Do I need a lawyer?

[frelsang]

I trade in my 08 Windsport to a brand new 2014 Winnebago last November, The pay off of the first loan is $75000, I had paid an extra $20,000 for the upside down pay off on the first loan during the purchase, The problem is the dealership never pay off my first loan, I've been making 2 RV monthly payment for the last 3 month, I called the dealer many times, they just keep lying to me saying it's in the process to be pay off in a week or two, but 3 months had passed, I am afraid if I don't do anything it's going to get drag on for as long as they pleased, my question is do I need a lawyer? or take the dealership to small claims court? Does this happen to many people or just happen to me?

[tropical36]

The Texan wrote:

tropical36 wrote:
I heard later that the whole family left town in the middle of the night. Later by accident I talked to another who had business dealings with this individual and did he have some stories to tell. Not sure if he was ever arrested and prosecuted, but he sure deserved it and many times over.

The last name wasn't Hibrader, from Tampa was it? I could tell you many tales about that family who were dealers in Tampa. I finally sent him to prison for his shenanigans against both his customers and the state.

No, not the one and can't think of the proper spelling at the moment, but was in Naples (Mazda Dealership) until about 2004. Must be a lot of these boogers around and about, eh?

[tandkj]

Make sure you deduct the additional payments you made from the payoff.

[TugCE]

There used to be an After Market Motorcycle shop in Maryland. They had a scam going where they would take a bike in as a trade and never pay off the loan. They would then sell it and give a paper plate but never do the title work. So what would happen is the original Finance Company would repo it if they could find it but even if they did not repo it you could not get it registered in the new owners name as the Stealership never did any of the paper work.

I purchased from him twice but I made sure that my loan was paid off, even though it took two months for him to do it. I was there almost everyday making a pest out of myself to make sure that he did make the payoff. I was one of the lucky few that did not get scammed.

Well, this rocket scientist took a bike in that was owned by the President of a Major Motorcycle Club (a 1%'er for those that know anything about The M/C World). The last that I heard he had not been seen for quite some time. Gee, I wonder what happened to him????? My guess is that he was Crab Food in Chesapeake Bay.

[DSDP_Don]

As stated, this won't be the first time for McMahon's to pull this. Mike Thompson up the street isn't much better. When I read these types of stories and know that they are true, I go out of my way to tell others.

[Dance_Chick]

Local car dealer did this, and a lot of people were suprised when they found out their old car loans weren't paid off after they traded. They all took a huge ding on their credit rating not to mention all of the hassles involved.

The dealer spent several years in prison for his shenanigans. Don't let them get away with it.

[CA_Traveler]

frelsang wrote:
I trade in my 08 Windsport ... The pay off of the first loan is $75000, I had paid an extra $20,000 for the upside down pay off on the first loan during the purchase

To me he has a $75,000 loan and the value of the rig was $55,000 and he paid $20,000 to pay off the loan on the trade in. The loan should have been paid and loans are virtually always secured in part by a lien on the title.

So now he does not have the rig and is still making payments.

[The_Texan]

tropical36 wrote:
I heard later that the whole family left town in the middle of the night. Later by accident I talked to another who had business dealings with this individual and did he have some stories to tell. Not sure if he was ever arrested and prosecuted, but he sure deserved it and many times over.

The last name wasn't Hibrader, from Tampa was it? I could tell you many tales about that family who were dealers in Tampa. I finally sent him to prison for his shenanigans against both his customers and the state.

[tropical36]

frelsang wrote:
I trade in my 08 Windsport to a brand new 2014 Winnebago last November, The pay off of the first loan is $75000, I had paid an extra $20,000 for the upside down pay off on the first loan during the purchase, The problem is the dealership never pay off my first loan, I've been making 2 RV monthly payment for the last 3 month, I called the dealer many times, they just keep lying to me saying it's in the process to be pay off in a week or two, but 3 months had passed, I am afraid if I don't do anything it's going to get drag on for as long as they pleased, my question is do I need a lawyer? or take the dealership to small claims court? Does this happen to many people or just happen to me?

Forget the lawyer and contact the authorities at once. Had this happen with a car once and after contacting the state (I believe they have only 30 days to pay off the liens in FL), it wasn't long before we found out that this was business as usual with this dealer and they were promptly shut down, but not before my purchase was paid off. In this case, I paid cash and they had immediately sold my trade in. The problem was that the car I purchased had a lien and the previous owner was now getting calls from their lender. I heard later that the whole family left town in the middle of the night. Later by accident I talked to another who had business dealings with this individual and did he have some stories to tell. Not sure if he was ever arrested and prosecuted, but he sure deserved it and many times over.

[time2roll]

Call the bank and get copies of those three checks front and back along with your loan statements to take in. Good for you to keep your credit rating intact but the dealer now owes you those three payments in addition to the payoff.

[frelsang]

Thanks to all the reply I will keep everyone updated to how it will turn out, yes I paid an extra $20k I signed all the trade documents including release of the liability, they took my Windsport but I am still paying the monthly payment from the bank auto drawn, because they are not paying the loan off, I am gathering all my paper work now prepare for the DMV. The only upside to the deal is the Winnebago Forza sits in my drive way is a beauty.

[Supercharged]

11B wrote:
I'd jump on this problem as soon as you can with the State of Ca. BMV. It should only take a phone call to get the ball rolling. When dealers fail to pay off a trade its a RED flag they are in financial problems. Get to their bond they have posted with the state before they go BK.

I wish I had said that, I think I did.

[Effy]

And let's not forget about the potential imapact to the OP's credit. While he may be paying the loan (some of us might struggle with that) it certainly affects income to debt ratio since he's carrying 2 loans. And that can negatively impact your credit score. I am with you guys, I would be in the store, in person. I certainly would not have waited this out for a few months. They'll carry this out as long as they can til they get a buyer and you are paying the carrying costs. Not to mention the payoff on your own unit goes down so when the dealership finally pays it off they pocket the difference.

[rockhillmanor]

frelsang wrote:
Thanks to everyone's feedback and advice, I will contact DMV and BMV today
the dealership claim that they are the biggest in Southern California, I been
a very nice customer to them, but as soon as I signed the deal wrote them the check

no one would answer my calls

can't get any question answer. .......

Have you ever gone down to that dealership to TELL them in person?

If someone stuck me with a loan of $75,000 on my trade in, I would NOT be calling them, I would be INSIDE that dealership ON their showroom floor in the 'owners' face until they rectified the problem.

[Effy]

hardtobe wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Effy, He signed a contract so there are likely legal concerns about a repo. And that does not solve the problem of the $20,000 he paid the dealer to clear the lien.

he paid 20K to pay down the loan? I don't see where it was to clear the lien?

Right, that 20k was for the new unit. Since title work was not done and OP is still paying on the old one, he owns it. He ought to go get it.

[hardtobe]

CA Traveler wrote:
Effy, He signed a contract so there are likely legal concerns about a repo. And that does not solve the problem of the $20,000 he paid the dealer to clear the lien.

he paid 20K to pay down the loan? I don't see where it was to clear the lien?