rogerv

Please help me,

About 8 months ago I moved from San Jose California to Tokyo.
Before I moved I put my 2003 S600 Renntech (Ben Treynor's old car) on consignment with http://gt-imports.com/

While I was in Tokyo the owner of GT Imports proceeded to use my car as his own daily driver and put about 15K miles on my car. Around December 1st 2006, the owner of GT-Imports split with about 20 different people's cars that he had on consignment. The police came, cut the chain on the lot and let the people who were lucky enough to still have their cars on the lot, drive them home.
Unfortunately my car was not on his lot. I filed a police report along with more than a dozen other people, unfortunately the San Jose Police department is saying that it is Auto Fraud, not Auto Theft because he paid me for part of the car. (less than half) This means that the police are unwilling to do anything, however they did tell me that the car is still in my name with the DMV and it has not been sold to any one else, so if I see the car parked somewhere and no one is around it, I am free to get in it and drive away. I still have the Pink Slip and key, I just need to know physically where my car is so I can pick it up.
Mercedes Benz Teleaid won't tell me where the car is unless it has been reported stolen, and the police wont report it stolen for me.

Can any one help?
The Vin# is WDBNG76J13A345951

If you see my car please call Andy at 408-313-1853
or email me at roger at memorydealers.com

Jrocket

ohhhh man,that story makes me sick to my stomache! Sorry to hear that.I cant believe the police wont do more than that.

L8Apex

That sucks! I hope you find'em.

rogerv

Another poor guy named Allen gave the GT-Imports owner (Alem) a cashiers check for $160K for a Lamborghini Gallardo, but never got the car, or his money back. OUCH!!!!

aintME

FYI, I just saw this car on craigslist...

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/car/256188693.html

white_w203

i heard about this in local news. I heard the guy split and went to africa or something.

AdamG@NorCal

Roger, i thought you just been to the tracks with your car??

rogerv

What I heard, but I have no idea of knowing if it is true, is that he split with like $4M cash and went back to Ethiopia.

I think he must have some sort of automated software program reposting all the cars on his lot on craigs list:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/c...y=gt%20imports


He used to live in Santana Row, when I showed up at the leasing office looking for him, they said I was the third person to come by saying that he owed them money. All his stuff had been moved out of his place but he still had multiple months left on the lease.

rogerv

I went to the track over christmas with the 06 S65, the 03 S600 is the one that has been stolen.

AdamG@NorCal

Oh yeah, had a blonde moment ! Sorry to hear that Roger. Hope you recover your car soon.

We'll be on the lookout for you too.

rogerv

I posted this same sort of post in the local craigs list and tonight someone was nice enough to send me the following link:
http://wwww.getauto.com/vehicledetai...00/san-jose/ca

If you click on the link right in the middle of the page for the free car fax report it shows that my car was registered to someone else Dec 5th 2006 in Inglewood CA. Has anyone seen this car driving around Inglewood?
Does any one happen to know the person who has it now?
I doubt they knew anything about it, but I would love to get in contact with them so I can track down the scum bag from GT-Imports.

mannnu81

sad man. i hope you do get it back

Eurocharged Rick

how can they buy the car if you have the title?

VIP ONE

Sad to hear man. Im pretty sure theres a lot ways to find your car.

angeleye328i

Bill of Sale and the "owner" stated he lost the title. DMW will take his word and issue new title to the new owner.

EV0LVE

WTF, i'm sure it's not that simple. Whatever it may be, DMV has to be more strict about their policies.

Goodluck finding you car.

2K6E55

Wow... I didnt realize it's that easy to get a new pink slip.

I hope you will get your car back soon.

ROCKETW19

file a police report with someone else and dont tell them the truth just say you were at a store or something get the report them use the benz tele-aid. find the car take it back and that is that. if you are still in tokyo and need help gettin it back im your man. if intrested adam at euroelites has my phone number call me we can work something out.

advans

I agree,

file another report, at another precient.

That is fu*ked up to hear. maybe you can be a "potential" buyer and call/email the seller on craigs. and check wtf is going on.

alden168

Go to DMV...who ever honored the word of that guy will lose his or her job...DMV will not take any reason unless you have the pink slip with you...especially for a 60k car....Ask the supervisor of DMV and demand them where did this transaction or bill of sale was done....you should be able to get the address of the new owner and get the police to get it back for you...Let the new owner sue that dealer

ProV1

i'd get together w/ others who lost big $$, hire a hitman and have the ****er mangled

EV0LVE

this seems to be the most reasonable response i heard so far.

goodluck to you.

angeleye328i

Yes, its that simple to sell a car without the title in hand. What made it easy for him to sell the car is that the OP probably sign a contract that give GT-Import permission to sell the car. The police is correct in stating that its auto fraud and not auto theft.

The only recourse for the OP is to sue in court to recover his money. The new owner of the car are not liable for any thing between GT-Import and the OP. The new owner paid GT-Import for the car and GT-Import suppose to pay the OP his share, that's the way it should be. But since GT-Import took the money its a case of auto fraud (breach of contract) and not auto theft like the police state.

I don't recommend you lie or don't tell the truth to a police officer. It could lead to more problems then you already have.

I wish you the best of luck and the only way to recover you money is to take him to court.

JasonOne

Another thing to do is find the guy that ripped you off. If he's out of country the rules all change. Hire a private detective, someone who specializes in this sort of thing. When you find him, hire someone to get money out of him. If he stole 4 million dollars from people in the States he's living it up right now. He may be hard to get to but he's worth more than the car. Just a crazy thought.

I'm sick of the rampant fraud in the country.

Good luck with that.

Regards,
Jason

iceking69

WRONG! Im a car dealer and i do this everyday. You go in with bill of sale and say previous owner lost it. If your lucky they may send another title to the previous owner but not likely. He can get a bonded title. Thats relatively easy but has to be signed off on by police. Since in this case police wont put it in NCIC he could get screwed. This guy is a dealer. This is what he will do. Usually 200.00 for bonded title.This guy that has the car knows this.

You need to put a lien on this title immediately!. Turn title in again and add yourself as the lienholder . This is the only way I can think of to protect yourself. Your name on title and your name as lien holder. If they say you cant do this, then put your company or something like that as lien holder