nomis_nehc

Yea well, the flow of logic definitely escapes me here. I am thinking that I will just let the proper authorities (DMV investigation unit) deal with it now. Any more involvement with the dealer here on out more or less just gives him a heads up -- good or bad. Good he may actually get me my title and registration, bad, the guy just straight up hops town or something.

So anyway, at least I have all the proper legal bases covered. When I spoke to the police department, the car was not in the database as stolen, so my greatest fear is put to rest.

nomis_nehc

I have new development.

A week after I sent out my formal complaint to DMV investigations unit, I received a letter from them. Basically it states that they have forwarded this along to San Diego's District Attorney. After chatting with the investigator on the phone, I was told that I should take the letter I received from them, and proceed to transfer the title and registration with DMV.

I went to DMV on Thursday and paid $425 for a temporary registration, and started the paper work to transfer the title and registration to me. Essentially, DMV is going to process this transfer as if I bought the vehicle from the original owner of the vehicle (whom they pulled up on the computer for me). I had to fill out two forms, and send the form to the original owner to sign.

So today, I received a call in the afternoon, from a person that claims to be the owner of the vehicle. He claims that the vehicle was "stolen" from him by the dealership. His back story is that originally he wanted to trade up to a 7 series, and a friend of his knew John Mussari, and suggested that he sell his car for him. So this "original" owner left his car with Mussari Motors, and I bought it.

The caller claimed that John Mussari told him that the car was "stolen" from him, and for reason I can't comprehend, this original owner said that the police told him he can't file a police report because he left the car voluntarily at the dealership (logic fails me as I don't understand why he can't file a police report if his car is missing). He said that the police told him to file a complaint with DMV investigations.

So anyway, a number of things don't add up regarding what this guy told me. He said that him and his wife had put a "stop" (whatever the hell that means) on the vehicle, so that if the car is stopped, or try to be registered, it will be impounded. This can't be true as I got a temporary registration this past Thursday, and it was just fine. Additionally, it boggles my mind to why when my complaint was sent to DMV investigation unit, they did not connect the dots between the two cases (assuming what the guy that called me is true).

Now... I am not sure what my next steps will be. Definitely call DMV investigations tomorrow, but I am not sure what else I should be doing. Part of me is concerned that this might be some sort of collusion scam, or the person might try to steal my car (since he now has my address from the two forms I sent). Any advice and recommendation guys?

BMRMEUP

Wow. At this point, I think I would at least consult an attorney, if nothing else to be sure that you haven't missed anything, don't run into some statute of limitations issue no one has told you about, etc.

nomis_nehc

Yeah, I am thinking the same as well. With these developments, my only thought is that I don't get screwed =(

tooltec

Sounds like a scam,I would also visit the police again and tell them of this latest development.

nomis_nehc

Yah, it's very fishy for sure. My brother suggested that I bring a pillow and blanket out to the car and sleep in it, lol.

530inOK

I haven't read every reply on your post but have you involved your insurance company yet? What would their position be if the car was stolen at this point since you haven't a title to it?
Could you swap vehicles with your brother until the DMV issues your title? Since the alleged previous owner knows your address and this whole thing may be a scam I would worry that
the car might disappear leaving you completely empty handed. If they were to show up with a roll back and a clear title you might just be out of luck.
A pillow, a blanket, and Smith & Wesson for company. Good luck!

nomis_nehc

Well, my younger brother lives with me, so the cars are parked in the same garage. At my residence, the garages are detached, so even though he has my address, it does not give away where my garage is... unless someone is staking out somewhere to watch for a black bmw...

And I was actually just thinking about the insurance issue earlier. No, I have not contacted my insurance to inform them of this situation. I am thinking that tomorrow, I will be calling DMV investigations first thing. And also wait for my return receipt for the delivery of the registered mail I sent the forms for the guy to sign. DMV told me that as long as I have a return receipt, they can go ahead and process the paper work. (Which, invalidates what the guy on the phone claimed -- that there's a 'stop' on the vehicle)

I will update this tomorrow, as it'll be a business day, and I can finally get a hold of parties that can help me.

v_therussian

Try to get the story into the local TV news - ask the viewers to get in touch with the investigators if they have also been scammed by this dealership or in a similar fashion.

Get your evidence together - you're going to court about this sooner or later. Let's just hope it won't be over shooting these assholes in their asses when they try to steal the car back.

Looks like these guys are pros and you should be contacting the authorities and an attorney about this.

I'd definitely discuss the issue with the insurance company, but I have a feeling that their policy is they won't cover it, unless the title is in your name - let's just hope I'm wrong on this and any other doomsday scenarios I've ventured. IMHO you can't risk not knowing though, because if the insurance will not cover the loss if your car (which you paid for) is stolen, there will be little hope to get your money back ever. This means that you'll need to take some serious precautions to make sure the car is NOT stolen from you.

EDIT: There is also a veeeery distant chance that the dealer is honest and is just a lazy slob who doesn't know how to keep his business running efficiently. And there is a chance that the previous owner is an opportunist, who may recognize a chance for him to get his car back without having to pay back the money he [may or may not have] received from the dealership. Heck, he may very well be a member on this forum even - after all, he did have an e60 before. But chances of all these more or less innocent coincidences coming together to look like a bid bad-ass scam are so slim, that I'd just assume that the dealer is definitely in on it. And most likely, if the previous owner is just as sketchy as you describe him, he is in on it too - together with the dealer. In this case they must have pulled this scam before and there is a very good chance you'll find others who were their victims.

Sad thing about this is, if the previous owner ends up being an honest man/woman, who really did get his/her car stolen by this dealer, the car may have to be returned to them. I'm not sure what the statute on this is though - maybe someone here, who is familiar with this can confirm/deny this?

ipp

Can't you go to the dealer and force him to file the correct papers or give you the money back else you'll bring the police over there while you're waiting. I would not leave the building until it was solved.