude is correct in reply.... and IMHO, if I was your co-worker I would research CA law to see if the original car owner's actions are indeed cirminal.

@taxi818,  I've worked for a independent car dealer for over 20 years as well as a county tag office for 5  and I've see a lot worse situations than this concerning people being ripped off buying a car from another individual. No matter how niave a buyer may be, having a purchase agreement does give a sense of trust even when none exists. I mean the OP's coworker probably feels bad enough.............................

[grigorexxxcore]

Thanks everyone for your reply!

I understand that sometimes someones ignorance might be comical to some however it's an unfortunate situation because he had a lot of 'trust' in the seller and was completely taken advatnage of. He was 19 when he bought the car just after he enlisted, so now he is stuck in this cul-de-sac where he's trying to take legal action. 

I can see that he is able to prosecute the seller as a criminal for taking his money, I will be sure to give him a heads up and am fortunate for everyone here to take their time to reply to my concern. 

Thanks again everyone!! 

[CreditDrama85]

Sorry this happened to your friend.

IMO title never passed so regardless of what the contract said; even if it said SALE in big letters a sale never occurred because title didn't pass. basically your friend had a long term rental agreement and the other party breached the agreement by not making payments to the bank.

All your friend can do is sue for breach of contract to recover the amount of money they paid. Even if this car was stolen your friend probably would not have a claim for any criminal charges; even to have a claim for fraud your friend would have to prove the "seller" knew X and didn't disclose it. By your own admission, the seller notified your friend that he owed more to the bank and thats why he would make the payments and they had this side agreement so you might get laughed out of court on a fraud claim.

Good luck to your friend. Hopefully they kept  good records of what was paid out to the "seller"

[Creditaddict]

at least at 19 it will be a tough lesson learned early... in CA he can probably sue in small claims for $5k or something.