Legal Question in Real Estate Law in South Carolina

i had a verbal agreement with someone over the purchase of my vehicle. They have since quit paying and I am stuck with paying the insurance and taxes for the vehicle. The vehicle is still registered in my name. How do I go about getting my vehicle back?


Asked on 5/30/12, 4:40 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Robert Johnston Law Offices of Robert J. Johnston

That is a good question and I wish I had a good answer for you. I am a criminal and personal injury lawyer, and so your question does not fall into my line of experience. The reason I am responding to your question, is I have a very similar situation.

I will give you a couple suggestions. I have answered over 3,000 questions for free on this site over the past 10 years and have never asked anyone for help or compensation. I'm going to make an exception. If you would be so kind, it would be greatly appreciated if you would send me an email and tell me what sort of answers you got from other lawyers and any other information you have learned. My email address is LawyerSC @ aol . com. (there are spaces in the email address).

I do not know very much about your situation, which severely limits my answer. Knowing how long the person has had the vehicle, how much he has paid, how much he owes, how far behind he is, what the agreement was regarding when to transfer title, etc., would help me give you advise.

If the vehicle is still in your name, then technically it would seem that you still own it. But again, I need more information to say for sure. A person can buy a car, not transfer the title, and still own it. So please be careful with what you do.

You need to talk with a lawyer who has experience in this area. You might also be able to consult with the local Magistrate's Court.

Here is something you really need to be careful about. There is a law in SC about allowing another person to drive an uninsured vehicle. You need to make sure that vehicle remains insured. You might want to send that person a certified letter telling them to get insurance. You might also want to say in the letter that they are to return the vehicle or pay you up, and do the necessary transfers.

I cannot say for sure, since I do not have all of the necessary information, but its possible that you might be able to legally just go get the vehicle. I don't know if you have a key or not. If you get competent legal advise informing you that it is legal for you to go get the vehicle, you might want to call the police and tell them what you are planning on doing and see if they can have an officer meet you at the location and observe. That might really benefit you for a number of reasons.

I'm sorry that I don't have more information for you. I hope I have helped some.

If you would send me an email and tell me what you have found out, it would really be nice of you and I would really appreciate it. Again, its [email protected]

Good luck and thank you in advance for sharing any information with me.

Robert J. Johnston

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Answered on 5/30/12, 8:43 am
Robert Johnston Law Offices of Robert J. Johnston

Hey. Me again. If you should decide to send me an emial, would you please put something in the subject matter so I know who you are? I get a huge amount of emails and a lot of them are junk. I don't want to miss yours. Thank you.

Robert J. Johnston

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Answered on 5/30/12, 9:02 am


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