So I traded in my 2007 IS350 this past December.

Traded it in at a independent dealership down in VA.

Took the car home that night left my IS there

Two weeks title came and now all i needed to do was go to an autotag place and register the car.

I recently just moved so i'm not familiar with any reputable autotag places near me so i found the closest one and went there...

They been in business for 20 some years, makes sense right? No biggie.

January 15th is the date I registered with the auto tag place.

Registered, person behind the desk said she'll call me in a week to come in and pick up the registration.

2 weeks pass... no phone call... so i decided to go to the shop one morning to see if it showed yet.

Lady i registered with comes to check up on her mail.. (shops closed) i asked what's the deal. she said she was closed down for fraud... someone within her shop was stealing from her.... but she sent all the paperwork out.

great.

so i was told to sit tight because it usually takes 2 months the latest to have this filed and corrected... okay...

so it's march 26 today... i have 90 days from the day i filed (Jan 15th) to get my car registered...

I called penndot still nothing under my current car.

Someone there was nice enough this time to email a separate dept for me to try and get this fixed.

told me i will receive a phone call BY tuesday before 4:30.... today is thurs.

yay.

TDbank is breathing down my neck for the title since i got a loan through them but the car's not theirs until it's mine so they can't help with the title..

i called the police officer that was involved and he recommends me go get a court order for the title since i got it from VA. he ran my plates and still no info after 2 months that was his best recommendation and had nothing for me if i got pulled over after the 90 day period elapsed from the date of registration.

it was either that or tried calling up the old dealership and try and have them contact penn dot for another title being that it is still technically theirs until i register

any other suggestions or anyone that works for penndot that can help me with this?

i left out detail on alot of phone calls but you guys get the idea that i've been trying to get this resolved

 

Some details are a little unclear from your post. Do you NOW live in PA after living in VA, or is it the other way around?

Though I'm not very familiar with PA's laws, I can start by explaining VA's laws, which I am familiar with, because I've lived here for years.

In VA, you register your car at a state-approved DMV office (some things can be done at the dealership). The dealership will either transfer your tag or give you a 30-day one and temporary 30-day registration, and get your metal plates for you (in VA, plates are required, front and rear). Within 30 days, when the final registration and/or plates come, the title will either arive at the dealership you can get one at a DMV office. In some cities and counties (VA is the only state in the country that has independent cities), an additional county or city registration may be needed.....with a windshield sticker. So, depending on where in VA you live (county or city), you may also need a county registration if it is required. In addition, VA requires a yearly safety inspection done at a state-approved shop (they are clearly marked), and, by EPA regulation, an emission inspection every two years in certain cities and counties. Last, you can own a radar detector, but the actual use of one in VA is banned....subject to impoundment of the device.


Sorry.....I may not have all of the answers you need, but I hope that helps.

 

hey thanks for the reply...

i never lived in VA... i went down to VA to trade in my car. I live in PA.. and VA doesn't transfer tags automatically for PA customers we do that ourselves which everything was a good to go until my PA autotag shop was shutdown for fraudalent activity evidently.

 

What is an auto tag shop? Is it a private business that acts as a middleman between the DMV and the car owner? I bought my car in another state but got a temporary tag from that state to drive the car home then went straight to my local DMV to register the car. Here in AZ, we don't have an auto tag shop. Car owners deal directly with the DMV.

I think that's what you need to do. Go directly to the DMV and register the car yourself. You probably will lose the money you paid the auto tag shop.

 

Exaclty--they are private middleman so you don't need to deal with DMV. Any money to that place is gone. I think I read about this place:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/lo...ith_fraud.html

Going to DMV might get the paper work done, but it won't help if someone else has the title document. You may need to hire a lawyer to get the title papers if these fraudsters had it.

I don't know about registration of an out of state car, but when I bought my car from the PA Lexus dealer, it took less than a month for my registration to come--and it came directly to me.

 

yes that's unfortunately the place that i went to...

and yes tex2670 got it right... it's basically a middleman...

i dunno if going to the DMV is going to help because i dunno how i could get started on the paperwork without the main item... the title

i have the bill of sale and also my insurance card and etc... i don't think that would really help tough

a lawyer is a good idea... i hope it won't lead to that.

thank you... anyone else?

my 90 day is up April 15th... its starting to look like i'm S.O.L.

 

Jimmy the only thing I can suggest, before lawyering up, IS going to the DMV with all of the documents that ou have so far. In the worse case scenerio, while this may not immediately get you the desired results, they may be able to at least give you some insight on what you need to do, who you need to contact, and what they need in order to complete the transaction. Kinda give you a shove in the right direction Right now, waiting for this third party place to do what they shoulod have done in the first place, doesnt seem to be working and I know that you have been more than patient with them.

