ok, i bought a car and it was impounded...?

Question

bought it for 200.00 from a mechanic next door to my office, so we know eachother, and both our reputations matter. i still owe 400, it's a nice 97 intrepid, dont let the dents fool you. but he never gave me a bill of sale or a title, which he was tryingt o get me to do paperwork for. it only had one headlight which was gonna get fixed for free by him, just never did it. then thurs. i got pulled over for the headlight and the car got impounded. now, i hjave to get it out today, but i lost my dl, and the car is titled to someone in new orleans. so its prolly a salvage car from the hurricane. i have just enough money to get it out of the impound, but not enough to get the title transferred, if that costs money... i want the guy to get the title in his name and go get the car with his dl, which he'll prolly do, but my question is what do i need to do to get the title? or the car... is it going to cost money for me to get the title? im confused, but i want feedback.

Answer 1

If your car is impounded you will need certain things to get it out of impound.

1. Proof of ownership. That could be a title, or a registration card with your name on it.

2. Proof of insurance. An insurance card specific to this vehicle with the vehicle VIN on the card along with your name.

3. A valid license to drive, or someone with you with a valid license to drive.

4. Identification to show who you are that matches the name on the title and insurance.

5. The amount owing on the tow and storage.

If you don't have everything you need, you can't get the car. For every day it stays in the impound yard, the storage goes up. I really don't understand though how, if you bought it for $200 you still owe him 400.

Where is the title? What name is on the title? That person might be able to get the vehicle out if he made arrangements to have it towed to your house, it couldn't be driven without current insurance.

At best it's going to be convoluted. At worst you have lost your car.

Answer 2

Well, a couple of questions:

Who was responsible for the headlight? That person shoud be paying for the fixit ticket.

Paperwork: who was the real cause of the delay? Was that the reason for the impound, or was it more for insurance (since you could not have had insurance on a car that was not registered could you?)

Getting it out of impound means dealing with the reason that put it there. If it was because of the title, once the mechanic gets title in his name he can transfer it to you easily that will cost you the transfer fees. But by then the storage on the car in impound is going to be a lot more then the value of the car.

If it was because of the headlamp, then he can fix it fairly quickly and you can get the car back but should not drive it until the title is clear.

If it was because of a reason that you didn't describe then you will need address that reason.


good luck

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