Bought a dunp truck with a lien on it?

Question

I purchased a dump truck 7 months ago for $19,000.00 from what seemed to be a nice gentleman. The truck turned out to have numerous problems; $8,500.00 worth of damage. When i first looked at the truck the engine was clean and free of oil. However i later found out the engine had been steamed cleaned. I received a loan to purchase the truck from a separate bank from which the purchase of the truck took place. I went back to the gentleman to get my money back, but he no longer wanted to talk to me. i later found out that the bank that i made the purchase at still has a lien on the truck to this very day. Can i sue the bank for selling me this truck with a lien on it as well as the gentleman. Please help!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

I doubt you have a claim against the bank with the first lien on the truck unless you can prove they knew you were buying the truck and the bank represented that the title was clear.  I don't know where you are, but in most states in the US a lien is written on the title of the vehicle.  If the seller gave you a title that was issued in duplicate and did not show the lien, he may have committed a criminal fraud.  You need to see a lawyer unless you want to pay off both loans.

Answer 2

Are you sure you didn't pay off that other loan as part of your purchase through the bank??  If that is the case, then they would still have a lien - you still owe them money - but the seller would have gotten less for it.   Say the truck was sold for 19,000. and he owed the bank 5,000.  on it.  Your new loan is still for 19,000.(because that's what you agreed to pay)  but part of that 19,000 paid off his loan, so the seller actually only received $14,000. from the sale.   You still owe $19,000. either way.  Now if you know the seller got the total of $19,000. from the sale and then didn't pay off the lien, then something went wrong.  Either the bank dropped the ball, or you had one of those auto loans where you just cash the check & use it for whatever car you want with no paperwork being done by the bank.  If that is the case, then you should have done your homework on the vehicle and you need to alert the bank what happened.  The original loan is in the seller's name so you are not liable for it, but your title won't be clear until he pays it off.  Check with the bank first.

Answer 3

In most states you have a period of time to undo a large purchase like this. The time is about three days. You did not mention what type of lien is against the title.  

Answer 4

I don't know where this 3-day cooling off keeps coming from, but nobody who knows their legal smack would suggest that myth.

Your only recourse is proving fraud.

Otherwise, buyer beware.