That’s some messed up logic. I bet you blame the city when you get a speeding ticket, too.
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In some areas, speed limits have nothing at all to do with safety, and are deliberately set low with the intention of ticketing “violators” to boost municipal revenues. In fact, when I lived in Illinois, I had to drive through a town which “conveniently” lowered the speed limit on all roads passing through even though there were no schools or homes on the roads to justify such low speed limits. And of course, these capriciously low speed limits were aggressively enforced, you know for “safety reasons”, lol.
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More like one more reason not to avoid taxes. When you buy a car, register it. Yes, that will cost money, because you need to help pay for the roads that you are helping to wear out by driving on them.
I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy when people try to cheat the government by ducking taxes that most of the rest of us are paying because we act like grownups and don’t just look for ways to take from society without ever giving back. I certainly don’t blame the state for the mess they made for themselves.
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That may be, but ultimately it’s your responsibility to obey the speed limits, rather than the town’s job to set them to what other people want.
Agreed - ultimately, the OP shoulders the blame for not transferring the title. In his defense, it sounds like he was planning on doing so after he had the emissions issues fixed, rather than just not transferring the title to avoid paying the taxes. In the end it doesn’t matter. Also, most states have laws requiring the title be transferred within a set time frame.
I have no idea what CA laws are but I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some sort of grace period for getting emissions issues fixed.
Just to set the record straight there are a few non-yahoos on this site and a lawyer or two. You just don’t know which unless you have been here a while.
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Heh heh, An Ohio state patrolman said “9 you are fine, ten you are mine”, meaning 9 over the speed limit is still ok. On the other hand I have been stopped for going 59 in a 55. Oh the humanity of it all. Not all is black and white but you have to take it like a man sometimes anyway.
I take it that since you do not know his name because you do not have the title, or a bill of sale; no old registration papers in the glove box, etc… Which basically means that you have no proof that you legally purchased the truck. And since the person to whom you gave all your money to did not give you any documentation of the sale, there is a reasonable possibility that he was never the vehicle’s owner to begin with. You may just be out of luck.
There are search engines that you can enter the VIN number into to get ownership reports. Never used one but you could try that to see if that would at least get the name of the person who sold the truck to you. Of course, then you’ll still have to find them.
Correct this - you might get the name of the actual owner. Whether it is the same as the person who you gave your money too, who knows?
Sue the driver if your lawyer says you have no case against the insurance company. It’s your loss and the active service marine could possibly sue you for not changing the name if you didn’t have a contract agreement. Learn from this, never buy anything that isn’t compliant with the law.
Sue the driver , get serious . The drivers insurance is paying but they are only going to pay the legal owner of the vehicle .
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If the car us still on the original owners name, then it is NOT his loss.
Amazing how/why people do the dumbest things. Why anyone would buy a vehicle and still keep it registered in someone’s else’s name is just plain dumb.
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In Minnesota this is private information. You won’t get it unless a LEO. Even a LEO needs to have a documented need or they are fined substantially. You might be able to go to the DMV and have them confirm the name after you give it to them but that’s about it. Certainly the OP has some documentation or the title as signed over to him or he/she/them would not have been able to apply to California. We’re reading an awful lot into this whole thing. A transfer through California DMV just could not be done without the emissions test evidently.
That may or may not be the case is AZ, where this vehicle was (presumably) registered when the OP purchased it.
I was assuming that if OP had any documentation (i.e. Bill of Sale, Title) he would know the name of the person he bought it from.
Allot of this makes no sense from the point of view of the buyer (OP) and for that matter the seller.
I mean would you buy a car from someone, even a friend, and not ask them to sign their title over as you handed them (several thousands of dollars) your cash?
Or would you sell a car to a stranger and let them drive off with license plates registered to you? I certainly would not. And if you sold a vehicle to a friend and let them use your plates, I would think that you would remember their name.
Just saying…
Sorry - OP did not say he didn’t know their name, just that he could not find them. My mistake.
I knew a guy who bought cheap cars at auctions, he preferred cars from California or Arizona because the license plates came with the car. He would drive the car for months without paying for registration before selling these cars to someone else.
I transfer title before I begin repairs on a vehicle, I want to be sure I have clear title before I spend money on the vehicle. The emissions test and registration can be done at a later time.
I have alway’s thought the tag’s staying with the car was a bad idea for the reason you mentioned.
I don’t like to make major purchases from friends just in case something would happen…but if I would, I’d probably more picky about making sure all of the i’s were dotted, t’s crossed, and all paperwork done completely to make sure we were each properly covered and taken care of
Since you provided plenty of advice to OP, I assume you are either a lawyer or one of the yahoos.
The truck was not legally parked. A truck has to be registered and insured to be legally parked.
The truck may have been parked on private property, might have had a temporary movement permit, the OP did not explain.
I suspect that the OP’s intention was to drive the truck for several months without transferring the title/registration and feels that he is the victim in this situation.