Help with car registration nightmare!!

E34lover

Active Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2008
Messages
284
Location
Santa Monica, Commufornia
Car(s)
Nothing right now
When I bought my car, sometime in August, the guy who owned the car signed on the wrong spot of the title. No body noticed this until my aunt tried to get my car registered at the DMV a few weeks later. They told her that we would have to get in touch with the original owner, have him sign this other piece of paper that basically said he made a mistake when transferring the title, and attach the original title with it in order to register it. My aunt and I tried to call the original owner, but all of his numbers were disconnected. This alarmed me because my thought was the car was stolen, but a quick check with the DMV verified that it wasn't. My aunt then told me to not worry about it and she would figure it all out.

(fast forward about 2 1/2 months) Last week I received a letter from the DMV saying I have failed to register my car with in 60 days of purchasing it so it is now a non-operational vehicle and I can't park it or drive it on any California highway or it would be impounded ("highways" in California is classified as any street). I brought the letter to my aunt and asked her about it. She told me that she had lost the original title and now we were in even more trouble because when the original owner bought the car from GM, he had financed it then payed it off, and there was a stamp on the original title saying the lien was payed off. Well because we don't have the original title anymore the DMV thinks there is still a lien on the car. (It still gets worse)

I did a little research and I found out that if I can get in touch with the original owner then he could get a new title and everything would be ok. Well I looked up the original owners name in google just to see what comes up and it turns out that the original owner, Mr. Ed Kuckelkorn, basically scammed people out of 6 million dollars and has now fled to China. Yea only in California...... Anyways I have no idea what to do. I have the bill of sale so I can prove we bought the car, but I have no idea how I am going to get this car registered. If any of you can help I thank you very much!
 
When I bought my car, sometime in August, the guy who owned the car signed on the wrong spot of the title. No body noticed this until my aunt tried to get my car registered at the DMV a few weeks later. They told her that we would have to get in touch with the original owner, have him sign this other piece of paper that basically said he made a mistake when transferring the title, and attach the original title with it in order to register it. My aunt and I tried to call the original owner, but all of his numbers were disconnected. This alarmed me because my thought was the car was stolen, but a quick check with the DMV verified that it wasn't. My aunt then told me to not worry about it and she would figure it all out.

(fast forward about 2 1/2 months) Last week I received a letter from the DMV saying I have failed to register my car with in 60 days of purchasing it so it is now a non-operational vehicle and I can't park it or drive it on any California highway or it would be impounded ("highways" in California is classified as any street). I brought the letter to my aunt and asked her about it. She told me that she had lost the original title and now we were in even more trouble because when the original owner bought the car from GM, he had financed it then payed it off, and there was a stamp on the original title saying the lien was payed off. Well because we don't have the original title anymore the DMV thinks there is still a lien on the car. (It still gets worse)

I did a little research and I found out that if I can get in touch with the original owner then he could get a new title and everything would be ok. Well I looked up the original owners name in google just to see what comes up and it turns out that the original owner, Mr. Ed Kuckelkorn, basically scammed people out of 6 million dollars and has now fled to China. Yea only in California...... Anyways I have no idea what to do. I have the bill of sale so I can prove we bought the car, but I have no idea how I am going to get this car registered. If any of you can help I thank you very much!

You're pretty much hosed. Hire a lawyer specializing in title law. And do not drive the car or even park it on a public street as they will not hesitate to confiscate the car.
 
Ouch.....

I can't help you, but damn that sucks man.
 
Oh, forgot. You could also look into a Defective Title Bond for California. I've just been told that they still allow that out there - but it's really expensive and it will still be months before you get the title and are able to reregister the car, IIRC. I had to do something similar here for my 700SC, but that took all of a day and I was able to register it immediately at very little cost... then again, I live in a Free State, not Commiephonia. :D
 
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Why did you wait over two weeks to register? That should be the first thing you do after buying the car.

And didn't the cop who pulled you over a couple weeks ago ask for your registration?
 
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Thanks Spectre I will look into the defective title bond. The reason why we waited was because the next day after we bought the car, we had to fly to Florida because my aunt was buying a house there and something had messed up so my aunt had had to leave immediately and she wanted me to come too. Also the cop didn't ask for my registration or proof of insurance. He just opened my glove box and took some old papers that was still left in there. He wrote down the original owners name and insurance information on the ticket.<_<
 
Even if the ticket doesn't have your name and address, you still signed it.
 
Something similar happened to me when I bought my T-bird. A guy was going to buy it, and the dealer even filled out the back of the previous owners title, then the guy changed his mind and didn't take delivery of the car. The dealer filled out some forms saying that the info on the back of title was incorrect, but the DMV wouldn't accept them, because they weren't filled out by the previous buyer. (And of course, the dealer was here in Sacramento, and the previous buyer was in Marin County.) The dealer had to do a little sleight-of-hand with the form, as she was unable to contact the previous interested buyer. I did end up getting my title a month ago, but am still waiting on my plates and registration.
And the dealer said that she is not going to fill out the title with the new owner's information until cash trades hands. Well duh. :idiot:
 
You may be able to retitle it (or bribe a friend to do it for you) in another state with less communistical tendencies.
 
Any progress on this E34lover? I'm hoping for a happy ending.
 
Ed Kuckelkorn sounds like an austrian porn star.
 
Any progress on this E34lover? I'm hoping for a happy ending.

Thanks, but sadly no... My aunt told me she would deal with it after my court date for speeding, which is 3 days from now. Oh well actually she asked one of her many lawyer friends and they said if all else fails just sue the guy and the judge will surely give me a new title in my name.
 
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