I have no idea who owns it now. According to the DMV lady, it’s changed ownership a couple of times since we had it. When we traded it in, the dealership took ownership of it (and I think they then turned around and sold it to a wholesaler). I also have no idea why it’s still tied to us (and aside from this one ticket, I don’t think it is. I think the ticket is just stuck in the system and somebody hasn’t updated the right bits in the database yet.)
Can you ask them for proof that the vehicle belongs to you? I mean, before paying any bill, I’d want proof I actually owed anything. I’m doubting they’ll be able to come up with the info if even YOU can’t. 
I’m afraid if a company with this issue were on the phone with me, that I’d state loudly and clearly that this is obviously a scam, and they should cease and desist. Then give them the name of a lawyer to contact if they want to pursue this further. Any lawyer…any lawyer at all…
This is what I don’t understand. Don’t they write down the license plate number when they ticket a car? How could the new owner’s plate possibly be traced to you?
Isn’t California one of those states where the plate stays with the vehicle?
I didn’t realize some states did that. I guess that answers my question. Now this thread makes a lot more sense.
My guess…the plate is related to the VIN and the ownership was never transferred to the new owner. When the new owner didn’t pay the ticket the PD sent the ticket to whoever was on file with the DMV which was the OP. Asking for proof of ownership is a good idea and it may work, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they came up with a title (or some other DMV record) with the OP’s name on it.
Hopefully the dealership did their job when the took the car and it’s the DMV’s fault. If you (the OP) have any paperwork from when you sold the car to the dealership, you might want to go and dig them up, you may need them soon. That may help prove that, at the very least, the dealership owned the car after you.
I understand all that now, thanks to Moonlitherial’s post.
I didn’t realize that in some states the plate is transferred with the car. Here in PA I’ve had the same plate forever, and it’s been moved to each new car I’ve purchased. I assumed it was done that way everywhere.
I would’ve swore that was an urban legend. That’s hilarious.
This has happened to my family twice – once with a Pontiac and once with a Mercury.
Don’t ask for the buyer/dealer’s help, the buyer/dealer is the culprit (or at least indirectly involved) who dumped the car – after taking out what was useful.
As soon as you sold the car, you were supposed to file a vehicle transfer form with the DMV. It’s available on their websites now. Go fill it out, submit it, and maybe even pay a late fee. Ideally, when the buyer bought the car, he/she was also supposed to file a vehicle transfer form. When they match up, the car is associated with the new owner.
Quite often, a seller is real happy about the cash in his pocket and forgets about that bureaucratic paperwork. In this case (and one of my two cases) the buyer counted on that and did what he did: Skip filing the transfer form, swap out the engine with a more worn-out one, and drive the car on its last legs to some not-so-great neighborhood. The tickets piled up, the car was towed away, and the buyer didn’t have to pay a wrecking yard for disposal of a dead car. The seller was blamed because no transfer forms were filed.
Except that on one of my cars, I completed and submitted my paperwork on my way home from the sale. When the CHP sent me a letter asking for towing and parking ticket fees, I redirected them to the DMV, which already had my paperwork received (but, for some reason, not entered into the system yet). I assume the CHP went after the buyer for their money after that, but they didn’t bother me again.
—G!
Nobody’s gonna beat my car
I’m gonna race it to the ground…
. --Deep Purple
. Highway Star
You hear a lot of stories like this when donating cars: the agency you donate it to doesn’t bother to file the paperwork with the DMV transferring the title, so the DMV still thinks it’s yours. Friends of ours had this happen (got tickets in the mail months after they’d gotten rid of their car). Fortunately, he’d kept copies of all his paperwork and was able to prove he no longer owned it. Oddly, what with this having been the District of Columbia administration, that took care of it (our one experience with DC government suggested their folks wouldn’t be too efficient in sorting things out).
Have you checked with your state’s DMV to see if they still show you as owning the car? That’s definitely something you need to get cleared up (and YOU need to have copies of the paperwork from when you did the trade in - if you don’t, you could be screwed, badly).
We have copies of the paperwork somewhere…but I did check with the DMV yesterday and they show us as not owning the car–in fact, they told us that the title had been transferred a couple more times since we traded it in. As far as they’re concerned we didn’t own the car on the day the ticket was issued, so that’s good. I think at this point I just need to send in the paperwork to request the release of liability and then send that to the people trying to collect the ticket.
I hope that’s all it takes, anyway…
If the DMV said I didn’t own the car on the day the ticket was issued, I think I might call the issuer and just tell them that and say ‘ya know what, it’s not my car, I’m not paying the ticket, go ahead and impound it’.
Actually, I see you’re dealing with a collections agency. I think at this point I would say “This is not my car, I need you to come up with proof of ownership or stop bothering me” and leave it at that.
I’m going to bet that they’re doing the same thing to everyone that’s owned the car hoping that someone will cough up the $90.
PSA:
The website AnnualCreditReport.com will allow you to access once a year, for free, your credit report at each of the Big 3 agencies. This credit report won’t show your FICO score, but it will show accounts, etc. (Note: do not use “free” credit report.com, it’s a scam.)