Sold a car in 2009 and it was shipped out of country. I messed up and never sent in a release of liabilty form, now a year and a half later they are garnishing my wages for back registration? WTF? They never gave me a chance to pay or fix it, they just go to my employer and took $211.00 out of my check. I just wanted to spread the word if you sell a car dont rely on the buyer to do the paperwork, do it yourself. I know its only 211 ITS JUST THE WAY THEY DID IT! Thanks for listening! Lance
hey man.. i feel your pain.. has happened to me many times but i've always had a chance to fix it, including parking fines the 'new' owner got because they didnt transfer title, such a pain in the ass... hope you can get your money back somehow but it'll probably take forever.. again.. i feel you.. f**k the dmv.
I don't know how many times I sold cars there, sent in the release, only to later recieve a registration notice for the same car. I always kept a copy and sent another copy to them with the registration notice explaining their error. I miss many things about SoCal but will never miss the DMV.
Damn.. I just received a notice of back reg. fees due on a car that went out of the country last year. I sent in the release of liability. Now I have to send another copy. I have had Cal. D.M.V. hit my bank accounts for back fees a few times. In california, Always keep a copy of the release of liability. If there is a D.M.V. close by, Take 2 copies and have them stamp one for your records. I was just sued by State Farm insurance for an accident that was caused by a truck that I sold for $700 2 years ago. Since I couldn't locate the copy oF the release, I now have a judgement against me for over $50,000. The legal fees to fight this are going to be in the thousands (overturn judgment) and the lawyer says it is going to be tough as I have no information on who I sold it to. State farms lawyers already said they want a certified copy (date stamped by the D.M.V., I don't have this as I mailed it in.) of the release so I wont be able to just make one up and submit it. The impound lot even came at me for storage fees as the asswipe that crashed had no license and there was a 30 day hold on a totaled 71 dodge truck. They even reported it on my credit. Watch your asses and believe my signature line.....................
The Calif DMV is getting way out of hand lately! I think they've all been given an 'unofficial' directive to "collect" as much as they can, however they can, in order to keep their jobs. There was a portion of the original pink-slip that was to be filled out by you and the new owner, torn off and sent to Sacramento within 10 days, to release you of liability. I hope you did that. I always keep a copy of it just in case. Although, recently I sent the 'release' in, and promply got a request for the 'release' as if I never sent it in. I'd rather deal with the Mafia, than the Calif DMV!
At least the mafia will shoot you and put you out of your misery. ALL of the states are scrambling for money and squeezing every dime from every place they can squeeze it. Local car wholesaler got a bill from our state revenue office for $12K for OWED sales tax and license fees on cars he had used personally and run a dealer tag on. He has hired an attorney and is fighting it, but the legal fees are already pretty high. Course the chicken shit state has lawyers sitting on the butts anyway, so it costs them nothing.
...wait until the Sheriff/CHP/US Marshals knock on your door, and tell you YOUR car has been involved in a bank robbery/homicide... and I sent the paperwork in, over a year prior...I guess the DMV "forgot" to process it...
I know its only 211 bux, but unless they sent you a certified letter that you signed for or contacted your employer and had you sign permission they cannot legally garnish your wage. Your employer cannot legally withold earnings either without just notification. I know because I have had this happen on a dirtbike that I sold along time ago. This happened about 11 years ago. My boss at the time was cool and came to me before it happened, he was contacted by dmv because they said they could not contact me (bull) I was able to contact dmv and fill out a release at dmv and made a copy there. It did not matter that I couldnt remember the buyers info. The clerk had me state that on a statement of facts. It sucked but at least I only lost half a days wages from the time off that I took to go to dmv. And my employer is the one who stated the legality to me. You might want to talk with your boss on that one.
Anytime a letter comes to you from the DMV, you have to act fast! There is no use ignoring letters, they don't just go away. You know they are going to keep charging you everyday for registration on that car until you clear this up.
I thought after like 5 years (If the car hasn't been registered)..it falls off the DMV record. I sold a car that left the country and i also sent in the Release of Liability and for a while after i was still getting renewal letters...but i would just ignore them because i figured that they were just computer generated and got mailed out until the release got processed. It's been like 5-7 years since i sold the car and the letters stop coming and the guy i sold the car to (my friend) hasn't registered the car outside of the country yet.... does this mean that it could have fallen off the record and not in the system? or am i in for a world of surprise?
I understand where you are at. I never worked for a company that liked employees as well after a garnishment. I hope you work for a company that understands such things and it doesn't hinder you on the job. bastages.
