The Expert Podcast

…Here's a cautionary tale for those who wish to try to claim. Ownership of an abandoned vehicle. A lot of people think that you could just claim a vehicle if it's abandoned or try to get a title for it in a most states and abandoned vehicles not finders keepers you don't get to automatically keep it. And here's a person who did just that and ended up getting arrested. The person who discovered. abandoned motor vehicles These were snowmobiles in a forest in the middle of the woods. And they saw them there for many weeks I think really more than a month they were there and decided well they must be abandoned I'm going to get them. And they started to apply for title paperwork on these motorcycle or the snowmobiles. And they were told by the DMV look you can't just take ownership of these. Without a title And they said well they're abandoned I want to get the titles And they pushed this this pursuit. And they were told no you can't do it. Well they ended up getting arrested. Because these vehicles did not belong to them. Title. To a vehicle is different than finding a quarter on the ground and putting in your pocket. A motor vehicle. Is considered to be a titled asset. That means that the ownership is tied to the name That's in the title record. It's not who's in possession of the vehicle. It's not who's in possession of the title. It's not who has the VIN number. Or who is claiming it. It's whoever's name is on that title record That's who owns it. It doesn't matter where the vehicle is. Who's got possession of it. The owner is whose name is in that title record held by the titling authority Mostly the DMV is who does it in most states. So if you are trying to claim a vehicle that's owned by somebody else and you don't have any paperwork showing that you own it. It's not going to work. In fact if you push it too far you could end up getting arrested. Like this guy did. Most of the time people who try to get a title for an abandoned vehicle it's really not abandoned They know where it came from They bought it on Craigslist bill sale. And they somehow lost the paperwork. That's fine You can get a title for that. But. Claiming some vehicle you find on the side of the road or in a parking lot. It's not as simple as abandoned vehicle You'll see in a lot of web pages web forums urban legends, old wives tales whatever you want to call it, people say you could just file for an abandoned vehicle. Is that how it works. If you truly do file an abandoned claim on a vehicle what'd you have to do is surrender that vehicle to the state and have them. Auction it off. Because if you're saying the vehicles abandoned that means you're abandoning it too Everybody's abandoning is. It's a free for all that Nobody owns it. If…Nobody wants it. When it's auctioned off the money goes to the state and they try to find the owner They'll track them down and do a skip trace, and they'll send them the money. You could bid on it at the auction but you don't get it for free. Now if you're a legitimate repair shop that had a vehicle turned in and nobody paid the bill, that's not abandoned That's a mechanics lien That's different. If you're somebody who bought a vehicle and didn't get a title and nobody helped you that's not an abandoned vehicle. That's a title recovery. So be very careful because people who try to file for an abandoned vehicle, either you get arrested or you have to turn over the vehicle to the state for them to auction it off Remember we're not attorneys giving you legal advice, but this is an example where abandoned vehicles goes bad How do we know this? You know we get thousand calls a day and usually two or 300 of them are people that say I'm going to file for an abandoned vehicle. The more we talk to those clients. Most of them are not really an abandoned vehicle It's not like a car just showed up in their driveway They didn't know where it came from It's usually that…they bought it, their friend left it there They know more about it than it just a random vehicle showed up out of nowhere But occasionally it's somebody who says look. I found this vehicle in a parking lot of this hotel or my apartment complex or I see. sitting in a field and I just want to claim it. You can't do that. You have to go through certain channels. There is what's called a lien title a civil lien title which you may be able to do. That's not an abandoned vehicle It's a civil lien where you can file a, a, court order petition against the vehicle. But it's not just an automatic I get this, keep it because I found it somewhere because you don't know maybe that person's deceased and their family is supposed to get it Maybe they're on vacation Maybe they're deployed in the military, maybe they're in prison And when they get out they're looking for. Just because somebody sold it to you also doesn't mean you get to keep it either. If somebody is in jail. And their girlfriends sold them. sold you the vehicle. If that person comes out of jail and looking for their car, the girlfriend is not allowed to sell it just because they were in jail Just because somebody is in jail doesn't mean they lose their property. When somebody dies. It doesn't mean that it automatically gets sold are supposed to go through a certain process So before you jump to a conclusion of abandoned vehicle, cautionary tale, here's a guy that was arrested. Because he was trying to claim a vehicle he found in the woods…Make sure you use the right process There's many better ways to get a title than saying it's abandoned As soon as you use that word. Now the vehicle goes to the state and they take care of it.