QuestionI sold my car in '06 -87 Honda Accord. New owner never registered car. Car was towed. Being charged approx. $1900. $132.50 for tow and $34/day for 44 days, plus approx.$315 interest. Charged on my credit. Am I responsible for this. If so, can I only pay for the tow charge since I never received any notice or am I responsible for more. I'm in California.
AnswerWell California Vehicle codes cover the whole issue of vehicle liens and sale of vehicles after being towed.
And the bad part is according to state law you, as the last registered owner of the vehicle are responsible for any towing and storage fees due. Even after the vehicle was sold.
They also cover the notification process and that has a lot of different issues there which would affect the lien.
But in a nutshell you are stuck with it unless you can prove that you sold it (copies of signed off title, bill of sale etc)
Did you report the sale to DMV as required but sending them paperwork??
Do you know who bought it, and have a way to get ahold of them ?
You might talk to the tow company and see what you can do about this if you have proof, but if you never received any papers, or notices of certified mail you might have a leg to stand on. Its shaky but it might help.
Reason I say that is that somehow, someone came up with your name and address in regards to that vehicle.
But best thing to do is start looking at the vehicle codes and see what kind of things apply in your case, I would help more but there are lots of issues and such which I do not have the answers for.
Check out the link below and it might help. (It starts in the lien section)
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc22851.htm
