Im an idiot, do I have any options?

[Bunnykid68]

Small claims court.....you have a signed agreement and he has no paid in full receipt. He likely wont show for court and you would win by default anyway. It would be up to you to collect your "winnings", but do so with the sheriffs department in tow

I am going with this. Written agreement even if not notarized may still be good. Get his butt in court and the judge ask him if this is his signature on the agreement and he says yes it just got notarized.

 

[fordmanchris]

As I figured he never showed up, called, or messaged me. I gave him a call twice with no answer and sent him a civil text asking him to call so we can work something out. Depending on how he responded I was going to suggest the 1099 tax deal, but no such luck. Guess I will try my luck with small claims court and hope he at least works where he last did so I can give him the papers or however it works. If not I guess its a lesson learned.

 

[Fargo]

Can you forgive the debt and give them a 1099 or whatever and file it with the IRS? Forgiven debt is income

most people in these situations are there because of their repeated bad decisions in life. Giving them temporary aid doesn't fix the underlying problem. They will likely continue to make the same mistakes and bad decisions, but now they get to do it in your car, or house, or with your money. These things should come with lifestyle or education-based stipulations. Some sort of accountability method if possible.

Its only taxable if you are solvent, discharge during insolvency is excluded from gross income. It really doesn't sound like this guy is solvent so all you are really doing is giving him the car. It is extremely unlikely there would be any significant tax consequence to him.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc431.html

Best,

Joe

 

[Never A Victim]

In my experience, a $1,200 dollar lesson is one of the cheaper ones you will learn in life.

 

[Mgderf]

No good deed goes unpunished.



Move on.

 

[Harleyrider_50]

As I figured he never showed up, called, or messaged me. I gave him a call twice with no answer and sent him a civil text asking him to call so we can work something out. Depending on how he responded I was going to suggest the 1099 tax deal, but no such luck. Guess I will try my luck with small claims court and hope he at least works where he last did so I can give him the papers or however it works. If not I guess its a lesson learned.

Well........'at blows,dude...1 thing certain,karma's a sonvab***h........an' he'll get it..............If any cons'lance to ya......me'be sumthin 'round 80,000 lbs come roll'n 'long.....an' T-bone the azzwipe.......

 

[GCA321321]

What is all the 'your screwed without a lien' talk? A lien would only keep this guy from selling the Jeep until you got paid. In order to repossess the car due to his default payments with a lien on the title, you would have to instigate a # of legal proceedings to rightfully repossess the Jeep. You couldn't show up and just take it. So not having a lien on it isn't the end of the world (or a big deal at all, really..since we are talking about $1,500 bucks and the cost to repossess would eat some of that up).
If you have this plainly spelled out in writing, it is an enforceable contract...making this situation exactly what small claims court is for (claims under $6k in most areas). No attorney necessary. Go to the small claims court site in your county to pull up the forms and information for filing suit. Now getting paid on the small claims judgment is another matter...but if the guy is working, they can can garnish his wages and/or put their own liens on some of his property (or maybe even have the Sheriff repo + sell some of his property) to make sure you get paid.

None of the above is in any way intended to be legal advice. Just some ramblings based on the small snapshot of information provided. Best of luck!

 

[GCA321321]

Well........'at blows,dude...1 thing certain,karma's a sonvab***h........an' he'll get it..............If any cons'lance to ya......me'be sumthin 'round 80,000 lbs come roll'n 'long.....an' T-bone the azzwipe.......

Boomhauer?!?

 

[Dirtebiker]

......Yup......put'a 'chek' on'a x'perience list an' kiss it g'bye.....If ya sign'd the title over......it's HIS......be yer word 'against his that ya ever got paid......

'Far's have'n a key ......?.......at this point......if ya took it......it'd be 'grand theft'......felony,b'lieve.....


ONE good thing.......ya can always hope it breaks his azz up in fuel......cuzzz......they some gas-guzzle'n SOB's,hahahaha....

Harley rider, I know you think it's cool to write like (I assume) you speak, but it really makes it hard to figger.....out ....wut....ur...sain... Nowumsayin?

 

[Dirtebiker]

Well I did finally manage to get ahold of him. He gave me some bs about how he hasnt gotten a paycheckmfor a while and he just got it and will bring me some money tomorrow, but im not holding my breath on that. IF he does manage to bring me anything I am going to try to talk him into letting me hold onto the title or something (he isnt the brightest). I really cant think of anything else I could really do to ensure I get paid. Maybe get him to sighn another contract stating what he owes me or something?

I have my doubts he will show up, but if he does any ideas of what I could do. ( nonviolent and legal lol)

i wouldn't get violent, but I would make him think I would! And legal or not, if he doesn't come up with some money NOW, I'd deffinitly take the vehicle back! He broke the agreement, he doesn't deserve the car!

 

[Harleyrider_50]

Harley rider, I know you think it's cool to write like (I assume) you speak, but it really makes it hard to figger.....out ....wut....ur...sain... Nowumsayin?

