worst nightmare

[harofreak00]

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later... I walked into a bad situation.

Saw this:


Talked to the guy yesterday and he gave me an address to meet him at. Then a while later he told me to meet at a different address. I left here at 8am and drove down there around 10:30am. I called him again and he once again changed the address. He told me to meet him at a gas station and I followed him to the cars location. It was parked in a driveway of someone’s house, kind of hidden from the street.

Apparently, the guy works for a towing/scrapping company that picks up junk cars. He got a call from a customer that wanted to get rid of this car. He told me that he lost the title and the key, and busted the window to get his belongings out.... Ya I know, there are red flags everywhere, but I didn't see them at the time. I even asked him if the car was stolen and he assured me it wasn't. Since there was no key, I had no way to hear it run or drive. I took the chance and agreed to pay $950 cash. They helped me load it up, gave me a bill of sale and their business card and I was on my way home.

The whole scope of the situation didn't feel right to me, so I called the local PD and asked if they could run the VIN to make sure it wasn't stolen. I wasn't even that surprised when she told me it was. Great! I was about 30 miles from home when I figured out it was, and the whole time I was dreading getting pulled over. As soon as I got into town, I drove right to the police station to turn in the stolen property.

They filed a report, and took my bill of sale, business card, a printout of the craigslist ad, and some property from inside the car that I believe is from the original owners into evidence. The car was actually stolen out of Hennepin County, so the detectives in Todd County will have to pass on all the information they took from me. They said I should expect to hear from Hennepin County on Monday.

I *should* be able to get my money back through the courts system through restitution, but it’s going to take a while. After the report was filed, I dropped the car off at the impound lot.

From the sounds of it, the car was stolen quite some time ago, so the original owner probably was already compensated, and the insurance company owns the car. It is possible that I will be able to buy the car back from the insurance company.

It all makes sense after the fact, but I really just didn't want to believe it while it was happening. I hadn't even really inspected the inside of the car before buying it, maybe 5 seconds max. I didn't notice that the ignition cylinder was ripped out of the dash and it appeared they had tried to hot wire it.

So that was my day… wasted 8 hours of my day and $100 in gas, and didn’t even get anything. But, at least I’m on the right side of the law, and guilt free.

[1oldman]

It looks like it's not in too bad a shape. Hope your "brainfar+" works out. Get the car, your money, and another project. - BC

[viper8907]

Wow, that sucks. Hope it all works out. Does this count for them coming in pairs?

[harofreak00]

It was supposed to....

[jonnevilleSSEi]

If it seems to good to be true, be suspicious. The broken glass and hotwire attempt sure seem 20/20 in hindsight but wishful thinking often trumps clarity of perception. You could have a hard time getting your money back as the insurance company won't owe you and criminals aren't often the most reliable sources of debt or interest. (They sometimes tend to be dishonest)


One good thing is that considering some of the more obvious signs when you purchased it, you could have been held liable if parts you sold were somehow discovered as stolen. No idea how, but detectives can figure stuff out and parts will often carry time and date stamps which can lead to particular vehicles.

Thanks for sharing that important story, I hope these punks get theirs and you get yours (money back without too much more hassle - that is.) PS: Know anyplace I can get a cheap supercharger?


(though I may look for one sometime soon, mine has it's little noises, the grind and occasional chirping)

[00Beast]

The nice thing is the guys he actually paid are a company, so he can go after the company for restitution.

Sucks to hear haro, I did know this was going to eventually happen though, with all the crap on CL. Hindsight is 20/20, the best thing now is to move forward and keep your chin up.

[sandrock]

I'm wondering if the orginal owner parked somewhere he shouldn't have, and instead of calling the impound lots around town, decided to just claim it as stolen, or perhaps just wanted to drop the car off somewhere to *ahem* be rid of payments by saying it was stolen. In any case, the impound lot should have filed an abandoned vehicle title after having possession of it for a certain amount of time, or run the VIN to see who it belonged to and serve them notice of intent to sell.

In any case, it sounds like the impound/towing lot didn't follow through on protocol.

[00Beast]

Doesn't sound like an impound/towing lot, it sounds like 2 guys with a tow-truck that sold him the car...

[willwren]

Call the PD (or fake doing it) from now on with the VIN on any car you don't have a matching title for. They'll back out before you finish dialing if it's stolen or questionable.

The business card was probably a fake or someone else's.

[harofreak00]

The business card is real, its how I was able to locate both of them on Facebook. I'll be notifying the detective working the case about that tomorrow.

It was not at an impound lot when I picked it up, it was at a house. It was 2 guys with a tow truck, not really a company, but still a business. I believe they didn't steal it, they just picked it up from the person that did steal it. They probably didn't have enough sense to see if it was stolen, they just wanted to make a buck off of it.

I had suspicions about it being stolen before I even got there. I had even programmed the Police in my phone to make the call easier. But when you are standing there next to 2 guys with a stolen car, in someones backyard... calling the police in front of them didn't seem like the best decision. In all honesty, I just wanted to believe that it wasn't stolen, so thats what I chose to believe... until my conscience got to me.

From now on, no title-less Bonnevilles.

[Archon]

That's a bummer, Andrew. I hope that it all works out for you.

[PRD2BDF]

Were the police confused how a 12yr old boy bought and towed a stolen Bonneville to their station?


Sorry to hear but at least you got out of trouble.

[crzydmnd72]

If you don't already, start traveling ARMED.

Sucks all the way around, I would consider that one to be bad luck and just leave it alone. But thats just me.

[willwren]

If you don't already, start traveling ARMED.

Sucks all the way around, I would consider that one to be bad luck and just leave it alone. But thats just me.

That's very poor advice. Lisa and I both carry legally, and I can tell you the better option is to AVOID situations where you might wish you were armed. It's not worth getting shot over a car worth less than $1k.

[John Deere Boy]

Ughh i hope you get your money back. Do you think you'll have to go to court?

[harofreak00]

I would assume, as a witness.

If you don't already, start traveling ARMED.

Guns are not for me. At all.

[John Deere Boy]

I would assume, as a witness.

So you won't have to hire an attorney? Is this the kind of case that District Attorneys handle? (i have no clue how the justice system works)

[00Beast]

It all depends on what the towing guys do. If they say no, you bought it as-is, etc. he'll have to take them either to small claims court or just court, depending on the amount (not terribly familiar w/ MN's justice system).

He will probably have to go to court for the stolen vehicle hearing. He will probably be testifying against the towing company, or the thief themselves. He'll just be asked to share his story, etc. He will not need a lawyer for that.

[harofreak00]

I honestly have no idea whats going to happen until I hear from the Hennepin County office. It's not really me against them, its them against MN.

[vogie01]

If they find Haro to be a witness/victim of the crime, which more than likely they will due to the nature of the situation. Once a defendant has been found, and convicted Haro should be given restitution. If the defendants finish probation, but have not finished paying restitution Hennepin County will go and get Haro a judgment against the person at no cost, and on behalf of Haro. You should not need an attorney for any of this.

Be aware Andrew, you will MIGHT have the opportunity to get back your fuel costs, and any other related expenses.

I study law here in MN, and I had my apartment robbed when I lived in Richfield in 2008 which is also in Hennepin County. I was able to claim lost time from work when I went through my ordeal in the restitution order.