Overhaulin'

what is the penalty for deliberetly selling a car and never paying off the car lien"?

I bought a car from a private party (in Ca) with the intention that they would pay off the loan balance so that I could obtain Title. It's been six months and they still haven't paid off the loan and now refuse to answer my phone calls. Can I take them to court over this matter and is there any legal penalty that I can threaten them with?

Public Comments

1. technically they've stolen the car and you have stolen goods.
2. Lesson Learned I hope: Go to the bank with the seller and get the title, or dont hand over your cash. What the seller has done is called "Selling out of trust". He was not the legal owner of the car, the bank was. He had no right to sell that car. Problem is, if you raise a stink the bank will take the car away. Its not yours, its theirs. You will be out the $$ AND out the car. Then you will have to chase the seller to get the money back, if you ever do. You cannot file a police report, because this is a civil matter. You can try taking the to court on a lawsuit for the amount you paid them, or the title to the car. However they dont have to show up in court, and then you are left trying to enforce the judgement you will be awarded. Im afraid there is no clean way out of this mess for you. File a lawsuit and see if they respond to that, then take it from there. Good luck
3. is it a stolen
4. Damnit, I have to go with Satan on this one.
5. you can get a lawyer, and try to resolve this...most likely what will happen is you will have to pay off the loan at the bank, in order to keep the car... right now neither you nor the person you bought it from owns the car...the bank does.... you will be out the money you paid the original seller.... that is unless the car was stolen...then you will be out car and money....
6. Sadly, chances are there is no penalty. The lien holder was defrauded but they just wrote it off as a cost of doing business and putting the guy in jail doesn't help their bottom line. It only hurts it because they have to pay someone to be there. You have a civil case against the guy that sold it to you but if he wont pay for the car, he sure isn't going to pay you when you win a judgment. Many lenders don't even bother suing someone without a clear path to recovery. In your case, its probably not worth your time.