A title story...

[OrrieG]

I have alluded to some title issues I had years ago, the story is amusing to me so I thought I might share it.

I always wanted a mid 60's Caddy just because. 1985 a friend of a friend need Christmas money and sold me his 66 Sedan DeVille, which he disclosed had issues, for $175. That is the 4 door tuna boat model about 29 feet long. First thing I do after picking it up around the first of December is hit the car wash on the way home, ignoring the fact it is only 20 degrees outside. Two hours later after the ice is melted enough on the windshield to see I get home. One of the issues was the heater did not work. Turned out to be a bad water pump and the vaccum control system (did find out that if I removed the ac belt I could get heat out of the ac vents...). I kept if for a year or so as a Friday cruiser, guys I worked with loved to go to lunch in it. I then needed some money and sold it for $375 with bill of sale and signed title and forgot about it.

Fast forward a year. I am walking down town and notice one of the bars is having a promotion giving a way a 66 Sedan Deville painted hot pink. On close examination I notice it has the same ax hole in the trunk lid mine had and think it is cool to see it again. The bar draws the winner and it turns out to be the girlfriend of a fellow worker who immediately lets her know I used to own the car. For the next six months I get an ear full on a regular basis about what a POS it is, blah blah blah, and I keep reminding her it was a free car. She finally sells it.

Over the years I keep getting notices from different Cities and private parking lots that there are unpaid parking tickets on "my" car. I send them the BOS and finally they quit sending me notices.

Fast forward to 1987. I am hanging around the yard and two men in nice dark suits and sunglasses show up at my gate. Dogs go ape poop as they were taught. I get the dogs kenneled up and the guys show me the DEA badges. They asked if I own a 66 Caddy. I tell them I did, produce the bill of sale and photo copy of the executed title I gave the buyer. They ponder the documents while I ask what is going on. They say the car was found abandoned with evidence of interstate drug use so they ran the title and I popped up. I told them about the bar, gave them the girlfriends name and they left.

Moving on to summer 1988. I get a nasty letter from a towing company. At the direction of the County Sheriff they towed and impounded "my" car and if they do not get $800 and change they are going to sue me. I go to the Sheriff and tell him I have a legit bill of sale and copy of title. He runs the number and says "oh that one" and commences to tell me it has been thru FIVE owners without the title transfering, and has tons of parking tickets. I asked how could the thing be driven and am reminded that in Idaho the plates stay with you, not the car, so in theory you can put current plates from any vehicle on a car and unless you get pulled over, a cop can glance at the plate, see a current sticker (every years gets a different color and number of the month it expires) and move on. He says the towing company is just trying to shake me down for some money, legally I am ok.

I go to the towing company and ask to see the car to verify it is mine. I get to see ol' Pink with the ax hole and verify the vin. It has a new battery and good tires, starts but tranny has issues. I tell them I will give them scrap value (about $100 at that time) for it if they tow it to my house. I planned to pull the battery and tires, maybe the engine and sell the rest to scrappers that were paying abut $75 for non running rigs at that time. They push back saying they will just sue me in small claims for the balance. I say go ahead, I've got a bill of sale and executed title. So they change the tune and say they will crush it rather that "lose money". I called back a couple of weeks later, they say is smashed waiting for a truck to show up, I went down just to confirm it was truly dead, which it was.

And that is why I always sell using the legal title process and do not buy unless the seller does the same...