My son just bought a truck in Colorado and is driving it back home to Texas.?

Question

He gave the seller a cashier's check. The seller took the license plates off and did not give him the title yet because he has to pay off a loan. So, my son has no proof of sale.
What should he do?

Answer 1

Your son has made a potentially expensive mistake. Without any proof as to his purchase, he will have to rely on the good faith of the seller and it sounds like he has little leverage to make the seller act promptly.

It is not an unusual process (that of buying a car which has a title still held by the lender) but your son should have made the check out payable to BOTH of them, or inquired as to the balance and made out two checks.

If he, at least, has possession of the car, he is slightly ahead of the game, but in the meantime he should try to get a written bill of sale from the seller to cover is butt. He should also try to track the progress of the pink slip and make sure that the seller is paying off the loan.

If the seller wont give him that, then your son should become concerned. If the seller renegs. Even with the car in hand,

a) The loan is still due
b) the best he could get would be to become the registered owner and still owe the loan
c) The seller could simply put the plates back on the car, and drive it as if the check he received was for anyting else.

Ball's in your son's court .................

Answer 2

stop the check if he can. You CAN stop a cashier's check!

Bad mistake, very bad.

For future reference, the $$$ owed on a car that is mortgaged should be directly wired into the account of the lien holder, which in turns sends you the title. The seller only gets that balance that is not owed on the loan.

Answer 3

No bill of sale ?? Does your son know this fellow well or did he just meet him on a street corner. ? I've got a whole Wal-Mart parking lot full of cars that i'll just take the plate off of , if you give me a cashiers check.