Ok, here's the deal. As you may or may not know, I purchased my s2000 in chicago on January 11th. The seller seemed like a pretty upstanding guy and I felt reasonably comfortable with the deal the day it happened. I flew to chicago, checked out the car, and then gave him a check for the purchase amount. There was a lien on the title so he didn't have the title ready to pass over to me. Instead, I got a notorized bill of sale signed by both of us (as was recommended to me by members of s2ki.com).

One of the statements on the bill of sale was that I would have the title within 30 days of purchase of the vehicle (this was an arbitrary number that I picked, and should have made lower, but...), and that it would be mailed via a certified carrier.

Unfortunately, since the date of purchase, the experience has gone down hill. I have had a lot of trouble with communication with the seller, who I won't name in case he decides to read this here. He stopped returning emails and phone calls promptly and generally left me to contact him instead of keeping me up to date on the situation with the title.

Finally I managed to get him on the phone on wednesday (today is friday) at which point he told me the name of his bank, his loan officer, and told me that the title had been mailed either the previous friday or the previous monday. I asked him to call the bank back and get an exact date with a tracking number if possible. He called me back a few minutes later and said that the loan officer was gone for the day and that he had left a message with my contact information and his asking that the loan officer return the call. The seller also told me that he would contact me the next day, thursday, to let me know what was going on.

Not being very happy with the whole ordeal in general, I called the bank first thing thursday morning and asked to speak with the loan officer the seller had named. THE BANK HAD NEVER HEARD OF THE NAME. There was no loan officer by that name. I managed to speak to the actual loan officer at the bank who confirmed for me that the seller has an account with them, but has not paid off the loan on the Honda yet, and therefore the title hasn't even been released by the bank yet.

I called the seller immediately and left a rather irritated message explaining what I had found, and requesting that he call me with an explanation. He has since ignored every one of my phone calls and has also start to prank call me and hang up on the first ring.

Now, I realize that he has thirty days from the 11th of Jan. to get the title to me, but that is on Monday and he hasn't even paid off the loan yet.

WHAT CAN I DO? WHO SHOULD I CONTACT? I'm already working on getting an attorney to help me deal with this. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

wait till monday, then call his local police department and report for fraud. he'll turn up.

 

You should have taken care of this deal AT the bank in front of any account representative. Their priority is to get the loan paid off to take their names off the lein. The lein is a contract with the person who took out the loan...it ensures the bank collateral against default.

They have no contract with you, if the original seller doesn't make payments, the bank will come after the car...it won't matter that it's in your possession.

If the transaction was taken care of at the bank, the check would have been made out to the bank, and they would have given you a transfer of title document...once the title was released from the bank (about 10 days later), they would have sent it directly to you.

But now that you're in this predicament, do not give up information on yourself to the bank! Do not give them your address, your phone number, or anything. If the seller defaults on the loan, they will try to reposess. However, make your best effort to work with the bank for a good resolution. Get a copy of your cancelled check. Find out what bank it was deposited to. Let your bank know of the situation (they can be a great help if they need to be), and let the bank which issued the loan know of what bank the check was deposited to.

If you get the three banks working together, it'll be in your favor. Also, after the 30 days from the initial date of sale, retain yourself a lawyer if the seller hasn't followed through on his committments. Let him know you got a lawyer, and then inform local police of the fraud. Maybe just the mention of it would put the fear of God and punishment in him.

BTW, when you first posted pics of the car, I found it unusual that I'd never seen that car before in the Chicago-land area. Mind you, I'm very active with my fellow S2KCA members in the area, I usually make some contact with people I've never met that are seen driving the car, I participate in the big way in the import scene, and I've frequented many "speed" events (sanctioned and un-sanctioned) just to spectate.

If you don't mind me asking, how old was the seller?

 

Wow, sorry to hear this but you need to go find a lawyer asap. I not sure if I am reading this right. You don't have the title at all? He didn't sign it over to you? Listen to what Luder said

 

The seller was about 19 or 20.

 

No, I don't have the title at all. I wasn't aware that I had to sign a form to get the title transferred at the time of purchase.

This is going to be a big mess.

 

yeah i would be careful
he could also report it stolen so he didn't have to pay
for the car
i mean the written stuff he can say u made it up.
Unless he tried to deposit the check.

 

First, I wouldn't keep his name a secret... out him now. He obviously commited fraud already.

Second, He is actually screwing the bank. I imagine they'll get a lot more involved when they figure out you have a contract and their collateral and he has their money.

 

how did you pay him? by check i hope and if so would call your bank to see if they can put a stop payment on the check you gave him

 

oooohhhh, 19 or 20, sound like the prime age of irresponsibility.

You would want to make sure that the car wasn't stolen as well, definitely call the local authorities to find out! If it turns up as a stolen vehicle, you may have really shot yourself in the foot on this deal.

You do have a proper Bill of Sale agreement though?