I bought a cheap much older car from a used dealership for a friend who’s family has been down on their luck for a long long time. Only 1 person in their household of 9 people has a drivers license, my friend. She does not own/lease/pay for a car herself anymore, her previous car was repo’d due to not being able to make payments due to job loss. She and her entire family desperately need a car for their disabled Mom they live with and also because NO ONE else has a license to drive and she is a taxi for everyone to get to-and-from-work or doctor’s appts. I bought the car outright for $5k and it was agreed with them it was initially in my name just to get it paid for and registration etc, with the understanding right away the title/registration would be signed over to my friend.
When the title came in the mail I signed it off right away to my friend and she just needed to take it to the DMV to swap to her name and pay the registration and pay a small fee. NBD. She did take it in and did pay the fee but the car still has license plate tags of 2024….
Apparently, which was found out over 1.5yrs later, the hard way, she had signed the title but crossed out something to correct it on the form so the DMV never accepted the title actual change, and she also paid the title fee, but never paid the registration fee in summer 2024. The title is in limbo-status being off of my responsibility and my name and showing someone tried to change it but it’s not 100% done….also they didn’t pay registration 2years ago in 2024 and not in 2025 so there are many late fees and penalties.
"Friend" still has no job unfortunately, and she has been using her Uncle’s car to drive everyone around and the car I bought is sitting and rotting away in their driveway. I have not helped them pay any additional fees or helped towards the proper title change, this is all their responsibility via acceptance of having a car bought for or gifted to them/their family.
BUT, could I or should I go to the DMV and get the title back in my name, pay for the past due registrations and sell the damn car on my own? or just let this go and remove myself from the entire situation and this "investment" car bought for my friend and her family just rot away in the driveway?
You’re justified in protecting yourself. If the title transfer was never completed, checking with the DMV and reclaiming the car to sell it makes sense rather than letting it sit and become a liability. You already did more than enough.
Yep, get it back in your name, and sell it. You are currently liable as you are still the owner of the vehicle.
If they have been paying you as scheduled, work something out financial to address that.
No good deed goes unpunished
NTA it’s usually a pretty easy process to get a duplicate title if it’s still in your name. Then transfer the title to your friend again but this time at the DMV so you can see it transferred. If your friend is not onboard with that, then you can use the duplicate title to tow it elsewhere and suppose however you want.
If the car’s still in your name, it means you’re on the hook if there’s an accident or parking tickets or something. NTA if you take it back and sell it, NTA if you take your friend to the courthouse and make absolutely sure ownership is transferred.
Are the late fees and penalties being accrued to your name?
If the friend is not using it and is not committed to paying for the fees and sorting out the issue with the title change – and it sounds like she is not – then your only option IS to reclaim the title, the vehicle, and then sell it to recoup the losses.
NTA
It may not be worth the hassle to take the car back, it depends on what else is wrong with it if they only parked it for expired tags. I guess you could sell it for scrap but that usually isn’t much. Or maybe donate it for a tax write off. It might be easier to just get off the title. If you sent in the paperwork to DMV your liability should have been released. Are you getting paperwork in the mail for overdue fees? If not then you probably won’t have any claim to the car now.
Technically it’s probably your responsibility, your name being the only one attached. That’s what think.
You can ask the DMV to confirm if that’s true or not.
NTA at all, but you learned the hard way why you never put your name on something you are not in control of.
If the DMV truly shows the title out of your name and all the fees are on her, I’d just emotionally write off the 5k and be done. If there is *any* chance this can come back on you though, I’d get it put back in your name, clean it up, sell it, and never mix “friend” and “co‑signing” type favors again.
NTA Force them to complete the transfer, pay for it yourself if you want to keep being kind OR reclaim the car. The liability on you here is massive given they sound too poor to cover any kind of accident.