Anyone a specialist on liens?
My situation: A few months ago, my parents sold an old, used car to another person in a private party. When my parents sold it, they went to dmv and told dmv that they had sold the car. When we had sold the car, the guy seemed reluctant to register the car in his name and wanted to register the car under his kid (only like 5 years old).
This morning, in the mail, we received a notice from a towing company, saying the car was towed a few days ago. Supposedly my dad is still the registered owner, but we had notified dmv that we sold the car. The guy we sold it to is an interested party of the lien.
Questions:
Since my dad is still the registered owner, does that mean the guy we sold it to didn't transfer the title under his name?
What should we do about the lien notice? Should we take the guy to court?
When we go to dmv, what do we tell the person? Would the person at dmv be able to rid my dad out of this situation, if we have written proof that we sold the car?
Thanks

 

There shouldn't be anything to worry about.

It is part of the rules and regulations for a towing company that they have to send this to everyone who could possibly have an interest in the car.

What this does is it ensures that no one else lays a claim to it. If the car had been stolen, for instance, you'd now know where it was, and could put a claim on it, and fetch your car.

 

But it says that my dad is still the owner...

 

From my experience working at a tow company as long as your dad turned in the release of liability he should be fine.

 

I had this problem with a car I sold a while ago and the guy never registered it. I sent in the release of liability to DMV but I still got the lien sale paperwork.

I called DMV and they confirmed that they show I sold the vehicle, the guy I sold it too never registered it, so I was shown as still the legal owner of the vehicle.

DMV said for me just to ignore it unless I wanted the vehicle back, then I could pay the fees to the tow company and recover the vehicle. If not, just ignore it and they will take ownership of the car.

 

yeah as long as they did a release of liabilty you have nothing to worry about. i just went through this. the only reason you might of been contacted is if you were still the owner they want to know if you have interest in the vehicle if you dont just ignore it. if you didnt do a release of liability go to the PD and fill a late release of liability out so if he robs a bank with it and uses it as a getaway car you and your parents arent held to it by any means.

 

i also had a question regarding this, is the seller required to smog the car?

 

I had this problem in Oregon when i traded a car in to a dealership. They didn't take my name off before they sold it. So my car was towed and had racked up a ton of fines in washington state. I had to go through lots and lots of trouble even though i had proof of it all. Washington was going to get a court order to charge me and take my license away. In the end i had to go to the dealership and have them resend in paper work to dmv proving i traded the car in cus dmv wouldnt listen to me either. About 2 months later i got my name all cleared up out of the deal.

 

Hmm... depending on how valuable the car may be, this could be profitable...