Did you call the number that the police suggested? If so, what are they saying??
You pretty much are running out of options, and you are running out quickly. Waiting for documents to come in that were filed by this place may, realistically, not be forthcoming. I would check with DMV, state police, and then lawyer up to get this resolved.

 

yeah... i called the police officer he gives me a name and a fax number saying that she is the person that is handling it and would give me an extension.

Kathy Mumma is the name... i have the number and fax in my car... (currently at work)
number no one ever picks up. Left multiple VM no one ever replies.
faxed all my info through to the fax number as recommended from Police officer...

am i suppose to just ASSUME that everythings done?

Called DMV was given a fax number to CONTACT a Deb Little
Faxed info over left my cell no reply

Called DMV another time someone emailed up the chain for me.. and i was suppose to receive a phone call this coming up tues no later than 4:30pm

umm.. i called thursday...

i went to other Auto tag shops they told me they can't help

i called back the police officer he tells me to get a court order

A court order consists of me sending in $218 and my propisition... IF it gets approved they'll set up a court date for me to see a judge which could take possibly 30 days or more... and whether he approves or denies it i lose $218

and i can't get a new title cuz it's technically not in my name (until i register)

i called the dealership in VA... they're marked as basically a middle man and they need to get in contact with whoever which he told me is going to be a lengthy process but they'll get back to me about it

so... my car looks like it's going to be sitting in the driveway for a LOOONG time

i'm all ears at this point guys... anyone help please

 

Given that this Auto Tag place perpetrated probably a mass amount of frauds, there may be some type of victim assistance program, or at least some DMV official with knowledge of it, who can try and help all the victims.

 

Unless you can get to the rifht person at DMV, which doesn't sound like it's working, if you want results, you gotta spend the dough for court action. You could try to sue the auto tag place for the $$ you're out, but you know that will be worthless (maybe follow the case, appear in court, and POSSIBLY there would be a victim's restitution fund if they are found guilty).

 

This is def a quandry that you are in. As far as this Kathy person, who is supose to give you the extension, I really don't know anything else that you can do but try to find out who her supervisor/manager is and speak with him as well. Do not assume that the work has been done, I would check with someone again to check and see IF the extension has been completed.

As far as Deb Little at DMV, looks like you complied with the requirements, and still no phone call. Since it was stated that you would be receiving a call by this coming Tuesday, if no call is received then I would be in that office where she works with documents/paperwork in hand come Wednesday morning and insisting to see her in person.

I can see where other tag shops would not be able to help you as your paperwork is already in the "transition phases" and/or may actually are being held up by the state investigators while they complete their investigation of the fraudulent activities of the tag company.
Unfortunately it looks like you only have 2 options left at this juncture. First one being that you are gonna have to lawyer up and go thru the proceedings of a court order, or you are gonna have to miss a few day s from work to go to these different offices in person, since the phone/email contact system is yielding 0 results thus far. I know this is a hassle/headache/nightmare to go thru; I went thru a similar situation years ago and never used tag places since.

 

yeah these places are ALL in harrisburg.... which i would REALLY hate to drive out there but if i have to i will...

but once i go there... I don't even know where their offices are.... at the DMV? is it a corporate office? etc etc... when i call the phone number now it doesn't leave her name anymore for some reason it rings and rings and rings and then at the end it says that "this wireless caller is not available" as if it's a mobile phone now...

now when i do 411 reverse look up it still says its a landline... and with 411 it doesn't give me an address it just says harrisburg city...

great.

looks like i'll try DMV first and then just call DMV a couple more times and then get started on that court order...

at least i know i've done everything i can possibly can and have exhausted all of my options

thanks guys... if anyone knows anyone working at DMV or Penndot that could do anything to help i would really appreciate it

whether it's re-creating a title in good faith or anything at all...

this problem is legit... i have bill of sale, insurance card, Vin number, anything at all for proof if needed... i just don't have the title...

 

it shouldn't be hard to find the Harrisburg DMV address...

If you have your insurance card--call your ins co. maybe they have a lead as to how to get a replacement title. Someone MUST have lost their original title before.

 

I called and tried...

everyone's pointing fingers back to the person that i got it

and they are telling me that how it works in VA is that they buy and sell cars from dealer to dealer without registering it under their name.. so they have to track down when the car was last registered to get a duplicate title

and once they find the dealer and i quote "I mean i can't force him to call DMV y'know?" i would just have to wait until everyone does it at their convenience..

this is really ridiculous

oh yeah...

Penndot never called back before tuesday at 4:30... yay

 

Threatening the dealer that you'll post a BBB complaint may wake him up.