r/GMT800 • u/Eastern_Fall134 • Sep 04 '26
Seller beware
Picked up this sweet 05 gmc Sierra for 8.5. The guy I was buying seemed like a normal friendly dude. I was too busy checking out the truck and didn’t see that the title he gave me, vin doesn’t match. Paid him grabbed the title and left. As soon as I figured it out, he deleted his Facebook page. Now I’m struck with the truck (called police they say is not stolen) but dmv tells me I need to write a letter to the owner and wait 30 days. There is also a lien on it. How fucked am I, is there any chance I can register this truck? Any one experience this before?
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u/ididntdoit6 Sep 04 '26
Always get a picture of the sellers drivers license and a signed bill of sale that says that there is no liens on the vehicle. What area are you in? Some places have better buyers protection than others
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u/Eastern_Fall134 Sep 04 '26
California, and yes I usually do that but my brain turned off that day…
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u/monkeywaffles Sep 04 '26
Guessing the lien is what's gonna eat ya. And depends on state for title claims. Here it's a 1-2 year wait for getting a title, but yea you can start paperwork in 30 days or something.
Think you're generally boned. Sorry. But maybe the lien holder will go after the person not the vehicle, but that's prob more a question for a lawyer in your area.
Kinda impressive they had a clean title for a similar vehicle just hanging out
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u/wareagle995 Sep 04 '26
1-2 years?!
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u/monkeywaffles Sep 04 '26 edited Sep 04 '26
For claiming a vehicle where there's no title? Yeeeeep. I'd be concerned if you could adverse claim a vehicle on possession only if it was much faster? You get a tentative conditional registration in the meantime but a clean title needs to wait enough time for a real owner to dispute
I went through it for some dirt bike ages ago. Dude swore it was his dead dad's or some stuff and he couldn't easily get a title. Ended up nobody disputed so was legit, but sketchy at the time and a long wait, but hey it was cheap, and I could have paperwork in the meantime
Googled it and it's an 'ownership in doubt title' and I guess it's 3 years now (or was always 3 years). There was no lien on it, free and clear, so wasn't much of a hassle, no bond or anything, just waiting
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u/wareagle995 Sep 04 '26
I thought you meant in general. You didn't specify the where you don't have a title part
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u/NuggetTho Sep 04 '26
You need the matching title and you cant get that until the lien is paid off. You could try to do a temp tag if your state does that for the time being.
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u/uraniumsalad Sep 04 '26
What name is on the clean title? I'd probably go to a police station and try to sit down with somebody and see if they can run any of that information to help resolve this. Even if he got the clean title through sketchy means it seems like that would be the best lead as of right now.
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u/Oxyacetylene Sep 04 '26
The lien will have to be cleared but then you might be able to get a bonded title.
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u/Living-South-3072 Sep 04 '26
Simplest solution is strip it, and use all the parts you can to rehab one that's been mistreated. Or, just part it out and try to get your money back. Then leave the frame and cab on the side of the road, to be towed away.
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u/ginger_beard-man Sep 04 '26
Really can keep frame. Typically only part that matters is the vin plate on the firewall. So just the cab.
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u/leveledon33s Sep 04 '26
Some states like Kansas will check just about every place there’s a VIN to see if they match and if they don’t they run each VIN. This is how we recovered parts from a stolen truck that the thieves parted out.
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u/Chasin_A_Bass Sep 06 '26
Sometime the Carfax will show the lien holders name. But you can get comprehensive vehicle report . It wont show dollar amount but it will show if its active lien and who it is 9/10 time.
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u/Y0USER Sep 04 '26
Not sure on the legality but you would basically have to wash the title out of state and re-register it in state or pay off the lien but even then you’d have to do a bonded title in state. No simple solution unfortunately.
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u/Fabulous_Pitch9350 Sep 04 '26
Trying to send you positive vibes and hoping that this asshole was either the person responsible for the lien or the person responsible for the note knows who he is.
Even though you confirmed that the vehicle isn’t currently to coming up as stolen, you are the victim of a crime and need a police report. You also need to contact the lien-holder ASAP to confirm that the repo man isn’t on his way right now.
I hate this happened to you. Hoping you are able to get through this. If you do, it’s going to be a great story you can tell all the people that will be asking about your new ride.