# Have you ever had this happen... trade in a car and start getting renewal notices and tickets



## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

I traded in a leased 2019 Chevy. The car sat for some time. California DMV started sending me registration renewal notices. Found out that the dealer does not insure that the lessee files a release of liability. I go down to DMV and file one.

Weeks later I get a parking citation by mail. Again, the vehicle is no longer in my possession. I have never even been to the city of Temecula.

*TRUE or FALSE:*
I want to learn whether there is a hole in the California DMV system, or is it GM failing to do its due diligence. For the registration notice, the dealer says they are not required to file a release of liability on behalf of the customer. And for the ticket, the dealer says the car was likely sold at auction, and in that case the registration is not required to be transferred. It is up to the buyer to, on their own, register the car and pay the transfer fee.

*TRUE or FALSE?*


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Good luck with that one. Was it based on the Tag or the VIN #? In Florida the tags stay with the owner not the vehicle. When you trade or sell or return a lease you keep the tag.








“WARNING: This post may contain a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer.”


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Yeah, that is odd. Did you take the plates off? I've sold cars privately (as well as traded in) and never leave the plates on the car. One time I had the police call me a year later because they found the car I sold in a junkyard, I guess the person I sold it to never registered it, and they were going off the vin.


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

I had vanity plates on the car. Definitely removed them. They are on my new car.

I spoke with an attorney after making this post. Concerned (obviously) about liability. He said that as long as I had filed a release of liability I should be free and clear. What's interesting is that the dealer, although they do handle a certain amount of the DMV paperwork, did not have me sign the release form. They could have done that knowing how important it is, and filed it with the DMV paperwork for the new car.

Now after receiving the renewal notice for the registration I did go in person to MV and filed a release of liability form. The attorney advise me to go down to DMV in person, again, and verify that the release form I did submit is on file. That again is the key. So even if the new owner of the car never registers it in their name, I will not be culpable of any trouble that car gets in to. 

I am left with two mysteries however.
1) How can it be that the California DMV is leaving money on the table by not requiring a transfer of title and registration every time the car changes hands. Hopefully even when a leased car is surrendered, and certainly when sold at auction. Such activity generates fees. I know DMV is a large, government run, dysfunctional institution, but still.

2) How could the new owner have obtained plates yet not register the car in their own name.


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

ADVICE FOR OTHERS. IN ANY STATE.

Especially for younger drivers who may not have been informed about this.

*When you sell a vehicle ALWAYS file a release of liability.* If you just sign over the pink slip the new owner can go out and get in an accident, and any property damage or bodily injury may be on YOU.

I have filed such release forms all my life, for private party sales. I slipped up here not realizing that the return of a LEASED vehicle requires this as well.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

In Florida, when you sell a car you remove the top section of the title and complete it with the new owner information. Then you can mail it to the state or do what I do nd take it in to the local office so they can remove it from your records. I like to take it in so they can enter it while I am there. this way there is no getting lost in the mail or ignored by a lazy clerk somewhere.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

It's weird how every state is different. I don't even know if there is such a thing as a release of liability in NC, didn't see anything on the internet. We have to turn our plates into the DMV or get them assigned to a new car, that's it.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

There was recently a discussion on the radio about this topic, the parking ticket, you'll probably be forced to go to court and show proof to the Judge/Magistrate that you were no longer in possession of the car (traded it in, sold it, whatever) with proof thereof, and then they will dismiss it. Personally, I'd raise holy hell with the dealer about it.


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

Indeed. Holy has been raised.


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