So long to my car
Well, this morning my Prizm was taken away. I put about 140,000 miles on it. So I did get my money's worth out of it :)
I've actually had it retired for some time now, but I've spent at least the last couple of months trying to get a lien release. I paid the car off about 8 years ago. I had the title in my possession, but you are not allowed to get rid of a car without a clear title or a lien release letter for any liens listed on the title.
Shouldn't be so complicated, you just contact the place that had the lien (the finance company) and they send you a letter.
Well, easy except that this company apparently went out of business. And they went out of business like NINJAS!
It was a local company. No trace of them. Tried calling the NYS DMV Title bureau. First, they have limited hours, and even when you call during those hours, they sometimes don't answer. A couple times I even got a recording saying their computers were down so to try later. When I finally *did* get ahold of them, they had no information for me. They suggested I try the NYS Department of Banking. Barring that, the only way to get the lien released was to have a judge order it so. *sigh*
Banking department, of course, had no idea who this company was and no record of who might have bought them. Same with the dealer I bought the car from. They *arranged* the financing and were still all like "never heard of them".
I talked with a very helpful woman at junkmycar.com a month or so ago. She said she had never known anyone to go to as much effort as I had, and to top it off, I hadn't gotten results. (She was sympathizing). She actually ranted to me about how unhelpful the DMV is in cases like these. She also pointed out that you don't get the title until you pay off the loan. So the fact I had the title means I paid it off, but that the DMV still insisted on the lien release letter. Finally, she gave me advice on hammering the dealership and then suggested I try Wells Fargo. Apparently, even when they don't have information on your car loan, they often have access to who does have the information.
So I tried Wells Fargo, who was very nice, but didn't have my car loan information, but suggested I try Wells Fargo *Financial*. So I talked to them, and a search was put in and I was told it could take 8 business days to get the letter, although I'd hear sooner if they didn't have the information for me.
Cut to Monday. A lien release shows up! Hallelujah! I called junkmycar.com (yes I used the phone number for a .com business :) ). And within 20 minutes, had gotten a call back from their local contractor and scheduled to pick the car up this morning. So last night, I took the plates off, put the keys, title and lien release in the glove compartment, and was ready.
And the car was gone when I came home. I've already turned in the plates, so now we can cancel the insurance on the car we don't use any more :)
I've actually had it retired for some time now, but I've spent at least the last couple of months trying to get a lien release. I paid the car off about 8 years ago. I had the title in my possession, but you are not allowed to get rid of a car without a clear title or a lien release letter for any liens listed on the title.
Shouldn't be so complicated, you just contact the place that had the lien (the finance company) and they send you a letter.
Well, easy except that this company apparently went out of business. And they went out of business like NINJAS!
It was a local company. No trace of them. Tried calling the NYS DMV Title bureau. First, they have limited hours, and even when you call during those hours, they sometimes don't answer. A couple times I even got a recording saying their computers were down so to try later. When I finally *did* get ahold of them, they had no information for me. They suggested I try the NYS Department of Banking. Barring that, the only way to get the lien released was to have a judge order it so. *sigh*
Banking department, of course, had no idea who this company was and no record of who might have bought them. Same with the dealer I bought the car from. They *arranged* the financing and were still all like "never heard of them".
I talked with a very helpful woman at junkmycar.com a month or so ago. She said she had never known anyone to go to as much effort as I had, and to top it off, I hadn't gotten results. (She was sympathizing). She actually ranted to me about how unhelpful the DMV is in cases like these. She also pointed out that you don't get the title until you pay off the loan. So the fact I had the title means I paid it off, but that the DMV still insisted on the lien release letter. Finally, she gave me advice on hammering the dealership and then suggested I try Wells Fargo. Apparently, even when they don't have information on your car loan, they often have access to who does have the information.
So I tried Wells Fargo, who was very nice, but didn't have my car loan information, but suggested I try Wells Fargo *Financial*. So I talked to them, and a search was put in and I was told it could take 8 business days to get the letter, although I'd hear sooner if they didn't have the information for me.
Cut to Monday. A lien release shows up! Hallelujah! I called junkmycar.com (yes I used the phone number for a .com business :) ). And within 20 minutes, had gotten a call back from their local contractor and scheduled to pick the car up this morning. So last night, I took the plates off, put the keys, title and lien release in the glove compartment, and was ready.
And the car was gone when I came home. I've already turned in the plates, so now we can cancel the insurance on the car we don't use any more :)