Overhaulin'

Do you think I'll get my money for my car, this is long but if you could help...?

Okay so I had this "mentor" Jamie. I became pregnant and moved out of my apartment. Now she pretty much pressured me to move in with her and her husband. They are in their early 40s, Iam 22. I HAD a beautiful 95 Trans Am in great shape with only 65000miles that I was attempting to sell for quite awhile because I wanted to pay off a credit card bill I had and still have (...) Well they said they wanted to buy it not only because they wanted it but to take the 250/mth payment of my hands So I agreed and did NOT sign a bill of sale because I TRUSTED them They were to make payments of 250/mth until the debt was paid in full I sold it to them for 5grand In the meantime the agreement was that I live there RENT FREE These ppl claimed to care about my, called me family and pretended they were Now we had a falling out and I moved from there and now they are saying I owe them 2600 dollars in back rent A nice cover for the money they owe me for my car I want to sue them in small claims court but im not sure if ill win because i didnt have them sign anything However I have two letters from them and they admit they bought a car and were making payments but lie and say that since i didnt save any money(which i did) the no rent conract is null and void and now i owe them all the back rent for the 26 weeks i stayed there (which just so happens to equal to the amount they have yet to pay on my car) again nice cover up Do I have a leg to stand on in court? I am furious over this, I think its just downright sad and despicable they wanna take almost 3grand from someone half their age I worked for the car and nearly had it paid off And not to mention they are not only taking from me but my son as well They assured me all along" we know you'll be out of work but you'll have the $250 /mth coming from us" Btw I met my mentor thru a program for young adults aged out of foster care, thats how I know them and the director of that program knows there was no rent being charged and said she would go to court with me DO i have a leg to stand on? I live in Michigan if that matters. I am just wondering if verbal contracts for rent stand up in Michigan I find it funny what he said in the letter "since you didnt save the 250 car payment we gave you, our no rent contract is null and void and you owe us 2600 for back rent" wtf? THE LETTERS AR TYPED AND THEY ONLY SIGNED THE ONE ASKING FOR RENT BUT IT DOES MENTION THEY WERE MAKING CAR PAYMENTS AND THEY SENT IT CERTIFIED MAIL SO THERE'S A RECORD AT THE POST OFFICE IF THAT MATTERS AND THE TITLE IS IN JAMIES NAME they paid the remaining loan of 1400 off

Public Comments

1. Report the car as stolen. (unless title has changed hands, but your last sentences mention they are making the 'car payments'???? ---------------- Again, the last sentence says it all. I don't think they can force you or tell you what to do with your money. 'our no rent contract' letter says it all. If that letter matches the other typed letter (the one that is signed) let the judge decide if they wrote them both. Judge's aren't dumb usually and the fact that your $2,600 debt didn't arise until you were forced to leave is sort of suspicious. In fact, if they state the amount of their payments to you for the purchase of the car, then they cut that period short (you living with them) then they owe you money (as you have been saying). In which case you may want to go district court and file suit against them for $2,600. The premise being they owe you money for the car (from what I am gathering from your post). They can then hem and haw about you owing them money, but that won't matter as much without a lease. There is also a possible matter of undue influence if this person held themselves out as a mentor and your ability to think clearly was clouded by the pregnancy. If you file suit against them I would file for the unpaid value of the car. I wouldn't mention leases or rent or anything else for that matter. Those sound like defenses they may raise, but their defenses would not be part of your case in chief. IMO
2. You answered it yourself.. You have the letter. They cannot make excuses or void the agreement. So - if they didn't pay you for the car - take them to court - and if they sue you - use the letter. In the future, I don't give a d*amn if it's your mother - you ALWAYS get EVERYTHING in writing. If you don't - this is the result. If you didn't sign a bill of sale - the car is NOT theirs yet. Tell them to either nullify the rent owed per the previous agreement you had - or you will report the car stolen and/or repossess it. Their letter sounds to me as if they gave you the payment and you didn't pay the payment to the loan company/bank. If that's the case, you will end up owing the rent AND the back payments on the car.
3. It sounds as though you do have a leg to stand on. If you have the title to the car still and even if you don't you have the letters and that with the word of the person from the foster care program should eliminate their claim of rent debt. With regard to the car you will have to let the judge decide if he or she wants to take action on that piece of property. I wish you luck in any case and hope you win!
4. Your final quote will be your strongest legal argument. I'm not sure from reading your question as to whom has the car now? Nonetheless, if you have that aforementioned quote in writing from your former mentors, they will have great difficulty in ever having a court find judgement against you for rent. The statement acknowledges that there was a no rent contract. They claim that this contract was negated by your lack of saving the car payments made to you, however, unless they can provide proof that such a clause was part of your no rent agreement, then you're safe. The courts would also look at the very fact that they allowed you to live there for 6 months without ever receiving any rent, as further validation that there was no rent to be owed. A court would consider it reasonable to evict a tenant after failure to pay rent has been demonstrated. They would not find it reasonable to pursue damages such as 6 months of rent, when the damages were incurred by their allowing you to stay there so long. In other words, if you had been evicted or kicked out quickly, with the justification of not having paid rent, then a court may look harder at what they have to say, but having allowed you to live there so long will negate much of their story. Good Luck!
5. Did you have a signed lease to pay them any rent? If not, THEY don't have a leg to stand on. In the meantime, if you did not sell them the car, it's yours unless they have some document that says it's not. The fact they chose to make the payments for 6 months does NOT give them title, that belongs to you, as I read this. So you'll likely not get any MONEY for your car, but you will get the car back (and can sell it now). Without a rent agreement, they will no be able to get back rent.