selling a stolen vehicle

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bratevaro

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my car was stolen in May of last year and i went immediatley to make a report. i recieved a call from the police dept. a month later and they said they recovered my car at a self service tow yard. Come to find out the car was supposidly in front of some property that a mortgage co. owned so they called a tow co. and had it removed(from an address that didnt exist) and the tow co. took it 3 cities away and sold it to this self serve salvage yard. i took the yard to small claims court and i lost the case because the judge said they had no knowledge it was stolen? i know that someone did wrong here you cant just tow a car from the street and go and sell it!!. Im not sure if i can take this matter to court again or not?
 
Did the insurance company reimburse you for your loss?

What is/was the value of the car?

Who has the car today?


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my car was stolen in May of last year and i went immediatley to make a report. i recieved a call from the police dept. a month later and they said they recovered my car at a self service tow yard. Come to find out the car was supposidly in front of some property that a mortgage co. owned so they called a tow co. and had it removed(from an address that didnt exist) and the tow co. took it 3 cities away and sold it to this self serve salvage yard. i took the yard to small claims court and i lost the case because the judge said they had no knowledge it was stolen? i know that someone did wrong here you cant just tow a car from the street and go and sell it!!. Im not sure if i can take this matter to court again or not?
The tow company could not have legally towed it from the public street without the appropriate law enforcement or parking agency signing off on it. Therefore, I would assume that the vehicle was parked ON the private property in which case the tow company would not have generally been responsible for reporting it and verifying its status.

However, before the tow company could sell it they would have had to do a title search and make notification of the registered and legal owners. Unless the vehicle was tripped of all identification numbers and the license plate, the tow company failed to follow the Vehicle Code if they sold it without following the proper laws.

And, no, you almost certainly can NOT take them back to court for the same claim. You had your shot and apparently were unable to put it together. Plus, if the insurance company had already paid you off on the claim, it is their car and not yours anyhow.
 
Re

you have to recall all the terms and conditions of your insurance will they cover such type of cases or not or you can confirm this to you agent also..
 
i only had liability insurance but how can a tow company tow my car while it was reported stolen, and go and sell it to ANYONE? If that was the case i could go have any car towed off the street and sell it? right? dosnt matter what insurance i have that is not the point!
 
you people are not understanding me! what difference does it make what kind of insurance i had? the car was reported stolen one month prior to them selling it!!! you cant just go pick up a car off the street and go sell it without checking on it to see who owns it etc...
 
The tow company more then likely did a mechanics lien on the car sent all forms and documents to the last known address of the owner (address on the title) and with in time got the title transferred from your name to there's -- this is how that works-- Have you called the DMV to see what address they had on file? Have you contacted the Tow company to see what they did to research the title? You should have sued the Tow company not the people who bought it-- of course they would not know it was stolen if they got a title to it--
 
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you people are not understanding me! what difference does it make what kind of insurance i had? the car was reported stolen one month prior to them selling it!!! you cant just go pick up a car off the street and go sell it without checking on it to see who owns it etc...
Was the registration contact info up to date?

When the tow company tried to sell the car after 30 days, a title search and notification of interested parties was done - in fact, they had to submit paperwork asserting this fact. (Note that there are slightly different processes depending on the value of the car.) Usually it is a third party agency that does the search. This would have entailed notice being sent to both the registered and legal owners of the vehicle and should also have included some DMV check to see if there was a hold or stop on the vehicle. If no "DOJ Stop" came up with DMV, something is amiss ... it could not have been transferred if it was reported stolen.

So, either both the tow company and the salvage yard played fast and loose with something, or, the vehicle was not properly entered into SVS as stolen.

You might consider a call to the nearest DMV Investigator's office to report what you know. It might not get you any financial recompense, but it might get to the bottom of the mess.
 
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