Sold vehicle, now receiving tow storage bill

[kroberts67]

Hello!  I'm sure this is a common scenerio...  

My son sold his motorcycle back in May and did the release of liability online thru the DMV the next day and took the screen shot as a receipt (they havent' sent him anything to confirm, not sure if they do).  He also has sent in the little stub from the title.  A week later, apparently the bike was towed and then eventually sold at an auction.  My son just received a bill from a collection agency ("AAA" something or other).

My synopsis:  Since the DMV does not give out SSN, and the towyard has not contacted him previously about storage nor the sale before it happened, I will assume that the current owner has been billed and has not responded and now that it's in the collection agency's hand they are sending this debt to both the current owner and the previous owner (my son).

What do we need to send to the CA?  We have the online screen shot of the release of liability, the bill of sale.  Would we need to go down the the DMV to get anything more official?  I have a friend that works at the DMV and he says to ignore them, as they wouldn't have my son's SS# and that it's typical for a CA to send the bill to both the current and previous owner.  I feel that would be foolish to ingore it, I'd rather send a letter within the 30 days to protect his credit.  Is there any way on this big earth that the CA could obtain my son's SS# and thus put it on his CR?

TIA  

[Pway]

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@kroberts67 wrote:

Hello!  I'm sure this is a common scenerio...  

My son sold his motorcycle back in May and did the release of liability online thru the DMV the next day and took the screen shot as a receipt (they havent' sent him anything to confirm, not sure if they do).  He also has sent in the little stub from the title.  A week later, apparently the bike was towed and then eventually sold at an auction.  My son just received a bill from a collection agency ("AAA" something or other).

My synopsis:  Since the DMV does not give out SSN, and the towyard has not contacted him previously about storage nor the sale before it happened, I will assume that the current owner has been billed and has not responded and now that it's in the collection agency's hand they are sending this debt to both the current owner and the previous owner (my son).

What do we need to send to the CA?  We have the online screen shot of the release of liability, the bill of sale.  Would we need to go down the the DMV to get anything more official?  I have a friend that works at the DMV and he says to ignore them, as they wouldn't have my son's SS# and that it's typical for a CA to send the bill to both the current and previous owner.  I feel that would be foolish to ingore it, I'd rather send a letter within the 30 days to protect his credit.  Is there any way on this big earth that the CA could obtain my son's SS# and thus put it on his CR?

TIA  

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A social security number is not needed to add negative information to one credit profile.  The DMV has a lot of information on each and everyone of us.  They have ways to add information without a SS#.  Please do not ignore it, take care of it at once.  

[kroberts67]

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A social security number is not needed to add negative information to one credit profile.  The DMV has a lot of information on each and everyone of us.  They have ways to add information without a SS#.  Please do not ignore it, take care of it at once.  

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Thanks, no I don't plan on ignoring it.  He's got excellent credit, and I know the damage this can cause.  I'm just concerned that even though we send in this info showing he sold it, that they will be relentless and may report it anyway and will be looking at a battle.  It's irritating that sellers aren't more protected.

[RobertEG]

Missing from the post is any discussion of the status of indebetness on his part when he sold the vehicle.

If he legitimately sold the vehicle, then it had no lien placed by a creditor?

How/why was it sold at auction?

Is towing after the sale the only asserted debt?  That does not seem likely.....

I dont see how a debt collector was involved if it was a simple sale of a vehicle.

What specifically was the "release of liability" that he was unilaterally able to do online?

[kroberts67]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Missing from the post is any discussion of the status of indebetness on his part when he sold the vehicle.

If he legitimately sold the vehicle, then it had no lien placed by a creditor?

How/why was it sold at auction?

Is towing after the sale the only asserted debt?  That does not seem likely.....

I dont see how a debt collector was involved if it was a simple sale of a vehicle.

What specifically was the "release of liability" that he was unilaterally able to do online?

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Hi Robert,

He didn't owe anything as he bought it for cash a couple of years ago, and he sold it on 5/16 for $2000 cash.  He did the release of liab on 5/17 online thru the DMV.

The motorcyle was towed on 5/23, and was never picked up so the storage grew and on 7/5 it was sold at auction.   It shows that it sold at auction for $800 and afer storage fees, yadda yadda, the difference that the tow yard is charging is what the CA is billing my son for.  My DMV friend said that it's typical for a CA to bill the current and previous owner, just to blow smoke and see who they can get to pay. The collection agy is involved because the tow yard had no response from the owner (guy who bought it from my son).  The tow yard has never contacted my son, this had only transpired since the CA got the debt.

I'm wondering what we need to send to the CA to show them he sold it and has no liability, and if there is specific wording we need to use.   

[RobertEG]

I would send the debt collector a request for debt validation, including a copy of your Release of Liability as proof of the date you released interest in the vehicle, which should resolve any issues of you being responsible for the vehicle on the date it was towed/stored.  

As an alternative or additon to filing a DV, if they have reported to a CRA, you could, since you do have some documentation to show lack of responsibility for the asserted debt, send the debt collector a direct dispute under FCRA 623(a)(8), which would have the added benefit of requiring response within 30’ish days.

If the debt collector should report to a CRA, then you can have it removed by contacting the CRA and requesting removal based on the recent consent agreement between the CRAs and the Office of the AG for NY State, which applies to all consumers.

One of the provisions in that settlement was the prohibition against posting of collections that did not arise from a contract or an agreement to pay, including items like fines, tickets, or towing fees.

[kroberts67]

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@RobertEG wrote:

I would send the debt collector a request for debt validation, including a copy of your Release of Liability as proof of the date you released interest in the vehicle, which should resolve any issues of you being responsible for the vehicle on the date it was towed/stored.  

As an alternative or additon to filing a DV, if they have reported to a CRA, you could, since you do have some documentation to show lack of responsibility for the asserted debt, send the debt collector a direct dispute under FCRA 623(a)(8), which would have the added benefit of requiring response within 30’ish days.

If the debt collector should report to a CRA, then you can have it removed by contacting the CRA and requesting removal based on the recent consent agreement between the CRAs and the Office of the AG for NY State, which applies to all consumers.

One of the provisions in that settlement was the prohibition against posting of collections that did not arise from a contract or an agreement to pay, including items like fines, tickets, or towing fees.

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Thank you Robert!  This is what I needed to know, you've always been so helpful and I appreciate it.