Bought a car with a lien on it?

[ClearBluewater]

Ok I am freaking out a little bit right now.

I just bought a car from some guy in Calgary, who moved here from Edmonton.
I just tried to trade it in and found out from a dealer that there in a lien on it.
I have owned the car for less than a week.
I was able to register and insure it no problem.

The dealer said I was able to get a Lien Release, but they are unsure how. The lien is from SERVUS credit union and I just spoke to them and they were unable to search it up because I dont have the sellers name on me right now.

The people at SEVUS told me I shouldn't have been able to register it if there was a lien on it also, could the dealer search just be delayed?

Thanks so much.

[jonnycat]

You shouldn't have been able to register the vehicle if there was a lien on it.

What's the serial number? I'll search it for you.

[dannie]

Registering a car has nothing to do with a lien. The system that houses the lien and the system that registers your car, are not connected, so there is no deterrant or anything that would make the registry clerk not register it for you.

I would suggest pulling a lien search and calling the lien holder to get all the info and go from there.

[ClearBluewater]

The guy who sold me the car changed his number, I know where he lives though.

[jonnycat]

So the system that houses the lien (government, Alberta Personal Property Registry) and the system that registers the car (government, Service Alberta) aren't connected?

[dannie]

I would still suggest you pull a lien search and see for yourself. Make sure the lien is against the guy you bought it from, call the creditor back and find out if it simply hasn't been removed. Errors like that happen a lot.

[mark4091]

get to the guy asap and have a nice talk with him.



edit-why are you buying a car and trying to trade it in a week later?

[dannie]

@ Johnnycat... No, they arent. PEPRIS and MOVES are two entirely seperate systems and they do not interact with one another.

[redrocket]

I did the same thing not long ago and bought a car with a lein on it. Long story short you can do a lein search and get his name address ect. If you did not put this vehicle is free of leins on the bill of sale you are screwed and if you did put it is free of all leins you can take him to small claims court. And yes you can register a car with a lein and they will not mention to you the car you are registering has a lein on it.

[ClearBluewater]

Originally posted by redrocket
I did the same thing not long ago and bought a car with a lein on it. Long story short you can do a lein search and get his name address ect. If you did not put this vehicle is free of leins on the bill of sale you are screwed and if you did put it is free of all leins you can take him to small claims court. And yes you can register a car with a lein and they will not mention to you the car you are registering has a lein on it.

Really? The bill of sale is just the back of the registration, so I doubt it will say its free of all liens.

[G-ZUS]

Originally posted by redrocket
I did the same thing not long ago and bought a car with a lein on it. Long story short you can do a lein search and get his name address ect. If you did not put this vehicle is free of leins on the bill of sale you are screwed and if you did put it is free of all leins you can take him to small claims court. And yes you can register a car with a lein and they will not mention to you the car you are registering has a lein on it.

:werd:

[Cos]

.

[ClearBluewater]

Originally posted by Cos


or you can use an actual form:

http://www.servicealberta.ca/pdf/mv/BillOfSaleReg3126.pdf

Yes I realize that, but that doesn't help me now.

[redrocket]

Yea its not looking good for you as with me I did not put that the car was free of leins. Sucks he changed his phone number seems like a sleeze bag and im sure he wont do anything to help. I dont know how much the car you just bought is worth but if its a big enough amount you will want to talk to a lawyer.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by Cos


or you can use an actual form:

http://www.servicealberta.ca/pdf/mv/BillOfSaleReg3126.pdf

They really need to make it illegal to register a vehicle without this form, although it wouldn't have prevented this it does give you some sort of legal leverage and a paper trail should something like this happen. As well as forcing you to collect extra info.

I wonder what would happen if you try to go after the person and he says he made you aware of the lien before selling? Does it say on the back that "this car is free of Liens"? Did you get his drivers license info (license number) and verify the name on the registration matched his license?

[Weapon_R]

The onus is always on the buyer to do a lien check before purchasing a vehicle. The registry will not help you. There is always a possibility that the lien itself has been paid out and that the bank has forgotten to remove it.

[bignerd]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
The onus is always on the buyer to do a lien check before purchasing a vehicle. The registry will not help you. There is always a possibility that the lien itself has been paid out and that the bank has forgotten to remove it.


This happens a LOT. The lien expiry date that is entered into the computer system when some registers your car as security doesn't always match up with your scheduled loan payout date if you made all your payments on time. Plus if you pay it out early that means a human has to release the lien which also gets missed a lot.

