Bought a Tahoe, dealer has not sent title paperwork in yet

[Big Rig]

Apologies in advance for what is surely a stupid question lol.

I bought a 2018 Tahoe from a used car dealership in Georgia on 12/10 and they gave me a temporary tag good til 1/24. I traded in my old SUV and turned in the plates to the local DMV office. So far so good. However, the dealership has been very slow and unresponsive in sending in the title/registration paperwork to the North Carolina DMV.

The dealership is legit and overall has positive reviews online so I'm sure this is more of a laziness/incompetence thing rather than fraud or anything serious. That being said, the need to have a car properly registered cannot be overstated, and the DMV is not to be f*cked with lol, I don't want any trouble. It is financed and I have all the paperwork I was given such as the bill of sale and other various papers. NC DMV says they need all originals (I only have copies) from the dealer and a couple specific papers that I wasn't given (such as damage disclosure statement.) in order to register it. If the dealer never gets around to it, what are my options? Get an attorney? They are 4 hours away from my house so can't exactly just show up and raise hell.

Probably being paranoid but want to see what others on here would do in my situation. Thanks!

 

[OR VietVet]

Send in "Crooked nose Tony and the boys".

 

[Big Rig]

Send in "Crooked nose Tony and the boys".

DoorDash them a knuckle sandwich??

 

[tagexpcom]

I'm nearing the end to a similar occurrence. I bought a used 2021 Yukon Denali from the local Ford Dealership which is owned by a large company.

Turns out they didn't actually have the title (which is illegal in Oregon) and normally they skate on this and the buyer doesn't know this, but they had trouble getting it and they were required to notify me by law after a month. Then, no one would give me status. After several calls, contacts, persistence - I finally got someone in their office to give me regular updates such as title was lost, re-applied for a replacement title in CA, got it but was not signed off, finally signed off by bank and submitted to DMV kind of thing over 5 MONTHS! I finally got plates (new year's eve) but Oregon takes up to 2 months to produce the registration/title - so I'm still waiting for the title.

Here's my thread

FORD Dealer says "Waiting on Previous Owner/Lender" - 2021 GMC Yukon Denali

We paid for a used 2021 GMC Yukon Denali 6.2L at a Ford dealership. Part of the reason for going this way was to avoid title hassles and have the nightmare of a car that can't be titled! It's been 3 weeks since purchase and now I have a letter from the dealer saying they are waiting on the...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

Suggest you find someone at the dealership or parent company willing to give you updates - at least once a month and of course to do additional temp driving certificates till you get plates. Personally, I will never again buy a used vehicle unless/until the dealer or individual produces the title ready to send to the DMV.

And I for one will be interested to read updates on you're journey with this.

 

[shock]

That’s frustrating.

I think your best bet is to be a polite pester. Call every afternoon and ask for the status. If they seem confused about something, call your DMV and ask about their point of confusion. Inform them what you learned. Keep notes of your calls (a timeline).

After it is resolved, write a non-dramatic, factual review on sites like Yelp/Google.

I know it’s a lot of work you shouldn’t have to do, but such is life.

I used to work at a dealer that was on the border between two states. As long as the customer was in one of those two states, everything was smooth. When dealing with another state, we always ran into unpredictable requirements to get the transfer through.

 

[Big Rig]

I'm nearing the end to a similar occurrence. I bought a used 2021 Yukon Denali from the local Ford Dealership which is owned by a large company.

Turns out they didn't actually have the title (which is illegal in Oregon) and normally they skate on this and the buyer doesn't know this, but they had trouble getting it and they were required to notify me by law after a month. Then, no one would give me status. After several calls, contacts, persistence - I finally got someone in their office to give me regular updates such as title was lost, re-applied for a replacement title in CA, got it but was not signed off, finally signed off by bank and submitted to DMV kind of thing over 5 MONTHS! I finally got plates (new year's eve) but Oregon takes up to 2 months to produce the registration/title - so I'm still waiting for the title.

Here's my thread

FORD Dealer says "Waiting on Previous Owner/Lender" - 2021 GMC Yukon Denali

We paid for a used 2021 GMC Yukon Denali 6.2L at a Ford dealership. Part of the reason for going this way was to avoid title hassles and have the nightmare of a car that can't be titled! It's been 3 weeks since purchase and now I have a letter from the dealer saying they are waiting on the...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

Suggest you find someone at the dealership or parent company willing to give you updates - at least once a month and of course to do additional temp driving certificates till you get plates. Personally, I will never again buy a used vehicle unless/until the dealer or individual produces the title ready to send to the DMV.

And I for one will be interested to read updates on you're journey with this.

Dang hate to hear you went thru all that, thanks for sharing. Agreed I will have to have eyes on the title from now on before buying anything used. Im sure it will get resolved but is frustrating nonetheless.

 

[Big Rig]

That’s frustrating.

I think your best bet is to be a polite pester. Call every afternoon and ask for the status. If they seem confused about something, call your DMV and ask about their point of confusion. Inform them what you learned. Keep notes of your calls (a timeline).

After it is resolved, write a non-dramatic, factual review on sites like Yelp/Google.

I know it’s a lot of work you shouldn’t have to do, but such is life.

I used to work at a dealer that was on the border between two states. As long as the customer was in one of those two states, everything was smooth. When dealing with another state, we always ran into unpredictable requirements to get the transfer through.

Yeah my approach is to be "professionally persistent", they know what's going on so I'm sure its only a matter of time.

 

[Big Rig]

Thanks for the input guys. And to ask one final stupid question, if they completely drop the ball or lose the paperwork or something, Im not going to have to return the car am I? Lol it sounds ridiculous but no title no ownership. They've already sold my trade in so that ship is sailed haha.

I'll just keep pestering them until some progress happens.

 

[BlackBrud]

Thanks for the input guys. And to ask one final stupid question, if they completely drop the ball or lose the paperwork or something, Im not going to have to return the car am I? Lol it sounds ridiculous but no title no ownership. They've already sold my trade in so that ship is sailed haha.

I'll just keep pestering them until some progress happens.

I think you’ll be okay.

I feel like at most you’d just need to get a new title issued for the vehicle - it wouldn’t be fun, but you’d get to keep it. Technically you could back out of the deal if they breach the contract in some way, but they’d work hard to avoid that.

Aside from that, it can’t hurt to ask an attorney a few questions or look up the title laws in your state. Most states have a law that dictates a limit to the time between the transaction itself and the transfer of the title. I’d say just look up the NC title law, and then be persistent with asking about updates. Remind them of the law, and document your conversations.

Here’s a good link with some state examples (no affiliation, just picked a site after googling): https://kneuppercovey.com/can-i-sue-a-dealership-for-not-giving-me-title-to-my-car/

 

[mb1500]

NC and GA should be electronic title states, keep on the dealer and go to DMV before the 24th, should be able to explain the situation and get another temp tag.