The Expert Podcast

…Oh here we go again Another dealership. Barred from selling vehicles over title problems Let's take a look. This dealership in Kansas had a $87,000 default judgment. for complaints about the dealership failing to provide title to buyers In addition to that, they failed to pay off outstanding loan balance on trade-ins resulting in consumers having two car payments and no titles. This is a big deal and here's a big red flag. The deal. allegedly this is all legend at this point There's no proof. They sold that vehicle that they didn't pay off. To a protected consumer without paying off the trade in. So this is an often overlooked reason why dealerships have title problems. If you take in a trade in. It has a lien on it. Let's say it's a. 2019 Toyota Camry somebody who was $20,000 on. So you take in that trade in. You're supposed to pay off that $20,000 loan, but what. you say well I'm not going to pay it off right away because that 20,000 is real money coming from my bank account. What if I. To sell that car to somebody else. Don't pay off the loan right away. Let them drive it. And then eventually. When I get the money I'll pay it off. But what if you never get the money What if you use that 20,000 for payroll or for rent or for some advertising? Now the person who bought the car paid you. Whatever they paid you for the car Maybe they paid you 25,000 for that car…And you got that money. You didn't pay off the 20,000 loan. So you're like double dipping on that car. It's called being out of trust. And a lot of dealerships do it when they run into money problems because it's an easy way to get some extra financing without having to go to a bank. You already got the financing It's somebody else's car loan Now, if you're the person who traded it in. You have a problem because your car loan is not being paid. You might get late payments. It's going to hurt your credit. Or…if you're the person who bought the car. You can't get the title because some other bank is holding a title to a car You pay cash for. So, this is a very serious problem of not paying off Trade-ins again it's alleged at this point with this particular dealership. But we get calls all the time. People that bought a car. And never got the title and they found out there was a lien on it at another bank. Never got cleared. We get calls a lot of times from somebody who traded in a car. And find out that their lien never got off. So anytime you're doing a vehicle transaction buying or selling, make sure if there's any liens involved that they get cleared from the title record Even if you show that it was paid…the bank getting the check for it doesn't clear it from the title record, unless proper documents are. Signed. And submit it to the DMV. So a lien release is as important as a title sometimes more important. And dealerships a lot of times play fast and loose with titles. Anytime you see a dealership having a title problem. First red flag in your mind is, is it a lien release problem Is it a lien release default from that dealership? And if you look at that option first, it might point you in the right direction of solving that title problem.