tannerp123
New Member
- 1
Hey there, I have a small dealership here in Florida. I purchased a Lexus a few months back under the impression that it was clean with no issues, I was given the VIN# before I went to get it and it came back perfect. I took a drive up to Alabama to see it even though I was weary about flood damage after the recent hurricane but there was no corrosion, rust, mold/mildew, just nothing. The VIN# plate as well as the sticker in the door matched the VIN# I was given before I went to see it. It runs and drives like new, so I was given the go ahead and bought it.
I took it to 4 of my mechanics for inspections because of the thought of flooding, and all of them gave it a clean bill of health and found absolutely no issues. I was giving it a wash one day and noticed the door sticker was peeling off in one corner, I looked closer and noticed that there was another sticker behind it. After peeling the top sticker off I found the original sticker with a different VIN#, I ran that VIN# and it came back salvaged with flood damage. I immediately checked the VIN# plate on the dash and the visible plate was again hiding the original. I tried contacting the person I bought it from and received no answer, I then contacted law enforcement and got detectives involved. The person I bought the car from and his family run a title washing ring, one of his family members even has a dealership selling nothing but salvaged cars. The entire family working with him has the same address as he does and they all have been suspected of acting in this. The detectives and local law enforcement offered no help even though they made contact with him.
I made a contact with ties to law enforcement and the repo business and asked for his advice. He had a friend run the cars VIN# through the law enforcement database and it came back saying that someone tried to get it registered in 3 different states, being denied in each one. He finally got it registered in Alabama and somehow got a clean title for it in his name. The VIN report also said that the car was legally owned by State Farm Insurance meaning we cannot legally sell it.
(Here Is The Big Issue)
Because of history sites not telling the full story, the state of Alabama's negligence, and State Farms negligence I was sold a car by someone who didn't own it and committed many crimes selling it to me the way he did. I cannot take any legal action against him (even with plenty of proof) and I cant sell the car legally even at a huge loss. In talking to some lawyer friends they said that the state of Alabama and State Farm are both somewhat responsible for what happened, but wanting to avoid legal fees mainly because it would take any money I would recover I'm looking for any solutions I can find in order to right this.
Would I be able to recover any money from State Farm because its their vehicle that was supposed to be destroyed?
Is there any option for me to recover any money doing things legally?
Any help is appreciated, I've run out of ideas here and I'm getting burnt out stressing over this.
THANKS!
I took it to 4 of my mechanics for inspections because of the thought of flooding, and all of them gave it a clean bill of health and found absolutely no issues. I was giving it a wash one day and noticed the door sticker was peeling off in one corner, I looked closer and noticed that there was another sticker behind it. After peeling the top sticker off I found the original sticker with a different VIN#, I ran that VIN# and it came back salvaged with flood damage. I immediately checked the VIN# plate on the dash and the visible plate was again hiding the original. I tried contacting the person I bought it from and received no answer, I then contacted law enforcement and got detectives involved. The person I bought the car from and his family run a title washing ring, one of his family members even has a dealership selling nothing but salvaged cars. The entire family working with him has the same address as he does and they all have been suspected of acting in this. The detectives and local law enforcement offered no help even though they made contact with him.
I made a contact with ties to law enforcement and the repo business and asked for his advice. He had a friend run the cars VIN# through the law enforcement database and it came back saying that someone tried to get it registered in 3 different states, being denied in each one. He finally got it registered in Alabama and somehow got a clean title for it in his name. The VIN report also said that the car was legally owned by State Farm Insurance meaning we cannot legally sell it.
(Here Is The Big Issue)
Because of history sites not telling the full story, the state of Alabama's negligence, and State Farms negligence I was sold a car by someone who didn't own it and committed many crimes selling it to me the way he did. I cannot take any legal action against him (even with plenty of proof) and I cant sell the car legally even at a huge loss. In talking to some lawyer friends they said that the state of Alabama and State Farm are both somewhat responsible for what happened, but wanting to avoid legal fees mainly because it would take any money I would recover I'm looking for any solutions I can find in order to right this.
Would I be able to recover any money from State Farm because its their vehicle that was supposed to be destroyed?
Is there any option for me to recover any money doing things legally?
Any help is appreciated, I've run out of ideas here and I'm getting burnt out stressing over this.
THANKS!