Car Sale Process......Help Needed

canibus

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So back in December I sold one of my trucks to a friend of a friend. Payed me in full, I got the bill of sale. Gave him the pink slip and that was that. Fast forward to Monday I get a letter from the city saying that my truck got a parking ticket in January. So I call him and he fesses up that he hasn't taken ownership yet and that he can't afford to at the moment. The tags expired back in January, so it was especially important to do it before the month was up. What do I do. I'm not used to selling privately, I've always bought from dealerships or traded in. I'm worried that he'll be stupid and drive it, get pulled over or wreck. The truck is still in my name. How do I clean my hands of this truck?
 

Torch10th

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So back in December I sold one of my trucks to a friend of a friend. Payed me in full, I got the bill of sale. Gave him the pink slip and that was that. Fast forward to Monday I get a letter from the city saying that my truck got a parking ticket in January. So I call him and he fesses up that he hasn't taken ownership yet and that he can't afford to at the moment. The tags expired back in January, so it was especially important to do it before the month was up. What do I do. I'm not used to selling privately, I've always bought from dealerships or traded in. I'm worried that he'll be stupid and drive it, get pulled over or wreck. The truck is still in my name. How do I clean my hands of this truck?

Your bill of sale should be all the proof you need. Most states there's some sort of penalty for not registering a vehicle within a timely manor.

Call up the DA and fax him a copy of the bill of sale with the new owners information. They should then be able to issue the ticket to the correct party.
 

Butter pants

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Your bill of sale should be all the proof you need. Most states there's some sort of penalty for not registering a vehicle within a timely manor.

Call up the DA and fax him a copy of the bill of sale with the new owners information. They should then be able to issue the ticket to the correct party.

This. In Illinois you have 30 days to transfer ownership.
 

thomas91169

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you say you gave him the pink/title?

Did you and him sign the release of liability that is attached that releases you of liability at that point of the vehicle? That should be mailed into the DMV as soon as the car is out of your sight but if you still have it its proof enough that the car was no longer your responsibility.

I see you did pay the fine anyways, which is cool I guess and your buddy paid you back. But since hes lagging you should still get that taken care of and the car out of your possession.
 

Torch10th

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I payed the ticket and he has reimbursed me. Can I take the bill of sale to the DMV, can they help?

That should be fine so long as there were no points or anything involved on the ticket.

You should really urge him to take care of the registration though. That could end up being a more serious outcome next time. You might consider, as mentioned previously, going to the DMV and giving them the whole scoop.
 

MNCobra

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had a similar issue before but was not a friend...went to the to get tabs and they said "for which vehicle", i only had one at the time so i asked "what do you have in my name" she told me and i said that "one of those was sold years ago" and she told me all i had to do was bring the signed bill of sale so they could copy it and put it in the system and i was good...went back the next day and never had an issue
 

canibus

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you say you gave him the pink/title?

Did you and him sign the release of liability that is attached that releases you of liability at that point of the vehicle? That should be mailed into the DMV as soon as the car is out of your sight but if you still have it its proof enough that the car was no longer your responsibility.

I see you did pay the fine anyways, which is cool I guess and your buddy paid you back. But since hes lagging you should still get that taken care of and the car out of your possession.

Lol, no I gave him the whole thing. I don't know shit about how this works. I'll see about getting that back from him. Regardless I guess I'll head out to the DMV tomorrow.
 

kook911

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Don't know how it works in Cali, but here in Texas you can scrape off your registration sticker and take your plates off of the vehicle. That way they have to get it done. The plates and stickers belong to you and in Texas you can get a temp 30 day paper plate from the DMV for the car.
 

jcthorne

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Don't know how it works in Cali, but here in Texas you can scrape off your registration sticker and take your plates off of the vehicle. That way they have to get it done. The plates and stickers belong to you and in Texas you can get a temp 30 day paper plate from the DMV for the car.

While it does not help the OP, the above is not correct information. In Texas, the registration (and plates if not vanity plates) stays with the vehicle. There is a form you can fill out at the DMV or online at the DMV site that tells the DMV you no longer own the vehicle.

If the new owner does not pay sales tax withing 30 days, the fines start racking up....fast.

Vanity plates belong to the purchaser but when transfered to a new vehicle, the registration assigend is new.

Perhaps CA DMV has such a form for telling the state the ownership has transferred and along with it the liability.
 

thomas91169

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Perhaps CA DMV has such a form for telling the state the ownership has transferred and along with it the liability.

Yeah they do, it's attached to the title called "release of liability" and both the buyer and seller sign it, thus the buyer acknowledges the vehicle is now his responsibility. The seller should print a copy for themselves and turn in the actual copy to the dmv. I believe it even has mailing instructions printed on it if you want to mail it off. I could be wrong and it might be a separate form since it's been a while since I sold a titled vehicle (used to selling financed ones where I don't have the pink), but I strongly recall keeping a portion if the title as proof that the new owner signed and took responsibility.
 

Gray_Ghost

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Another reason I like GA. My tag stays with me. I tell the tag office I sold the vehicle and all is good.
 

kook911

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While it does not help the OP, the above is not correct information. In Texas, the registration (and plates if not vanity plates) stays with the vehicle. There is a form you can fill out at the DMV or online at the DMV site that tells the DMV you no longer own the vehicle.

If the new owner does not pay sales tax withing 30 days, the fines start racking up....fast.

Vanity plates belong to the purchaser but when transfered to a new vehicle, the registration assigend is new.

Perhaps CA DMV has such a form for telling the state the ownership has transferred and along with it the liability.

I really don't know where you get your information from but your information is incorrect. Please show me where the plates stay with the vehicle. The plates are register to you in your name, in no way staying with the vehicle. That way when you take them off they have to register the vehicle. When you buy a car or register a car, do they hand you new plates or do they tell you to keep the old ones? They give you new plates that are register in your name. Oh and that 30 day bs, yeah let me know how many people really give a damn about that. So before you go off giving out incorrect info, you need to know what you are talking about before you start saying I am wrong.
 

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