When you live in a broke ass state..... they try to collect in anyway they can! I know, I live in a broke ass state also!
My wife and I had an 89 Z-28 a while back that was stolen from her at work one night. It was found later the next night with almost 3000 miles put on! Apparently was used to run drugs back n forth from Vegas to chino. Where we lived. Anyhow we soldthe car cuz it was wrecked and several months later was "found" yet again. Apparently was stolen from the people who bought it from us and they never registered it. I guess that's Cali for ya
I always fill out the release of liability, but sometimes as stated it doesn't go through. I get a bill for my 67 Sunbeam Alpine I sold several years ago to a guy in the UK. lucky for me, when I sold the car it was on a "non-op" registration, so there is no back dues to pay. anybody need a good California Title for a 67 Sunbeam Alpine? a few years back I cut up and parted out/junked/made into a trailer my old Datsun pickup. I ignored the first DMV bill since the truck no longer existed. when the second letter arrived with threats I went down to DMV and turned in the plates and declared it as being junked.... end of problem. next car I sell I will definitly keep a copy of the release. here's a good one about a guy who didn't bother to get his car out of the system. I got a 96 Trans Am for free, all I had to do was remove the motor, trans and rear end, then I could have the remains to part out. parted it out down to the empty shell. I doubt the guy who bought the shell built a car out of it, but somehow or another the original owner got a parking ticket in the mail from this car which was pieced out and spread all across the country. DMV sucks.
Come on man. You didn't receive notices in the mail and you just ignored and chucked them? I call shenanigans. I kinda screwed up a car transfer in Cali and they bugged the piss out of me with threatening letters till I fixed it.
I sent in my state transfer paperwork when I moved to Texas.....they still send me notices that I need to pay the tags on the car... Idiots!
I had a similar problem a few years ago when I sold a car to a guy out of state. I got a notice that my registration was due but the car had been gone for nearly a year. I went down to the DMV and they gave me a release of liability form, I filled it out and everything was good....................or so I thought. About a month later I got another "your registration is due" notice. I repeated the process.........three times. Finally I got really pissed and headed back to the DMV to raise hell. The woman at the desk said "Those get lost all the time, when you fill one out make sure to get a photocopy of it before you send it in and never put it in the drop box here. Mail it in or do it online." I used to have the inside track at the DMV since my Mother worked there but unfortunately she has passed away, when I was growing up I constantly heard tales of ineptitude on the part of her fellow employees.
I had a utility trailer stolen worth $750. Then, three years later I get a letter from the CA DMV wanting new registration fees for the trailer that was stolen. I called and explained the problem (the trailer was stolen and it was reported stolen) and that I wasn't going to pay the registration fees for a trailer that was stolen and had never been recovered. The DMV required me to get a copy of the police report which consumed the better part of my day before they would cancel the fees. So the DMV wants the money but they don't want to work for it. As bad as the CA DMV is now, it was a lot worse in the 1960's when they were the poster child for bureaucratic arrogance.
Here in Texas when you sell a vehicle there is a tear off form on the top of the title that you fill out with the name of the buyer and seller then mail it with $5 to the state. They will then remove you from being the owner. We have a few ? illegal aliens here and they buy cars for cash and don't bother with paperwork, when they get involved in an accident they bail out and run leaving the car behind. You don't have to send in the form but it's worth the $5 for peace of mind.
Good luck getting your money back. Maybe in 3 years if you're lucky. I moved and registered my truck here in Utah. Two years later they sent a notice to my house here in UTAH that I owed them for the year before and the current year. If they knew that the truck and I were in Utah, why the hell didn't they know the truck is registered in Utah. Luckily the state of Utah told California to go screw themselves when it came wage garnishment. BTW, when I registered all my vehicles and toys here in Utah, it took a total of 20 minutes from the time I hit the doors to the time I went back out. The gal apologized for it costing so much because the bill was $500. I registered a newer truck, travel trailer, and three motorcycles.
I actually like the idea of the $5. If a person were to pay it with a check then they would have proof of payment if the state ever messed up. That could be kinda clever. Oh BTW, the Ca DMV contacted my employer one time for back reg fees too. Thankfully my boss was willing to warn me but I thought it sure isn't right that they can do that without due process. If the poster was right about being able to take it out of our bank accounts then that is just wrong. I have always felt that the DMV should not be able to collect reg on the vehicle that cannot be proven to have driven on public roads. It used to be that we could file non-ops retroactively but now we have to do it up front. Yes, absolutely, the Ca DMV are tyrants and big on extortion and intimidation.
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