.......You 'assume' correct............perty much sound like ya see it typed.....

 

[Caleb]

There's a lesson to be learned here....never, ever, ever, eveeeeeer sell a car on payments. If you sell on payments, and not give them title...they can get in an accident AND FLEE, leaving you with hit and run because car is registered in your name. If you sell on payments and give them title before they pay, you'll get what you got...ripped off.

There's no good outcome here, not directing this to OP but to everybody for future reference.

 

[MikeDVB]

There's a lesson to be learned here....never, ever, ever, eveeeeeer sell a car on payments. If you sell on payments, and not give them title...they can get in an accident AND FLEE, leaving you with hit and run because car is registered in your name. If you sell on payments and give them title before they pay, you'll get what you got...ripped off.

There's no good outcome here, not directing this to OP but to everybody for future reference.

You fill out the LIENHOLDER section of the Title before you give it to them so that they can title it in their name but you can still repossess it if they fail to meet their end of the deal.

Generally it's good to have an agreement to go along with it that states they will have it titled in their name within X days and that they are fully responsible for X, Y, and Z should they not title it in their name etc...

That said - I'm not a lawyer and every time I've sold a car it's been full value up-front or you get no car.

 

[daddyusmaximus]

Did you save a copy of the key? Make several copies. Find out where he disappeared to. Locate the car. Give some hood rat all but one of the keys to pass out. (No law breaking on your part... just handing out free keys) Chalk it up as one for the school of hard knocks.

 

[churchmouse]

Did you save a copy of the key? Make several copies. Find out where he disappeared to. Locate the car. Give some hood rat all but one of the keys to pass out. (No law breaking on your part... just handing out free keys) Chalk it up as one for the school of hard knocks.

I like it......I really do.

 

[fordmanchris]

Did you save a copy of the key? Make several copies. Find out where he disappeared to. Locate the car. Give some hood rat all but one of the keys to pass out. (No law breaking on your part... just handing out free keys) Chalk it up as one for the school of hard knocks.

I do have spare keys! I was looking at the small claims deal and it says you have to have a current address, but I have the address of who he was staying with before he moved (it must have been overnight because I live right across from them and never saw them move anything). He was the maintenance guy where I live until he got fired (was told he got laid off, later found out he was fired for drinking on the job or something and he kept the keys to all the apartments!) Anyways im wondering if I put the address where he was staying and getting his mail and pay to have a sheriff serve the papers then maybe his roommates will give up hhis new residence to the sheriff. If not I also know where he currently works and maybe I could somehow get his address from them but I doubt it.

 

[mcolford]

.......You 'assume' correct............perty much sound like ya see it typed.....

Makes you sound like a dumbass, to be quite honest.


OP, I sold a car to my foster brother (he was in our care when he was a teen, we have stayed close ever since).. Thought I could trust him to pay me regularly since he's family and all, yeah I was wrong. He had it, broke it, and then quit paying and left it abandoned in another town. SO I was stuck with a tow bill and a car with a blown engine. The nice part was it was still in my name, I still had a key, and he left a lot of valuable stuff in it, which got secured in my garage until payment was made in full.

Sorry you got shafted, but chalk it up as a lesson learned.

 

[SEIndSAM]

I do have spare keys! I was looking at the small claims deal and it says you have to have a current address, but I have the address of who he was staying with before he moved (it must have been overnight because I live right across from them and never saw them move anything). He was the maintenance guy where I live until he got fired (was told he got laid off, later found out he was fired for drinking on the job or something and he kept the keys to all the apartments!) Anyways im wondering if I put the address where he was staying and getting his mail and pay to have a sheriff serve the papers then maybe his roommates will give up hhis new residence to the sheriff. If not I also know where he currently works and maybe I could somehow get his address from them but I doubt it.

OP, your going to have to spend money to file in small claims, have summons served, etc. You might want to find out how much that is going to cost.
It's unlikely your going to find any attachable assets, I hate to see you be out any more money.

 

[fordmanchris]

Im hesitant on doing it. On one hand I want to teach him a lesson not to screw people (may not really teach him anything), but on the other hand Im trying to decide if its really worth it for the hassle and to just take it as a lesson for myself. Its really not so much about the money, as much as we need it, as it is how he went about the whole thing. Hes not even man enough to say hey I cant pay you for a while or even screw you im not going to pay you anymore, but he wont even give me the courtesy of a response!


h

OP, your going to have to spend money to file in small claims, have summons served, etc. You might want to find out how much that is going to cost.
It's unlikely your going to find any attachable assets, I hate to see you be out any more money.

 

[pinshooter45]

If you have the agreement and the VIN number you can still put a Mechanics lien on it. For future reference you do not have to have the title in the buyers name to plate it. Remember when you buy a car on time from any type of finance company they hold the title. Also never give out your VIN when selling a car if someone wants it over the phone to run a "Check" or "carfax" they can use the VIN to put mechanics lien on the car you are selling, and make life difficult for you...