my friend won't return my cars....

[nmt179]

Almost 2 years ago i helped a friend of mine buy a car because his credit was shot and his house was in forclosure. we worked together, and when i changed jobs i was getting payment taken out of his paychecks and mailed to me weekly. This past december, we went to trade in his car for a different one, but the trade in value wasn't worth the loan payoff. i qualified for the new car anyways, and told him i would take the other car until we could sell it since mine was almost dead. He was just going to get it repaired for the slite body damage. he then let me know about a week later that his brother was going to by the car for the rest of the loan amount so i said okay. after that he stoped answering my calls, quit his job, changed his number and from what i hear ran off to NY. now i was told that the cars are still here in Hagerstown MD, and that two of his girl 'friends' are driving them around. I know them from when i worked with them, but they have not contacted me even when i left a message for them with their boss that i would report them stolen. Please i need some help on what recourse do i have on this issue, and how do i go about getting my cars back??

[retdetsgt]

Sorry, you went into a personal agreement with this guy and it's not a criminal matter. Your mistake was trusting someone who had a background of untrustworthiness. We don't enforce civil contracts, verbal or written.

Contact a lawyer, the police and justice system can't help you.

[marinepilot]

First off, Welcome to RP from the Florida Panhandle! Usually we ask that people go to the New Member Introductions section and post a thread introducing themselves. Coming in like you did, to our internet home, and just firing questions off at us is definitely considered bad form.

While I can't answer your questions with any reasonable certainty because I'm not in either of the states you mention, in Florida it would be basically considered a civil problem and you would have to sue the "friend" who has possession of your vehicles. You entered into a civil contract with him where you bought and paid for cars and let him drive them. So, since he has reasonable belief that he can use them at will, it seems that is what he's doing. When you made the agreement, did you ever specify what would happen when you wanted the car(s) back? If not, it's going to be up to a judge to decide.

Secondly, I would suggest to you that 1) this person is no longer your "friend" and 2) that you please learn your lesson to never buy a car for someone again! Education is expensive, and it seems this lesson has cost you double what it possibly could have if you'd learned after the first car you bought for this friend.

Best of luck to you. Get that intro done and then come back and let us know what happens.

[mcsap]

Are the cars titled in YOUR name ?

If yes , they are your cars. Due to the complicated MESS that YOU allowed yourself to get into , I doubt the police would get involved.

However , you may be able repo the cars. Contact a repo company in your area and ask them about doing this.

If someone came to me and said that YOU took YOUR car from them.....I would tell them it's a civil matter and I wouldn't arrest you. These girls may not even know who the cars belong to.

[Piggy]

He's still your friend?

[nmt179]

Hey everyone,
So I finally got everything worked out. I was able to get ahold of the girls that had the cars and they were pretty scared of getting in trouble for taking them so they gave me no trouble about getting them back. I can safely say no he is nolonger concidered a friend of mine, and I have most defiantly learned my lesson. One of the cars is in pretty bad shape so I know why he was avoiding me, but now I just need to fix them up and get this whole thing behind me. Thanks for all the help ^_^

[retdetsgt]

Glad it worked out. Hard lesson learned, huh? I had a few of those hard lessons early on too!