[ClearBluewater]

I emailed the guy and he contacted me right away, he does not know anything about the lien apparently and we are going to take a look at it tomorrow. No lien under his name with SERVUS.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by mark4091
edit-why are you buying a car and trying to trade it in a week later?

This? Seems fishy.

[ClearBluewater]

Originally posted by heavyD


This? Seems fishy.

Dont like it, getting a good deal.

[silviak91]

I did that shaz took me for $7000 last year at japan dream cars . Still never got my money back .

[ClearBluewater]

What an awful system set up for buyers.

[CMW403]

Originally posted by ClearBluewater
What an awful system set up for buyers.

Not really, just have to do your due diligence.

I'd be tap tap tapping on his front door right now if I were you.

[ClearBluewater]

I talked to him, he says he has no idea what thats about. Hes in edmonton until thursday and I'm leaving the city thursday afternoon for 8 days.

The problem is I called SERVUS, the lien isn't under his name. Apparently they can only look up liens if I have a case number or the persons name, but not the VIN.

I'm not even sure who I am suppose to contact about it.

[CanmoreOrLess]

This is not going to end well, the guy changes his phone number within a week of you buying the vehicle. Never good and he says he is in Edmonton... I'd be in the vehicle and at his door pronto. Tap tap as suggested.

Sounds like there is a lien from two owners back, well three including you.

[ClearBluewater]

Does Carfax show lien info? I just ran it myself and I don't see anything in there.

[CanmoreOrLess]

I always get my bank to check for liens, not bought a vehicle through a bank since 2008. Maybe RBC was just extra nice to me, but I doubt it.

[Stealth22]

Originally posted by ClearBluewater
Does Carfax show lien info? I just ran it myself and I don't see anything in there.
Did you run a CarProof?

https://www.carproof.com/home.aspx

[ClearBluewater]

Originally posted by Stealth22

Did you run a CarProof?

https://www.carproof.com/home.aspx

Nope, just spend $50 on carfax and it showed nothing.

[Stealth22]

^ CarFax is a waste of money for Canadian cars, man. That $50 would have been better spent on a CarProof. It'll show leins and everything.

[SR54RNR]

...for next time: ANY alberta registry can do a "vehicle information report" for $26 it will tell you if there are any outstanding leins on the vehicle, and will also tell you the status, active, active OOP, salvage, repaired etc.

This is all buyer-beware stuff that you need to do yourself before you buy something that ends up screwing yourself over.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Mitsu3000gt will know more, old thread but worthy:

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread/t-151646.html

[dannie]

Go to registries in the morning and do a lien search. It will give you the name so you can call servus in the morning and get an answer.

[ClearBluewater]

Yeah Im gonna get all the info in the morning. The guy said I can have my money back if there is a Lien on it, but I don't know what to expect obviously.

This is just really stressful.

[Maybelater]

I bought a car with a lien once. I used carfax but the information doesn't show up right away, I bought it anyways because the since the re-seller told me it was lien free and signed the proper documents declaring it so.

Best bet is always to take a quick trip to the registry, don't bother with carfax to check that up because obviously if you're buying a car you don't have the time to waste a couple days for the information to come through.

I ended up getting the lien issuers information and they told me it was a mistake, it is pretty common and they removed it over the phone. Then I was able to register it.

[manny18]

sometimes if a loan is taken out for purchasing a vehicle the banks automatically put a lien on them. After the car is paid off they dont automatically take the lien off.. the person has to do some paperwork for them to do it... there might be a lien on it for 0$ who knows

[Ven]

1. CarFax is bullshit for Canadian cars. You need CarProof.

2. Lien and history searches are Car Buying 101.

3. Unless there's a mistake somewhere you'll be paying that lien. You don't just agree to buy the car, you agree to everything attached to the car when you sign the line.

[..*JDM Hatch*..]

Originally posted by silviak91
I did that shaz took me for $7000 last year at japan dream cars . Still never got my money back .

Japan Dream Cars is a complete joke. Nothing but garbage in the junk lot. 95% of his cars are all rebuilt status.

[dirtsniffer]

i've never done a lein check, i always use a BOS stating the car is lein free. atleast that way there is some recourse

[Cos]

.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by dirtsniffer
i've never done a lein check, i always use a BOS stating the car is lein free. atleast that way there is some recourse

It literally takes a 5 minute phone call to AMA to have one done and they can just email you a copy, should be standard practice for auto buyers.

I think beyond should put together a car buyers 101 thread. At least this case isn't as bad as the guy buying the "smokin deal" truck from some random guy only to find out it later that it was stolen.