Help!! I need to know what our options are!

[Anonymous]

Okay, so back in early October, we purchased a brand new car from a local dealership.  We are military, so we decided to register the car in our home state...and the dealership agreed and said they were used to doing this.  

Fast forward to the end of December. Our use permit expired. We contacted the DMV in our home state, and due to COVID they were pretty backed up.  We were told that anything sent in at that point would take about 14 weeks to process.  

So now we've been promptly making our large car payment since November....we're in good standing with the lender.  However, the lender still hasn't gotten the title.

Fast forward to today.  My husband got an email after inquiring with our home state about how long our title and registration paperwork might take.  Basically the email said...We have no record of title paperwork for a car with that VIN number.  Sorry. 

If they got the paperwork today, it would take now 5 months for us to get our registration.  

A little backstory...basically we hate the car.  The dealership pulled a bit of a switcheroo on us, and we didn't end up with the one we wanted.  Also, we traded in my previous car, which they have already sold.  This was all like 5 months ago.  But we decided it was partially our error too, so we were going to suck it up and make the payments and keep it.  

Now I am curious as to what options we have.  Since the dealership never sent the title paperwork to the state, and our lender doesn't have the title, and we don't have registration and can't drive the car...can we make the dealership take the car back???

Basically we've been paying a "use" fee for a car that we can't even drive.  They have screwed us over, as well as the lender. 

I read something saying that if they fail to provide the title, they have to rescind the contract, take the car back and give us our money back.  Is this true???

Help!!

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

You should reach out to a consumer protection attorney to see what your options are.

[4sallypat]

Wow, this sounds like something for your State attorney general to handle.

I'd send a certified letter to the dealer stating the facts and that you are requesting to have the original sales contract nullified.

This action will serve as a formal documented communication in the event the dealer does not make good.

Otherwise if you have a military JD (lawyer) for consult/advice ask them what you should do.

The last thing is to contact a news group that would be willing to take on this type of story.

I had to do that when a retailer I pre-ordered merchandise did not ship and the retailer would not do anything so I called our local "iTeam" investigative new group and they sent out a camera crew and producer who took the story public.  Corporate sent me the merchandise overnight and a $100 gift card for my troubles...

[K-in-Boston]

Assuming you are on active duty, you can get free legal assistance for consumer issues from your JAG office.  Unfortunately, I knew several people when I was enlisted who were taken advantage of by some shady dealerships nearby.

If the lienholder paperwork were in order, I can't fathom how your state's DMV could be that backed up for a simple registration.  That seems quite excessive.