bought a car now cant find owner of garage

shelia · 24-11-2011 9:35pm #1

as the title states....

I bought and paid for a car and got a receipt for it (2k),took the car out of the garage and it breaks down..i called the owner and he said there was nothing wrong with it but says i can borrow his car until my one is repaired, so i said ok, he gave me a car and says he can refund me if i wanted, i said that would be fine..that was last week and he hasnt turned on his phone since, the garage is all locked up and hes no where to be found, i spoke to the gardai who tell me hes known by two names (he uses his mothers maiden name) and they dont really want to know, his business isnt registered and i still have the car he gave me, what will i do????

the ownership of the car i have hasnt been transferred since the garage bought it so i wondered if i contacted the original owner could they transfer ownership to me?

Guy:Incognito · 24-11-2011 9:37pm

Any chance the one he gave you is worth more than the one you left with him? (unliekly though) what are the 2 cars concerned?

shelia wrote: »

the ownership of the car i have hasnt been transferred since the garage bought it so i wondered if i contacted the original owner could they transfer ownership to me?

There are ways and means to have it put in your name. Signed affidavits come to mind, but not sure, have never done it myself.

Unless you know the previous owner, theres not a legal way to find their info.

shelia · 24-11-2011 9:42pm

the car i bought was a 99 clio and the car he gave me was a 1997 subaru imprezza, i was thinking of calling the dept of transport and see if they could give me a hand, that money was left to me and now its all gone, do you think i could get it back?

colm_mcm · 24-11-2011 9:50pm

Who pays 2k a 99 Clio?

Big Nasty · 24-11-2011 9:55pm

colm_mcm wrote: »

Who pays 2k a 99 Clio?

I don't know but even a standard Impreza has to be worth more than the Clio!

coolchip1 · 24-11-2011 10:01pm

Hi Shelia, where abouts is this garage owner from? wouldn't be the North Cork area by any chance?

shelia · 24-11-2011 10:09pm

no, dublin im afraid, apparently there was few other people he did this too apparently

-Chris- · 25-11-2011 12:29am

Has he gone out of business, or is he just temporarily in hiding, do you think?

mondeo · 25-11-2011 12:42am

Odd situation

25-11-2011 12:46am

So you've two cars (possibly one and a half) for 2k? Not the worst scam you could have been caught with, if that's what it is.

shelia · 25-11-2011 8:33am

i dont know where hes gone but by the looks of the yard it looks like he left in an awful hurry, technically the clio and the subaru are mine, the gardai said they will try and contact the orginal owners of both but i might try and find out that info myself and contact them

woodseb · 25-11-2011 8:38am

shelia wrote: »

technically the clio and the subaru are mine,

not if they weren't his to sell in the first place - do you have the log book for either car?

robbie_998 · 25-11-2011 8:42am

shelia wrote: »

i dont know where hes gone but by the looks of the yard it looks like he left in an awful hurry, technically the clio and the subaru are mine, the gardai said they will try and contact the orginal owners of both but i might try and find out that info myself and contact them

The clio is yours "IF" the log book has being sent off in your details.

The impreza ... Probably wouldn't be too surprised if that showed up stolen !

doctorchopper · 25-11-2011 11:16am

I wouldn't be driving around in the impreza either because i doubt there is insurance on it. Probably best to report the clio stolen at this stage.

dharn · 25-11-2011 11:41am

this is a terrible situation to find yourself in im amazed how little action the gardai take in these cases they could at least help the lady to establish the ownership of both cars clio, subaru and then she would have a starting point she posted in another thread where she said gardai would not get involved

sundula · 25-11-2011 11:43am

He doesnt sound like the kind of guy that does paper work, Clio is probably not in your name and may not even have been his.

Do you actually have both cars are is the clio locked in garage/yard leaving you with impreza?

Firstly you need to establish ownership of these cars, that should be something the Gardas can establish.

I wouldnt drive in either car until its ownership is established and sorted

shelia · 25-11-2011 12:40pm

he had the log book of the clio so it probably is his, im just sick im in this mess, the gardai are just useless, do you think if i explained the situation to the department of transport they could help me out?

Gat Dayum! · 25-11-2011 1:07pm

shelia wrote: »

he had the log book of the clio so it probably is his, im just sick im in this mess, the gardai are just useless, do you think if i explained the situation to the department of transport they could help me out?

The department of transport will just tell you to contact the gardai.

The first thing you need to do is stop driving the Subaru until you've established if it's insured which is highly unlikely. Then demand that the gardai contact the registered logbook owner of the Subaru to find out who the rightful owner is. Third thing you need to do is establish who the rightful owner of the Clio is. Again, demand that the Gardai find this out for you. If you have the reg it's only a couple of clicks away for them to find this out. If you do rightfully own it paperworkwise etc you then need to report it stolen so that if it's seen anywhere on the road by a garda reg-reading camera it will be flagged, stopped and returned to you as stolen recovered.

To be honest, getting a solicitor involved or taking a case here probably won't yield results since the guy has clearly legged it and even if they found him, it would be minutes till he legged it again and in any case he wouldn't have your car or your money to return to you.
Best possible outcome here is that he did rightfully own the Subaru in which case you can get a signed affidavit as mentioned above and get it transferred into your name. The Gardai won't ever bother you for having taken over his car in a situation like this.

Good look anyway

shelia · 25-11-2011 3:09pm

thanks for the replies folks, the car was registered in his name so now the ownership is being transferred into my name, thanks to all on here your advice and support was invaluable

doctorchopper · 25-11-2011 3:34pm

shelia wrote: »

thanks for the replies folks, the car was registered in his name so now the ownership is being transferred into my name, thanks to all on here your advice and support was invaluable

Ownership of which car? Hopefully its the subaru and you might come out ahead of the deal.

snowy2008 · 25-11-2011 3:38pm

yeah its for ownership of the subaru since the clio is locked up, yeay!!!

uote=doctorchopper;75663590]

shelia wrote: »

thanks for the replies folks, the car was registered in his name so now the ownership is being transferred into my name, thanks to all on here your advice and support was invaluable

Ownership of which car? Hopefully its the subaru and you might come out ahead of the deal.[/Quote]

bought a car now cant find owner of garage

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