Bought Car, Has Lien, DMV Cancelled Issued Title

[gango]

My question involves vehicle registration or title in the state of VA:

Recently I purchased a vehicle by paying a cash to the seller (I have receipts for cash paid & also general bill of sale-which mentions tht there is no LIEN on car. This is signed by the seller. This car previously was registered with another state). The seller has title with him which he gave it to me (Even though there is lien on this vehicle the seller had title with him with LIEN reported on title. He got title with him as his lender allowed him to keep the original title with him but with LIEN reported on title.).
The seller never told me about his lien on vehicle. After this deal, the seller left the country & went back to india. I put around $1300 for repairing the vehicle & finally took the title to DMV to get the title transfer on my name. During transfer process at DMV, the officer asked me whether there is lien on this vehicle, so I answered tht there is no lien as I was not knowing tht there is lien on this vehicle & seller also hided it from me). Based on my statemet-NO LIEN, DMV officer issued me title on my name with "NO LIEN" on title
paper and also registration for a year's period (I dont know even there is LIEN reported on title why he still issued me title on my name..might be his mistake).
But the other day I got call frm DMV saying tht there is lien on vehicle and u need to provide us LIEN RELEASE LETTER which i will get from the previous owner or lender company. They said we are cancelling your title now & we will reissue title on ur name when u give us lien release letter and we are putting stop on ur record for not allowing u to renew vehicle registration. Now I started contacting tht seller in india who is not responding to my calls. Im also now not sure whether he will keep paying his EMI's to the lender. So now wht options are with me ? - as becoz i need to leave back to india in 3-4
months time and i cant sell vehicle or get rid of it as i dun have valid title with me (I have tht title on my name with NO LEIN mentioned on it but frm DMV perspective its void). From DMV perspective now Im the owner of vehicle & they are asking me to provide them lien release letter. Now the problem is I dun have lein release letter and lender will also not provide me
the same unless tht person pays the loan off. What should I do now? Becoz DMV says u cant get rid of vehicle, sell it unless and until u have title on your name & we will re-issue title only to u when i give them lien release letter.

1) If tht person doesnt pay EMIs, will lender take the car away from me ?
2) What options I have to get out of this situation?
3) If i contact lender, after listening this story will they help me out to resolve it or will just ask me to pay off the remaining loan which im not liable to pay or will they just take away the car from me?

Thnx in advance !

[Mr. Knowitall]

With no disrespect intended, Your English isn't very good and that makes it difficult to understand your story. You seem to be saying that there was a lien reflected on the title you got from the seller, but you stated there was no lien when you registered the title. If that's the case, in my opinion, they should have required you to provide a release of lien before processing the transfer.

The big question: Is the problem at this point that, although the loan has been paid off, you simply don't have a formal release of lien? Or is the problem that money is still owed to the lender holding the lien?

I don't know that the lender will discuss the lien with you, but you won't know until you try.

[gango]

Let me try t explain u again - Yes there was LIEN mentioned on the seller's title which he have it to me. I took this title to DMV. During conversation with DMV officer, he asked me orally is there LIEN on this vehicle. I said NO as i was not knowing whether the seller has already paid off the lein amt to lender or not. DMV issued me new title for vehicle. On the issued title, it is now printed - "NO LEIN". Now DMV expects lien release letter from me..as u rightly mentioned.

The seller still owes money to lender. As u said now I need lien release letter to produce to DMV. Im trying to contact the owner but he doesnt respond at all. I also not sure whether seller is going to continue to pay his monthly payment to the lender. His intetion was just to cheat me.

1) If he doesnt do monthly pay to lender, what action lender will take ? Can they approach to me to repo the car which is now on my name?
2) What should I do as I wont get lien release letter from lender as well as from seller. What are the options available with me ?
3) How can I get rid of such car which is on my name now before I leave back to my home country?

[aaron]

Consider making a police report. You can also consider suing the lender, perhaps in small claims court (depending on how much money is at issue).

If the loan payments aren't made, you should expect that the lender will seek to repossess the vehicle.

[gango]

I went to police to file a complaint against the seller. But police says tht seller has not done any crime as such only thing he has misrepresented himself by not telling you tht there is lien on the vehicle. But police says you can sue this person but doesnt make any sense if he is out of country and not returning back to USA. The balance lien on vehicle is arnd $3500.
Should I talk to lender and explain them that this has happened with me.
1)Will they repo my car immidiately if i contact them for this issue ?
2) Is there any option to bargain with lender and ask them that if reduced the loan price I can pay it off and provide me lein release letter ?

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you want to know your lender's plans, or to negotiate something with the lender, by all means try to contact the lender. We can't tell you what the lender will do.

[gango]

I really appreciate your replies and suggesting the things. DMV has put up stop on my record for not allowing me to renew the vehicle registration. Definitely I will go ahead in sueing the lender in case they come and try to reposses the car.
What happens if Im not able to register the car once its current registration period gets over? Will they tow the car and keep charging me for its storage costs - how many months ?