Sold car and the buyer paid but still hasn't collected the car

[woodsy799]

Hi Everyone, just wanting to get some advice on my car. I sold it on ebay March 29th for $810 and the buyer paid. He was making contact with me all the time in the beginning and then the communication stopped. The car needs to be towed as it isnt registered and the buyer was fully aware of this. The problem i have is that the car is sitting in my drive way and there is no car space for my new car. If i put the other one out on the street it will be towed away. He has all of my contact details but i never got his. Not sure what i should do with the car i have tried many times to contact the buyer but still no response.

[foxette-in-sox]

This thread has become unintentionally amusing with all the amateur detectives & weird & wonderful suggestions :^O

[thecatspjs]

Maybe aliens teleported the buyer to their space ship?

[stormness_1]

You said you have his home address. Go for a visit. Knock on the door ought to clear things up! 

[1sweetap6v8]

The receipt you talk about is known as a bill of sale and yes if they have one its there property and you agreed to look after it until it was collected. This means you need to go to the authorities and lodge a form to dispose of it.

And they do not even need a receipt they only need proof of payment like a paypal invoice or bank statement  showing they completed the transaction. 

Just get the legal advice before selling or disposing of the car. Just becareful. Not sorry.

It cost nothing to ask the courts.

[shypansy]

A registered letter to the buyer with notice to collect the vehicle within 7 days or it will be disposed of,  keep a copy of the letter and the receipt for the registered post. if no response on day 8, call the wreckers and see what they will give you for it.  if it is drivable you could get $100 to $300 for it,  You are not obligated to refund, at the most all you might offer is an amount less your selling fees, paypal fees, the cost of 3 months storage, phone calls and postage costs,  which would not amount to much if anything left over at all.

Unless you have submitted signed transfer papers already, which I doubt without even meeting with the buyer, the vehicle is still in your name.

[padi*0409]

A registered letter to the buyer with notice to collect the vehicle within 7 days or it will be disposed of,  keep a copy of the letter and the receipt for the registered post. if no response on day 8, call the wreckers and see what they will give you for it.  if it is drivable you could get $100 to $300 for it,  You are not obligated to refund, at the most all you might offer is an amount less your selling fees, paypal fees, the cost of 3 months storage, phone calls and postage costs,  which would not amount to much if anything left over at all.

Unless you have submitted signed transfer papers already, which I doubt without even meeting with the buyer, the vehicle is still in your name.

Give it to the fire service.............good karma too.............;-)

[1sweetap6v8]

you said this,

A registered letter to the buyer with notice to collect the vehicle within 7 days or it will be disposed of,  keep a copy of the letter and the receipt for the registered post. if no response on day 8, call the wreckers and see what they will give you for it.  if it is drivable you could get $100 to $300 for it,  You are not obligated to refund, at the most all you might offer is an amount less your selling fees, paypal fees, the cost of 3 months storage, phone calls and postage costs,  which would not amount to much if anything left over at all.

Unless you have submitted signed transfer papers already, which I doubt without even meeting with the buyer, the vehicle is still in your name.

Don't be so stupid a reg, letter is just one step, it needs to be done to the letter of the law , Your problem here is you have agreed to hold it until he comes to collect it,

He has paid and has proof of payment so the vehicle is HIS it is no longer yours to do as you like it is not for you to give a refund that is not a privilege that is yours he now owns the vehicle and you would need to either purchase the car back or contact him telling him he has a certain time to collect the car or it will be put in the street for council to collect. Before you do it make sure you have spoke to him in person and made it clear you will no longer store the vehicle once that is done you can put it out the front on the street and its his problem. Just lodge the reg papers with RTA first so they no its no longer your car contact him in person and tell him he has to remove it in 24hrs or what suits you.

And you can not dispose of it in anyway other than the legal way. Which includes listing it in a major paper if you can not contact him in anyway. 

