Car With No Title

**lin9050** · 07-17-2007, 08:44 PM

I bought a brand new car 2 1/2 years ago. I was currently living in California, but bought the new car in Oregon. I financed the car through Toyota Financial. The paperwork (and I'm assuming including the title) was sent to California DMV to be registered. After weeks, I heard nothing. I checked with st. of Cal. and it turns out they lost the paperwork. So I called the dealer to resubmit everything. Once again nothing happened. In the meantime I moved to Washington State. I'm now trying to get my car registered in Washington, yet nobody seems to know where the title is to my car. I've been in contact with the dealer, Toyota Financial (who does not have a copy), the state of California and the state of Washington. Nobody seems to know what to do. I've had expired temp tags since Nov. '04. What can I do? How can I ever sell this car? And...If I pay off this car, will I actually own it without the title since the bank does not have it?

**aaron** · 07-18-2007, 05:31 AM

It's hard to tell you where to turn first when you are proceeding based on assumption. If the car was never registered to you in California, it sounds like you will have to get the dealer to get a replacement title and then register the car over to you.

**lin9050** · 07-19-2007, 01:15 PM

The dealership says they can not give us a "replacement title" because it has been out of their system too long. They could give us a copy, but the state of Washington will not accept anything but the original. The dealership could apply for a bonded title but it would cost too much money (something like half the value of the car). I've also contacted the manufacturer (Toyota) for a duplicate MSO but they will not do that. They said it is now between the dealership and the State of California. How can we get this taken care of in Washington??????? The original title has completely vanished and now I'm stuck in the middle between two agencies who keep blaming each other. If nobody has an answer, can you please at least direct me to someone? Thanks!

**Mr. Knowitall** · 07-19-2007, 01:25 PM

Contact a lawyer in the state where the dealership is located, which you variably suggest is Oregon or Washington, about the possibility of taking legal action against the dealership.