So i just got a letter from the county of clerks saying i owe 500 bucks and there was nothing else on the letter
After some investigating, i found out that the guy before me who had the car bought it from a guy who forged the title and tampered with records.
WHAT THE **** should i do?!
Please help

 

This is the wrong forum to post this in.

What I'd do is search up the VIN for yourself. That'd be the first thing.

 

Holy **** $500?
Are you still in contact with the previous owner that got it from that person? Maybe he knew about this and sold it to you just to not pay the fees? Try getting to the bottom of this, maybe the county of clerks can send the bill back to that guy once you tell them what has happened...Good luck op hopefully you can get this resolved and you won't have to pay a dime!

 

This was something I had to deal with when I got my SC. It was from florida and I'm in Texas. I was told I should get a "surity bond" on the title to protect me if the car ended up stolen or if records were tampered, I wouldn't be at fault. It was a little on the pricy side and now my title says "bonded"

after reading this im a little more glad I did it incase something like this happens.
I'd say look into it but you already got the letter.

maybe contact the county of clerks and explain your situation and ask for advise about what you should do.

just my 2 cents. hope you figure it out.

 

$500 will clear the title? Or are you still going to have some kind of issues?

I'd take a deep breath, then try to get to the bottom line. I wouldn't shell out the $500 until I knew it was going to make the problem go permanently away.

Then I might be tempted to go thump on somebody.

The county isn't going to send the bill to anyone else, because they have you by the short hairs --- you want to register, drive, the car. You'll probably have to pony it up. Small claims court against the PO is probably the best you can hope for to get it back. Sorry to have to say it, but that's the way it will work when the government is involved.

$500 does s**k, but something kind of minor (like your daughter deciding to rear end a Solara at a light) could easily cost as much (don't ask me how I know).

 

500 bucks is a balance i owe to the clerk of courts. and they did not state a reason why. tried to get a hold of them and they dont know why either. So i dont think that 500 bucks will clear the title.

as of right now i have no idea if the car is still mine or not.
i would prefer not to lose my sc, since i would feel like an idiot for losing 3k plus all the work ive done replacing the clutch, parking brake shoes, and some other things.

Ill try that security bonded title thing. and ill get ahold of one of my lawyer friends to see if they can offer any advice

Thanks for the input

 

and i would search for the vin
but the guy who owned the car before i got the car the guy he bought it from is now in jail for title forgery, tampering with records, and all that other great stuff. so im not 100% sure that would do me much good...

 

wait.. do you have a title at all? is it in your name or is it still the title signed from the previous owner. If the title is not legit as in the car isn't yours, you shouldn't have to pay any fees on it at all, cause its not yours. if it is yours, well then its not really clear why you have to pay $500. I think you need to go into the clerks office and get some more information, believe it or not it helps to go and "be nice" to the person who can look up all the stuff, because they can make things easier or harder on you in situations like this.
A vin lookup always helps, he can change all the records they want but the original vin should be on the car somewhere, like there is one on the firewall in the engine bay, on the top of the dash, the door jambs, probably a bunch of other places. make sure it matches whats on the title as well.

 

I would find out what the $500 is actually for. If it is some sort of criminal issue, then you should go to the police and report it so that you don't end up getting charged with any crimes. If you are not at fault, you should get as much documentation by the police, the DMV, etc. This way, you can attempt to prove that you did nothing wrong. I'm not a big fan of cops but when you haven't broken the law, they can be your friend.

If the $500 fixes all your problems, you should definitely try to fight it, but maybe you should just pay it and never think of it again.

 

thanks for all your help.
As it turns out, they meant to send that letter to a different person with the same name as me who must also have bought a car recently.
I wish our government could get their records straight and not give innocent people a heart attack!

This thread can get closed now or deleted. Its no longer needed

 

Consider it done. Glad you got it figured out.