oh, hello, before you wonder what i did, im not in any trouble at all
story goes like this - dude i was friends with a long time ago bought a car, had it shipped from AZ. this was around 01/02. never gets title for said car (that i know of) gets dwi, car sits in his mom’s garage for 4 years.
around 06 dude moves to fl, leaving said car at a mutual friends house, and agrees to pay $50/month for storage. after paying for a few months, he stops paying rent on the car. this was 4 years ago. the car has sat there, rent free for over 4 years now
my friend wants it gone. he worries that if he scraps it, the kid can sue him. he has no proof of how long its been there, ect. phone calls to owner go unanswered / ignored, for literally 4 YEARS
how should he handle this situation? he called and left a final voice mail on the kids phone saying if it doesnt leave his house this week he is scrapping it, still no response. owner was back in town for thanksgiving a few months ago, and still just ignored everything.
I’d start with a letter of intent to scrap within 30 days sent via registered mail. Once he has the confirmation the letter was delivered wait 30 days then scrap it.
I’m not a lawyer, but that’s probably enough CYA to prevent any suing by what sounds like a dumbass deadbeat.
Start with the parents. From the sounds if it they probably have the address because I’m guessing at some point in the last 6 months he’s hit them up for money.
And yeah, not sure about scrapping it with no title. But then again, not like the VIN is going to come back to your buddy. Drag the fucking thing out to a parking lot somewhere and leave it for all your buddy cares. Flip it over and leave it at Tift like a shitty old Audi?
oh, see, i forgot to mention this part, my friend lost the kids phone number when he lost his phone. he had his mom’s house number memorized from when we were kids, called her, and she REFUSED to give him his cell number!!! we called a bunch of mutual friends to track down his number, and finally got it. still no response either…
if you just want it scrapped there ARE places that will take it w/o a title, wont get top dollar or anything but they will do it. My Lebaron was taken for scrap by the dude that patrols during the summer offering to take peoples scrap off their hands. I had the title for that car but wanted to retain it for my own protection (long story)
I’ve done this several times. They usually make a copy of your license in case it ends up being stolen. If there was never a title in his name, he couldn’t really do much right? Take what you want from it and call a few places. I know Skyway didn’t require a title, at least a few years ago. If you just dump it, some random dude in Arizona may get an unwanted hassle.
If you show proof that you sent a letter on three different occasions with no response, the property legally becomes yours. You may be able to show these letters with proof of postage to a reputable scrapyard or junkyard and sell them the car with copies of said documents to retain getting top dollar for the car.
