My Old Truck Has a Mechanics Lien

[WebSnyper]

Not quite an admission, but at least he didn't say, who are you and WTF are you talking about? I then sent pics of the documents from the towing outfit.

I'm gonna check in with the tow company after work today and see if he made any effort to take care of the situation. If not, I'll follow up with another, less friendly, message. I think Monday is a reasonable deadline to give him before I take some kind of action on it.

I should also add, I have no idea who was arrested while driving the truck. This kid could have given it to a buddy, a family member, a random stranger for all I know. I googled a bit and didn't find anything about him being arrested recently.

I imagine he's either beating a trail to the BMV today to register it and get the title transferred, or he's burning the title I signed and will blow me off completely. We will see.

Try mycase https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/Search

 

[ghuns]

Try mycase https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/Search

Yeah, nothing recent on there.

Just a very impressive list of past traffic transgressions.

 

[INP8riot]

A mechanics lien really isn't anything against you per se. It's against the truck, that on record, you still show as the owner. If it is sold, they get their $.

You signed over the title. It may be considered a legal document whereby the new "owner" is required to title it on his name. You can't control what he does then. Did he happen to sign it on the spot?

I would leave well enough alone. If you want to do the guy a favor, pay it, get it back and then tell the guy you saved him a ton in storage and to pay you that amount. But then in essence you are tying yourself to that guy. He may be thankful or he may be like 90% of the people out there and feel entitled that the truck is his regardless. He could take it as you are trying to "steal" the truck back. That's why I say leave well enough alone. Your dealing with this guy is over once you signed and dated the title.

The tow company will eventually file an abandoned title and take ownership within a certain period of time.

 

[tsm]

Just ignore it. Gave an old Bonneville to a charity years ago, signed the title over and got a receipt. Received a letter from Chicago PD about a year later stating the vehicle had been used in a drug buy and was impounded. Said I could pick it up for cost of storage fees which told me neither the charity nor car driver/user had ever retitled it or they wouldn’t have been contacting me. Didn’t want to go to Chicago to collect an old, likely drug-infested vehicle I no longer wanted, so mailed a copy of the charity’s receipt to the PD and never heard anything more. Why get involved with all that if you don’t need to?

 

[Timjoebillybob]

He was posting on FaceBook yesterday, so at least he's not in jail.

I wouldn't bet on that. I was a member of a group on Facebook another member was quite open about being currently locked up in prison. My local jail allows phones for texting. No idea about calls/Internet on them though.

Indiana BMV sends me Notifications to renew the Registration on my Vehicles (yearly) ... with a option to say it was Sold / Traded

Not sure if you can do that other than at Renewal time

I believe you can do it if you have an online BMV account. Anyone can get one and they are free.

myBMV - Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles

Your myBMV account makes accessing BMV services and information more secure, convenient and accessible.

mybmv.bmv.in.gov

But doing it after it's been impounded might not help much.

 

[hopper68]

Just one more piece of advice when selling a vehicle. Never let your plates go with the vehicle. I have only seen someone once have to track down a vehicle to get their plates back.

 

[BluePig]

Had this happen to me with a truck I sold to some guy who drove to Florida with all his worldly possessions and wrecked it along with a street lamp.
Towing company and utility company tried to get me for the cost of a new pole ($3500), towing cost and storage fees. I had a signed bill of sale and a witness who also sign the bill.
The police and the utility company accepted the bill of sale no problem, but the towing company was a real pain.
They claimed that I was still the legal owner of the vehicle and I owed them.
Sent them the bill of sales and they said it wasn't valid in FL even though the sale was in IN. The guy that I sold it to ended up getting a FL title and came and got his stuff, but they still wanted me me to pay.
It got nasty and I told them that I was going to do three things:
1) Was going to file a complaint with the FL dept of services for their license.
2) File a complaint with the FL attorney General.
3) Call the local police and report them for fencing my property.
They finally figured out that it wasn't my truck anymore and I wasn't liable.
Had to watch my credit report for a year to make sure they didn't pull anymore shenanigans.
That bill of sales was worth it to me.
Also pulled the license plate when it sold.

 

[Alamo]

Had this happen to me with a truck I sold to some guy who drove to Florida with all his worldly possessions and wrecked it along with a street lamp.
Towing company and utility company tried to get me for the cost of a new pole ($3500), towing cost and storage fees. I had a signed bill of sale and a witness who also sign the bill.
The police and the utility company accepted the bill of sale no problem, but the towing company was a real pain.
They claimed that I was still the legal owner of the vehicle and I owed them.
Sent them the bill of sales and they said it wasn't valid in FL even though the sale was in IN. The guy that I sold it to ended up getting a FL title and came and got his stuff, but they still wanted me me to pay.
It got nasty and I told them that I was going to do three things:
1) Was going to file a complaint with the FL dept of services for their license.
2) File a complaint with the FL attorney General.
3) Call the local police and report them for fencing my property.
They finally figured out that it wasn't my truck anymore and I wasn't liable.
Had to watch my credit report for a year to make sure they didn't pull anymore shenanigans.
That bill of sales was worth it to me.
Also pulled the license plate when it sold.

Think how much fun this would have been if you didn’t have the BOS. That’s why I don’t think the author of this thread should just ignore the towing company.

 

[BluePig]

In my situation, the towing company said I was responsible for all the bill since their records showed I was the last owner. They said the truck would be auctioned and that $ would be applied to the bill. Anything left on the bill would be applied to me. If I didn't pay, they would take me to court. It was such a pain and I was pretty sure it was because I was out of state. I had to get my time in and time out pulled from HR to prove I wasn't in FL at the time the accident occurred.
The whole thing really ticks me off because I tried to do this guy a favor, give him a break. He was renting a place from the guy who was the witness to the sale, my good friend.
I always do a bill of sale on cars or trailers. It is just a good way to cover everyone.

 

[HoughMade]

In my situation, the towing company said I was responsible for all the bill since their records showed I was the last owner. They said the truck would be auctioned and that $ would be applied to the bill. Anything left on the bill would be applied to me. If I didn't pay, they would take me to court. It was such a pain and I was pretty sure it was because I was out of state. I had to get my time in and time out pulled from HR to prove I wasn't in FL at the time the accident occurred.
The whole thing really ticks me off because I tried to do this guy a favor, give him a break. He was renting a place from the guy who was the witness to the sale, my good friend.
I always do a bill of sale on cars or trailers. It is just a good way to cover everyone.

**ahem**

My Old Truck Has a Mechanics Lien

Got a weird letter the other day stating my 1997 K2500 Chevy truck has a mechanics lien against it. Weird cause I do all my own wrenching. Weirder, cause I sold the truck this summer. I call the number on the letter and ask, WTF? I sold this truck. Nice lady says dude you sold it to got himself...

www.indianagunowners.com

My Old Truck Has a Mechanics Lien

Got a weird letter the other day stating my 1997 K2500 Chevy truck has a mechanics lien against it. Weird cause I do all my own wrenching. Weirder, cause I sold the truck this summer. I call the number on the letter and ask, WTF? I sold this truck. Nice lady says dude you sold it to got himself...

www.indianagunowners.com

 

[Sigblitz]

My daughter sold her car to someone. It was in my name. Impound sent a letter to pick it up. "Not my car. Someone bought it." "Ok."

It would be diversion to claim ownership.

 

[Sigblitz]

I don't walk people down to the BMV and make sure they transfer the title. It's sold, I put my name as seller, and I'm done with it. The BMV has me as the last registered owner until its transferred, not the legal owner. The legal title was transferred by me to the buyer.