True Story – Dealer Did Not Provide Title for 2+ Years

Watch the Video Below: When dealers sell a car and do not have the title, buyers can have serious problems with car dealerships that can lead to legal, financial and emotional consequences. Without a clear title, Maryland buyers cannot register their new car, leading to expired temporary tags, being unable to lawfully drive the car, and other problems caused by the dishonest dealer.

Whitney, LLP attorneys help buyers with car dealer problems sue dealers, including for not having the title and when dealers will not register a new vehicle.

This video blog discusses a recent case involving a dealership that did not provide the title to a family for over 2.5 years.  This is a story of a car dealership that stopped taking any action, and tried to ignore their customer’s complaints.  This nightmare scenario is a good example of what happens when the greed of a car dealership takes over and how it can hurt consumers.

Whitney’s LLP’s attorneys for car dealer problems have experience representing car buyer. Consumers have more legal rights than they realize, and we help buyers fight back against dishonest dealers.

 Click Here to Read about our Top 10 Most Common Types of Cases against Car Dealers.

Click Here to read about past car dealer fraud settlements.
Click Here to read blogs about our other car dealer cases, including settlements and other lawsuits we filed.

We offer Legal Consultations. Call Whitney, LLP at 410 583 8000, or use our Quick Contact Form, to discuss your potential case.  Here is our YouTube Channel  for more videos on car dealer legal issues.

Dealer Sold the Car Without the Title – 2 Years Later

Edited Transcript Below:

This is Dan Whitney with the Whitney Law Firm in Towson, Maryland. Today, we’re going to talk about the issue of car dealers selling a car and not providing the title. So I’ve represented many consumers in Maryland who have purchased a car and the dealer either does not provide the title or it takes months and months to provide the title in violation of Maryland rules and administrative regulations.

So what often happens is a car dealership will sell a car, but they don’t have the title. Perhaps the lien has not been paid off from when they bought it at auction or when it was traded in, or some other issue. Now, a specific case that I want to talk about today is a recent one, and this involves a husband and wife who came to Maryland from out of state and they bought a car, and fast forward two and a half years, the dealership never provided the title.

Dealer Did Not Register the Vehicle

And this is a large dealership with approximately 20 different stores who certainly should know better and certainly has the capability of fixing a problem like this, which begs the question, why did they not fix it? So what happens is this, this family comes up from out of state, they buy a car, it’s a used vehicle. They’re given a 60 day temp tag.

The temp tag expires, so they call the dealership, the dealer issues a 30 day tag. The 30 day tag expires. So the husband starts to call the dealership, and over two and a half years, he calls dozens of times. And towards the beginning of this problem, he calls and he says, “Listen, I haven’t gotten my registration yet. I can’t legally drive this vehicle. Can you please fix the problem?”

And they say, “We haven’t sent you the title and registered the vehicle yet in your state because you owe us $3,000. We gave you too much of a credit due to your military service, but we actually shouldn’t have given it to you. And bottom line, you got to pay $3000 more.”

Refusing to Help With Title or Registration Problems After the Sale

And he says, “You know what? I don’t think that’s fair, but I need this car registered. My family uses it. Fine.” Cuts a check, sends it to the dealership. They never cash the check. So he calls and he says, “Listen, I sent you a check for $3,000. It was never cashed. What’s going on? My car needs to be registered.”

And they say, “Actually, we have no record of your deal in our records.” And he says, “Well, that’s crazy because I owe the bank money every month now, about $500 a month, and you guys got paid on this. The bank has told me that. So I know you have a copy in my file.” “We don’t have a copy.”

Dealers in Maryland are required to have the title in their possession at the dealership and provide it within 30 days after the sale. Many do not.

Ticked for Driving Without Registration

So he keeps calling and calling and different managers tell him that he’ll look into this until finally in December of 2020 he calls and he speaks with somebody. He says, “Look, it’s been about two years now. I don’t have my title. My wife actually was driving the vehicle on the expired temp tags and she got pulled over and she got a ticket. So this is a huge problem now. Please help.”

And they actually tell him, “We are not going to do anything else involving your vehicle.” They simply wash their hands of it as if that’s something they’re legally allowed to do. But keep in mind dealerships are very often unlawful places and they do whatever they think they can do that they can get away with it. That’s largely how they operate, especially here in Maryland. So what happens next? Well, after she got pulled over in the vehicle, they actually had to buy another vehicle.

So now they’ve got two car payments and two insurance payments because they needed to be able to transport their family without fear of being pulled over, ticketed, and or arrested for driving an unregistered vehicle. So after they’re told by the dealership, “Look, we’re just not going to do anything else,” they ended up calling my office.

Dealer Sued for Not Providing Title

I take their case, file a lawsuit, and, of course, within about two weeks, the lawyer for the dealer reaches out and says, “Hey, we have the title. This was a mistake. Can’t we just get this settled?” And, of course, I say, “Well, if you have the title now, why didn’t you have it when they called dozens of times? None of this sounds right. Why did your client just bury his head in the sand and not do anything right and not help these people?”

And, of course, as the case goes on, we will get those answers. My guess is that it’s because the dealer would rather spend its time signing up new customers as opposed to dealing with the problem on which they’re not going to make any money, because, of course, money is what makes a dealership tick. So in this case, we have filed a lawsuit against the dealership for not providing the title.

The causes of action include the Consumer Protection Act, negligence, fraud, and unjust enrichment, because, of course, the client is paying for something that dealership has received money for a product which it never should have sold.

Daniel W. Whitney, Sr. and Daniel W. Whitney, Jr. of Whitney, LLP

Whitney, LLP’s Lawyers for When the Dealer Does Not Provide the Title

If you have found yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of buying a car and the dealer has either never provided the title or provided it months late, you have legal rights and can fight back.

You may be entitled to compensation, including:

• your actual damages, meaning money you’ve paid to the bank and for insurance while you can’t use the car, and
• damages for your emotional distress, which includes the stress and anxiety of the situation.

Our lawyers sue car dealerships across Maryland, including Baltimore, Pasadena, Cockeysville, Owings Mills, Temple Hills, Marlow Heights, Middle River, Germantown, Silver Spring, Frederick, Waldorf, Laurel, Glen Burnie, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Ellicott City and Salisbury.

We experience helping car buyers fight back against dishonest dealers in a variety of scams of schemes.

We offer Legal Consultations to car buyers.

Call Whitney, LLP at 410 583 8000, or use our Quick Contact Form, to discuss your potential case.