Posted by Chris Lube Lublin on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 at 10:54PM :
I learned a hard lesson the other day: Needless to say, I now have to be more stricter on how I handle vehicle titles, expecially when I sell one. Last year, about this time of year, I had a '78 Ford F-100 plain jane truck I bought really cheap, I drove it for a couple months and then sold it and made a few bucks on it. Well, I sold it to a friend-of-a-freind. The transaction went smooth and such. I dont remember if I dated the title or not. Often times I used to just sign my name and let the buyer just date it and put a sale price on it. Well, anyhow, about 2 weeks ago, I got a letter from a police department about 45 miles from here saying that they impounded my truck! Well, bear in mind, I sold it almost a year ago! Well, anyhow, I FINALLY got ahold of the guy I sold it to, and he never did transfer the title, and he sold it to another guy about 3 weeks ago. Well, apparently he didnt transfer it over yet, because, It was left setting at an appartment complex with no plate on it. They got tired of it settin there so they had it removed. Well, I tried to get him to get ahold of the guy he sold it to, but he couldnt. Here in Michigan, no matter who has possesion of the vehicle, if its in YOUR name, legally YOU are responsible for it. Well, lets just say, if the guy either didnt transfer it over, or claim it, or if I didnt pay to get my truck out of jail, I coulda been sued big time.. Well, I gave the guy alot of time and he never showed any interest in it, I went and got a duplicate title for it, and yesterday, a good friend of mine and I went and got my truck out of jail. It costed me about $5. in Long distance calls, $15. for a title, $310. to get it out of Hock, and I gave my friend $50 for his time and gas and use of his truck and trailer. This little excursion cost me close to $400. That $400. was still much cheaper than trying to contest it in court. Now I am stuck with a truck, I really have no use for. I guess I will tinker with it and drive it. But the moral of the story is, Watch your titles, Dont "jump" a title when you sell something, ALWAYS correctly sign and date it, ...and Before you let the vehicle leave, ALWAYS Make sure they transfered it in to THEIR name. I am shure some of you could relate some horror stories that are just as bad or worse!
Dodge Content: I got my PTO today in the mail from Dave Speed for my WDX. I am very happy with it, Thanks Dave!
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