I shall soon have victory, and it will be glorious!

[Freiwillige]

In the summer of 2003 my beloved 1966 volkswagen beetle was loaned to a friend who needed emergency transportation to and from work , so I put a lien on the title and transfered the title so he could insure it. at first things were well and he put allot of money into the bug fixing it up and maintaining it for me. After awhile though it started to get uncomfortable and I asked him to stop since he was going all out as if it was his. He disappeared soon after and once I had located him he was driving a new car with some sad story of how the bug was at a mechanics and the mechanic got evicted and the property owner seized the car and he was working on getting it back. Again the number he gave me was soon disconnected soon and he faded into history.

That was until today! upon getting my new purchase registered I inquired about my legal standing with the lien on the old missing bug. The lady told me that after 5 years there is little they can do, cant look anything up etc unless I had the vin#. I have the old plate number I stated and so she tried to look it up and she found it! It still has the same plates, I am still on file as lien holder and it is currently registered in chandler AZ less than 50 miles away!

Soon I will be showing up with the Police to take possession of my 1966 VW bug back, and I couldn't be happier as it was my favorite vehicle of all time.

Wish me luck friends!:salute:

P.S. this time nobody but the wife will drive it, I was far to nice and trusting back then.

[Growler]

You got seriously lucky, mate. Glad to hear it, I'm just surprised that it hadn't be broken up for parts, or worse.

Slap a "Historic" tag on that sucker, tout de suite!

[FIREWALL]

Let me see if I understand your thinking. You were a Victim sooo... make the other unwiting person be a victim too.


If it was me I'd track down the crummy friend and shake him down.


I thought SS members were pretty fair and classy. Funny thing is, I always thought that of you.

I stand corrected. No. I don't wish you luck on this one.... Sorry.

[Osmium Steele]

Don't be so sure you can just show up at their door with a cop and take your property back.

You seem to have a legitimate case, so now that you have located the vehicle, you'll want to jump through all the proper hoops.

If someone applied for an abandoned vehicle title on it along the way, you may have a serious legal fight ahead of you, also it is entirely possible the current owner may have no idea of the car's status.

And yeah, any beetle from the greater four corners area is almost worth its weight in gold to VW fanatics.

[Freiwillige]

Let me see if I understand your thinking. You were a Victim sooo... make the other unwiting person be a victim too.


If it was me I'd track down the crummy friend and shake him down.


I thought SS members were pretty fair and classy. Funny thing is, I always thought that of you.

I stand corrected. No. I don't wish you luck on this one.... Sorry.

Hey bud something got crossed in your evaluation I think. I dont know how the laws are in Cali but in AZ you cannot sell a car at all with a Lien on the title. If you file for an abandoned title on a vehicle the lien must still be paid before a title can be released. The MVD would have notified me under any title transfer situation to release the Lien or else no transfer. So with that knowledge it is pretty easy to conclude that the guy driving MY car is the same guy disappeared with MY car. The abondoned car story is looking like just that...a story to get me off his case while he retains full possession of the vehicle. There is no victim other than me and that will soon be rectified.

[August]

Sounds reasonable Frei. The only part I'm curious about is you say you signed over the title but put a lien on it? For the entire value of the car?

[Freiwillige]

Yes august, actually there is a story behind that too....lol you know me by now. Since I had never intended to sell him the car and this was made clear by his constant asking and my replies were always along this line, Either it goes to my kids or I get burried in it but I will never sell it, Its part of my family. But I digress, at the AZ DMV we agreed and tried to put a lien on the car for 1 million bucks. The DMV wasn't laughing and said that the lien must be reasonable to the value of the car. So the lien put on was 1,000 USD.

It didn't really matter because he wasn't paying and I wasn't accepting payment.

Upon further research on the matter I have discovered that I can just shoot down to the DMV and have a new title issued on the spot in my name only removing his entirely, His copy of the title becomes void and mine becomes the actual title. Next I have to notify the chandler sheriff's office that my intent is to repossess my car from the listed address and send them a copy of title, That way if he calls to police its already on file as not a grand theft auto but a repossession.

And I can pay a repo company what amounts to less than $200 to do the actuall repo and it will go to their yard for 14 days and gives him access to his private property in the vehicle at which time it is released to me.....or I can just show up title in hand and demand possession of the vehicle with the P.D. on speed dial stand by.

Im thinking option 1