Storage Facility giving away vintage car .. No Title ?? Legal? Options?

Its not your car. Its going to have to go to auction legally for non payment of storage fees. The storage facility is trying to save themselves the hassle of getting rid of it legally. Then rent out the bay. The owner can come looking and storage can tell them you have it. Or they can file a stolen vehicle report. And the storage facility can claim it was stolen too. What if the storage facility operator and the car owner are friends?? And this is how theyre going to get the car back without paying the past due storage fees. Or anyone losing his job. Claim it was stolen and repossess it from you. Its about who has the money or title to get it legally. You got no legal grounds unless you get a bill of sale . Taking possession is foolish . Unless you can scrap the car or get a title.

I wonder what the storage place is trying to do. They could easily have it impounded and let the tow truck company handle this who is already in this business .. afterall they are just getting rid of it. It just sounds odd. I'm tempted to hold it during the process at a friends house. Legal or not, somebody is going to claim it.

Not sure I understand the auction piece. Doesn't the storage place legally take ownership of unclaimed items? Who exactly handles getting it to auction?

I'm not so sure it that cut and dry.

But I do agree they can't give it to me unless they own it.

Storage facilities take possession of contents for non payment and sell the items. Its in the contract you sign. They mail bills off to the owner. Usually after 3 months or less, of no reply they sell the contents . They want the car gone so they can rent the bay. Theyre not going to pay to have a car impounded. When they cant collect rent on it already. Whats odd about it. If you take it , its your problem, not theirs anymore. They dont care about that car, or who gets it. They want their rent from whoever will pay. And items gone from deadbeat renters. So they can rent the bay. Its business.

I'm not sure, but I don't think towing companies charge to pick up and impound cars that are illegally parked or abandoned - in fact many pay up to $500 for junk cars. They for sure are in the business of taking ownership of unclaimed property, and are probably very familiar with the process of getting a title from the State, when an owner and title cannot be found. I'm sure the process is a pain in the neck very lengthy. Something for sure is suspicious, but I'm on my way over there .. if for no other reason out of curiousty. Going to take some pics, grab the VIN and call the DMV.

Thanks.

So pay a dollar as consideration and get a receipt.

I think the storage facility would first have to be granted ownership through the court. But that probably costs more than they are willing to invest at this point. They just want it to come up missing so they don't have to deal with it.

I do however think they could have it towed for unauthorized parking on their property. Perhaps the law in their state will not allow it.

Or it may be quite simple. I suppose it will depend on the state statutes where it is title and stored. I have over the years found myself in possession of a truck and a motorcycle which I "legally" possessed but did not have a title for. In both cases I went to the DMV and got the address of the last owner. I then sent a certified return receipt requested letter to that address requesting that the owner send me the title and explaining how I came to be in possession of the vehicle. In my cases both times I received an unopened letter back. Then I went to an insurance company and paid for a title bond. With the title bond and the returned letter in my possession I went to the DMV an received a bonded title. I was told there is a limit in time after that during which you can not sell the vehicle, but that was not an issue for me in either case. The truck went right to work with minimum service required, and the motorcycle was actually just a frame for a project I was building. I think the whole process on the truck took a little over a week.

If the storage facility is willing to work with you then you could see if there is a process like this in your state. Warning. It may not even apply. Maybe (purely for conversation) one of the attorneys here will step and say it is not a good idea because of the contract between the owner and the storage facility. ie. Would it then become stolen property if they do not auction it off per their contract.

My experiences listed above are from Arizona.

Bob La Londe

It will cost them to have it towed. The other illegal option would be to tow it to the street and abandon it.

I have had a number of abandoned cars towed from my parking lot without charge. I just have to sign an authorization form claiming the vehicle is abandoned, and they go to the city impound lot. There is a legal process whereby if they are not claimed in so many days, they can be sold for storage.

My guess is the storage facility could either claim it abandoned and have it towed to impound, or file a small claims action forcing the owner to either pay their storage or forfeit the vehicle. If so, the court order would allow them to claim title to the vehicle. I assume they would rather give the vehicle away, than take the action. But someone that accepted the vehicle as a gift from the storage facility would not have the same option.

It might be possible however, for someone to get the storage facility to sign a notarized transfer document, transferring their rights to an individual willing to take the court action, but only a lawyer in that state could say for sure.

Perhaps the storage facility failed to get the proper forms signed before renting the space, or has discovered the vehicle belongs to a friend (or non signing party) of the renter. This could complicate things a bit, but it still shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks to fix it. Question is, what is the value of the subject vehicle?

This is going to vary by state......... I've done this type of thing here in MI, with a motorcycle. An old Yamaha was left at a rental house and the owner of the house wanted it gone. He gave it away on the local Freecycle list....... either that or he was going to puch it into a dumpster. The Secretary of State (DMV) had me fill out a form telling them how I came to have the bike...... basically as long as someone gave it to me, and it didn't come back as stolen when they checked the vin, they were fine with it, and issued a title.

The problem was that I had to talk to the correct person at the SoS...... the first person I talked to I used the word "abandoned" which was a huge mistake. "Abandoned" has a specific legal meaning and I could not get that person away from that meaning........ I used the word in it's everyday non-legal sense.