# Question on auto contract (legal question) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545 "2015-07-30T01:39:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/1 "2015-07-30T01:39:53Z")
Colorado if it makes a difference but I figure there are general legal rules for how contracts work. My stepson and I bought cars from the same used car lot. I owe about $700 on it and he paid his off. First indicator that things were not what they seem is when he paid off his car at the lot, he didn’t immediately get the pink slip (Colorado is a paper title state). OK maybe the dealer was waiting for his copy of the title from the state after buying the car at auction. My temp tags are expiring and so I go in. The dealer doesn’t have the paperwork so he in effect resells me the car. Now my suspicion is piqued but I take the temp tag so my car is still legal. Stepson goes in 3 days later since the tags on the car he owns are due to expire - dealer does same thing to him. I go in earlier this month to make a payment and dealer (one man + wife) is meeting with “people”. I make the payment and he **then** tells me he has issues with his finance company and I may be hearing from them in a week or maybe not if he can work things out. So pretty much my suspicions were confirmed. He financed the cars on his lot and he has been pocketing the money and not paying his finance company. That is why we can’t get tags and stepson cant get tags or his pink slip. So I go back two weeks later (last week) to get my registration paperwork because my temp tags are about to expire. Every car on his lot except the scrap-metal clunkers are gone. His finance company repoed them all. Oh and he wants me to come in the day they expire and he will “work something out”. So where do my stepson and I stand on owning our cars?\* Is it possible the dealer’s financer’s repo men can take my truck and I’m out $3400? \*I am filing a complaint with Colorado DMV and letting them investigate. I’m just curious who ultimately owns my car. Me because I have a contract with the dealer or the lienholder he defrauded? Can the lienholder come after me for the $3400 the dealer owes them? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/2 "2015-07-30T20:19:02Z")
Bad situation, but damn good question. Bump. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/3 "2015-07-30T21:13:24Z")
Wouldn’t it be the one who currently holds the title that would own the cars? Which I’m pretty sure would be his ‘finance company’. And, since they were probably never paid, you would probably be screwed at this point and have to sue the dealer to recoup your losses. Purely a guess on my part. I am definitely NAL. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/4 "2015-07-30T21:17:08Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I’m just curious who ultimately owns my car. Me because I have a contract with the dealer or the lienholder he defrauded? Can the lienholder come after me for the $3400 the dealer owes them? I would look at your financing paperwork very carefully, but if the financing company is not named as a lienholder then you should be okay. IAAL, but not licensed in Colorado, rely on this at your peril, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/5 "2015-07-30T21:48:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I would look at your financing paperwork very carefully, but if the financing company is not named as a lienholder then you should be okay. IAAL, but not licensed in Colorado, rely on this at your peril, etc. The dealer has already shown his willing to lie to the OP. Why should the OP believe whatever is on the papers the dealer gave him? It seems most likely the OP bought, essentially, stolen property, and they’re stuck trying to get their money back from the dealer, or, possibly, convincing the dealer to pay off the finance company for his cars and hand over the titles to him, or far more remotely, convincing the finance company to cut him a break and give him the cars. OP’s main advantage here is that the dealer not paying the finance company is a contract issue, but when the dealer sold a car he didn’t really own to the OP, that’s a criminal matter. First thing I’d do is try and find a real Colorado lawyer and see if it’s worth paying them to know where you really stand, but absent that, I’d raise the point with the dealer that the finance company can repossess his cars, but the OP can get him thrown in jail, and maybe the dealer could in fact find the money to pay off those two cars or otherwise work things out before things get nasty. I don’t think it would hurt to talk to the police and make a report of theft beforehand; they might help, you never know. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/6 "2015-07-30T23:39:00Z")
The dealership has committed the crime of taking your money and not passing it along to the real lender. Call the cops & your county attorney. And look on your state’s website for the department which regulates car dealers. It’s probably a sub-section within whatever agency does driver’s license & car license plates. Call them too. They may not be able to unravel your loan situation to your satisfaction, but at a minimum you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing the dealer go to jail. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/7 "2015-07-31T05:34:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I would look at your financing paperwork very carefully, but if the financing company is not named as a lienholder then you should be okay. IAAL, but not licensed in Colorado, rely on this at your peril, etc. The dealer is the lienholder, not his finance company. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/8 "2015-07-31T05:36:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Call the cops & your county attorney. And look on your state’s website for the department which regulates car dealers. It’s probably a sub-section within whatever agency does driver’s license & car license plates. Call them too. > > They may not be able to unravel your loan situation to your satisfaction, but at a minimum you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing the dealer go to jail. That is handled through the DMV and like I said I have filed a complaint with them. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/9 "2015-07-31T13:18:02Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > The dealer has already shown his willing to lie to the OP. Why should the OP believe whatever is on the papers the dealer gave him? Because the OP doesn’t have to worry about a lienholder whose interest isn’t on the papers. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/10 "2015-07-31T14:16:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Because the OP doesn’t have to worry about a lienholder whose interest isn’t on the papers. If the papers given to the OP can’t be used to register the vehicle (as, apparently, they cannot), then whatever lienholder appears on the papers already on file at the DMV **will** be somebody to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/11 "2015-07-31T14:26:51Z")
Ah. I see now. Yeah, the mistake here was not receiving the title at the time of purchase. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/12 "2015-07-31T15:25:06Z")
Throw your keys on the roof. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-auto-contract-legal-question/726545/13 "2015-07-31T20:55:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Ah. I see now. Yeah, the mistake here was not receiving the title at the time of purchase. In Colorado, the dealer has 30 days to deliver the title. So I went in today and was “resold the car” with the dealer as the leinholder for the $700 left on the car. I asked specifically about the title and the dealer said that I should report the situation to DMV investigations and have them get the title from the finance company for me. He also asked me to do that in two weeks because _he_ is talking to the DMV investigator next week.