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Car title help needed with abandoned vehicle

Discussion in 'General' started by Robby-Bobby, Sep 13, 2019.

  1. Robby-Bobby

    Robby-Bobby Steeltoe’s Daddy

    Long story short, I have an abandoned BMW in my yard.

    Previous owner was a car lot that went out of business, and I stored some of the vehicles before they were eventually picked up by the flooring company.

    For whatever reason, never picked up the BMW.

    Its got enough value that I would be willing to spend some money getting the title situation taken care of to sell it.

    Where do I start? Our shop only does stuff for motorcycles so its a different animal than cars apparently.

    Do i call in the VIN somewhere? If the company determines they want the vehicle back, can I charge storage? Approx 1 year already.

    The only thing that would maybe hinder me on that is that Im not officially a repo person, I was just helping store the cars.

    Any help is appreciated. Or a link to someone that has a "guy" that understands. Thanks in advance.
     
  2. BC

    BC Well-Known Member

    Call the dealers desk at the DMV and have them do a lien search on it.
     
  3. BC

    BC Well-Known Member

    Storage charges could be an issue if you dont have anything in writing. Abandonment is the better route. If their is a lien, then you can use the storage charges to get the title holder to release the vehicle for the fees due. That's what tow companies do.
     
    ducnut and cha0s#242 like this.
  4. kenessex

    kenessex unregistered user

    It appears that the State of Florida does not distinguish between vehicle types for the purposes of a mechanic's lien. I think your easiest route would be to write up a work order for the vehicle, get it running to put some charges on the bill, then start adding storage charges. It looks like Florida statute has a pretty firm timeline on how the steps need to take place, but I assume they are the same steps your dealership needs to take for a lien on a motorcycle. 60 days appears to be the soonest you can sell a vehicle after you have started the lien paperwork process.
     
  5. Phl218

    Phl218 .

    break it and sell it in pieces.
     
    BigBird likes this.
  6. pickled egg

    pickled egg Tell me more

    It’s a BMW. It’s already broken. :Poke:
     
  7. t500racer

    t500racer Never Fails To Fail

    Except the turn signals, they are like brand new!
     
  8. Jedb

    Jedb Professional Novice :-)

    Year, Model?
     
  9. Jed

    Jed mellifluous

    Here you have to notify the police, advertise it in the paper, reach out to the DMV, etc. before it's considered abandoned. In other words you have to make a reasonable attempt to find the owner of the vehicle. Probably worth the effort in this case.
     
  10. BigBird

    BigBird blah

    so it's like a pet?
     
  11. joec

    joec brace yourself

    Tow companies have lots of ways around things like this. My trespass tow guy just came and took a really nice trailer from our neighbor. It was an insurance scam we discovered. He towed it as a trespass, will report it and pile some storage fees on it. Then it's basically his. Most of them he sells for scrap. But he called is and thanked us and said if we ever need to borrow a trailer.....
     
  12. worthless

    worthless Well-Known Member

    Do you have any friends/clients in the towing business? If so, ask them how they handle situations where they tow cars and no one picks them up. Part of me says that someone in that business would know more than the BBOK (beeb book of knowledge), but, this place never ceases to amaze me.
     
  13. GarrettRick

    GarrettRick Well-Known Member

    This .... get a local tow company to assist you with it. Usually takes me 30 days to get a title from a transport lien. Funny how people are quick to pay once they Receive notice
     

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