Car dealer’s practices challenged…
A sample of cases handled by Legal Aid of North Carolina
[NOTE: This is an actual case submitted by an attorney from the Legal Aid of North Carolina office in Morganton, NC.]
Almost two months after buying a used car from a large dealership, this
client still could not get her car properly registered with the Division
of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and obtain a license plate. The dealership had
not completed the title paperwork as it promised to do within the 30
days allowed by law.
The client needed to use the car to get herself and her children to
medical appointments, but she was worried she would get a ticket for
not having the car registered. She was worried that there may be some
major problem with the title to the car. Before coming to Legal Aid,
the client was getting nowhere with the dealer, who refused to cooperate. The client’s 30-day temporary tag had expired, and DMV said there was
nothing else it could do.
In addition, the dealer previously wrongfully repossessed the car and
held it for about ten days before releasing the car to the client for
a fee. Since the transaction was financed with a different company,
the dealer did not have a lien on the car at the time of the repossession.
Furthermore, the client was not in default on the contract. The client
was worried that the dealer might again take some illegal action to
repossess the car from her even though she had done nothing wrong.
"This case was referred to us by a private attorney because he did not
have expertise in this area of consumer law and the case would not be
economically feasible for him to do," said the staff attorney at Legal
Aid. "The attorney was interested in working on the case pro bono, if
necessary, but he needed our help to get started. I agreed to make the
initial contact to the dealer to demand that the car not be repossessed
and that the title issue be resolved as soon as possible. The private
attorney agreed that he would be available to pursue the matter further
if litigation was required."
Legal Aid took immediate action to make sure that the car would not
again be illegally repossessed. They also successfully pressured the
dealer into finalizing the title paperwork, so that the private attorney’s
help was not needed beyond that point.
"Our work resolved the most immediate issues in the most efficient way
possible," said the attorney. "We secured the title to the car
and protected the client from an illegal repossession of her car."
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Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that
provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in
order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers
to economic opportunity.