This is a very sticky problem that needs to be treated with care or you could find yourself in trouble with the law, Its his car no matter what you think you can do,you can not its his until he states otherwise. All he needs is proof you allowed him to leave it there (emails with you saying its OK is proof)and that he paid for it (any receipt from you PP eBay or bank statement to you for the amount is proof including the feedback) . The rest is history and you can not sell it dispose of it or refund him unless he agrees. Full stop. That is the law. 

You agreed to sell it to him and have received payment which makes it HIS and you have obviously agreed to let him leave it there.  This means you can not sell touch buy dispose of in anyway. 

But I tell you what you can do if your dishonest.

You can go hire a car trailer take it to sims metals make sure you watch it go threw the crusher that way there is no car anymore so it don't mysteriously turn up somewhere then report it stolen to police. Then your in the clear you can not be responsible if a thief stole it now can you as long as you report it as stolen there will be no come back on you. Its an old car yard trick.

I personally would just track him down he must have relatives etc and give him 24hrs to remove it and simply say if it isn't removed in that time I will place the vehicle in the street for collection. That is the only real way to remove the car without the owners permission legally without going threw a whole lot of BS.   Good Luck I think you will get it sorted.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

you keep on quoting about half of the abandoned goods act  1sweetap6v8 .

The Op is not a business and nobody left it for repair and the situation does not come under this act

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/Consumers/Buying_goods/Uncollected_goods.html

What are uncollected goods? 

Where goods are left for repair or other treatment in the course of a business, problems often arise when the goods are not paid for, or the customer pays but does not collect them. Where goods have not been collected for a period to time, a trader may follow the procedures set down by the Uncollected Goods Act 1995 to dispose of the goods and to cover any costs involved in repairing and/or storing the goods.

Between $500 and $5000

The trader can only dispose of the goods by public auction and only if:

• written notice has been given to the consumer and each other person claiming an interest in the goods of the intention to dispose of the goods;  and


• the goods remain uncollected after 6 months of that notice;  and


• a copy of that notice is published, at least 28 days before the goods are disposed of, in a daily newspaper circulating throughout NSW.

A mechanical workshop can also employ "repairers lien"  by where they can withold the vehicle until payment is made

http://www.consolidatedlawyers.com/assets/files/pdfs/Repairer%27s-Lien-Article.pdf

What does the repairer’s lien cover?

Usually the lien only extends to the repairer’s reasonable labour and material costs and not to storage charges – however, this can be altered by an express agreement between the repairer/mechanic and the owner of the car.

The repairer’s lien does not entitle the repairer (i.e. mechanic or dealer principal) to sell the car in order to recoup the money owed, doing so would usually open the repairer up to being sued for conversion UNLESS the owner of the car and repairer agreed (in writing) to do so.

Contractual terms prevail

The repairer’s lien arises at general law (i.e. not in legislation) though can also arise by agreement.

Where a lien created by agreement is inconsistent with a lien arising by operation of law, the lien created by agreement prevails.

If the repairer has a well drafted contract for repairs, the repairer may be able to lawfully sell the car after reasonable time has lapsed and apply the proceeds of that sale to the repairers labour and parts costs, storage fees and interest on the amount outstanding from the date payment was due.

are you sure this is not the paperwork you talk about  1sweetap6v8 because the situation the OP is in has nothing to do with either of these acts??

[1sweetap6v8]

Nope im not in this state you sell someone else,s property you will pay for it. And you do not have to be a business.

[1sweetap6v8]

And what you don't seem to understand is the OP firstly has been payed for the car meaning it is no longer his property secondly he seems to be saying he had an agreement to hold the car until the new owner could collect it. Time period is not mentioned , this is a recipe for disaster if he does not get the correct information from the relevant authorities before disposing of the car and because he has agreed to store hold or mind the car until it can be collected it is his responsibility to make sure its safe. I would not be doing anything but contacting the authorities in order to get the correct information for his state and or find the owner and give him a fixed time to remove the vehicle eg 24hrs. That is the best thing to do in this situation. Selling someone else's property without there permission is not going to go down to good with anyone.