QuestionHi, my situation is this:
My sister, who resided in Desert Hot Springs, CA at the time, gave me a 1972 Datsun 240z back in December of 2005. I live in Las Vegas. The car wasn't running at the time, so I drove to CA and towed the car back to Las Vegas.
It sat in my garage, my husband puttered around with it and got it running, but it still needed quite a bit of work. (It sat in my sisters driveway for over three years, so you can imagine - all the rubber stuff was dried and cracked, all fluids gone or gunked up, etc.) However, it was a nice looking car and refurbised, could be worth well over 20k. Since the car wasn't running, I never registered the car in Nevada.
In August 2007, I sold the car to an individual who also resided in Las Vegas (and drove the car away). Since I never put the car in my name, I just gave him the title (which was signed by my sis back in 05). Apparently the guy parked the car where he shouldn't have and ended up getting it towed.
My sister received a "Request for Record Information" form from AA Action Towing dated Sept. 6, 2007. We heard nothing further until in March of 2008, she got a collection letter from an agency in CA (dated March 24th). The letter states that she owes 619.78 for balance due to Quality Towing for vehicle towed on October 5th!
She filed a "release of liability" form with the state of CA but the collection agency is stating that it doesn't matter if she filed the form or not, that she is the registered owner and is responsible for the fees. I have the guys name and address that purchased the car from me, but they didn't want that, stating that he is not the registered owner. Isn't that the point of her filing the release form? Shouldn't they be going after him for the fees? I'm sure the guy didn't put the car in his name either (or DMV would show that, right?).
My sister no longer has the vehicle on her ins. policy (of course) so we have no recourse there either. Is she (me) stuck paying this 600 bucks? Also, isn't there some time frame for tow company to notify her of any charges? I mean, six months went by before she got the collection letter and did not receive ANY letters or notices from the tow company at all. If she had, we could've addressed this issue before it went to collections.
Any help or suggestions at all will be greatly appreciated.
AnswerCheck with the California DMV and see if they "actually" processed the Release of liability form... I have heard that at times they are either way behind or do not even do the work...
But they also should be able to point out what needs to be done to solve this issue... Yes the fact that people do not transfer titles does create lots of problems and as such this kind of issue comes up a lot..
It will take some time and some effort, but I think that you can clear it up... Document everything, and of course keep good notes..
As a collection agency account, they are looking for anyone and everyone who is even remotely involved with the vehicle as they get a percentage of what they recover...
As far as letters, the request for record information she received, was part of the notification, and if she did not respond to it then she is part at fault for letting it get this far along. But remember that if push comes to shove in court, you are the next in line for responsibility since you owned it before selling it to the guy in Las Vegas... Sorry but that would be the truth in a court case..
