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The horse stopped breathing quite some time ago, folks. Every avenue of advice has been given … multiple times … @Yu_Shao , please message @trusted_hackrs when you have more info to share and would like this reopened.
Reopened at op req
Update: The seller text me this morning and stated he’s “out of town” and will “let me know whenever he gets back”. I called BMWFS and there’s nothing they can do. I called BMW they refuse to track and locate the car for me unless I have a police report. Now I am working on a police report with a cop friend to see if I can start a stolen car recovery because when I went to the police station near me, they are not helping at all.
Also, the seller refused to admit that he offered a $500 cash incentive, lol.
Also, those are the exact words from BMWFS:
“You are not protected during the lease assumption process and the transferor is still able to drive the car as much as he wants to. If there’s something happened to the car like damages that’s something you need to discuss with the transferor and we don’t get involved in it. But you are fully responsible for the wear and tears as well as damages after stage 3 is completed.”
Any advice guys? Or any lawyer that’s affordable to recommend?
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Tell him that you will post his name on LH
(this was a joke, just in case) 
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Jesus Christ, this sounds like a nightmare. I am sorry you have to go through this.
I would just be prepared and try to document everything, with proof… Just in case you will need to get a lawyer. I see BMW FS point but it’s like they don’t give a rats ass about any of it lol.
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Do you have it in writing from him that he did offer it?
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IMO a lawyer isn’t gonna make financial sense unless your liability exceeds that of the lease payments, or maybe even the total value of the car. You need to get a judgement and then be able to enforce it. You could easily spend 10k or 20k on a lawyer and then get back a destroyed car. Only caveat is if you really can’t find the car you may want to discuss with a lawyer whether you are liable for damage done by a vehicle that it seems is in your name at this point.
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Time to get the feds involved too!
Joking aside, this is the worst case scenario in a lease transfer where you have the liability without the protection of insurance. Hope it resolves quickly.
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Still curious about this mystery BMW.
This does not sound good.
I do not recommend doing this without backup, but if I were in your shoes, I will go to the address where you initially met to see if the car is parked there.
Did they ever reveal their current address to you?
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That’s the problem you’re going to face now: legally it is your car in every sense of the word. Payments are your responsibility and it should be under your insurance. Assuming the MSRP of the vehicle you’re opening yourself up to a lot of liability if anything happens and it’s not insured against it. You also owe a payment on the 13th. That’s the unfortunate reality.
That out of the way, I would try to stay in touch with the seller and get them to drop off the car ASAP. The best bet is the seller coming to their senses and realizing there’s no way around the transfer even if they are having remorse. Ideally after stage 3 processing is finished it should have been arranged for you to pick up the car from their driveway as BMW doesn’t even recommend the original lessee driving it for delivery purposes as all of the potential liability falls on you.
I’m not sure what to do to recover it, but keep all of that in mind. It seems like BMWFS doesn’t want to get involved at all. I’d like to think that maybe the seller is having remorse or facing some sort of issue where they need a vehicle, which they could communicate better. Maybe in their mind they’re thinking or planned that since they paid the last monthly payment they can continue driving the vehicle until Friday, which isn’t accurate. If it’s at the point where you’re making payments and the vehicle isn’t in your possession then I would become extremely concerned.
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Are they out-of-town with the car or without? Did you tell the seller you’re going to report it stolen?
Might make sense to focus on getting the car, you can later take them to small claims court for the $500 if you need to.
This is a huge red flag. The fact that the seller won’t disclose ’when they’ll be back’ indicates they may be just shining you on to buy time. This on top of the fact that they’ve been ducking you for days already.
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Since OP has yet to register the car in their name, is it legally theirs? I understand in terms of liability, BMWFS sees OP as the new owner of the car.
You made lots of good points, btw.
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I don’t know about that
exactly, I called them like 10+ times and they just put it very straightforwardly that they are not getting involved.
As others suggested, if you can get it registered in the myBMW app you should be able to track it. You have paperwork that shows you own it now: If he’s truly out of town have roadside tow it to the dealership, and pay to replace the keys and have it re-keyed. That’s what I would do
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As far as I’m aware I think you would need to have the car to accept linking it to the app on the iDrive.
Normally BMW could assist with locating it if they considered it a stolen vehicle.
@Bluemkn57cars That’s a good point as well. From BMW’s perspective it is OP’s car as is the liability. If it isn’t registered in their name the state may view it otherwise. I don’t believe BMWFS gets involved with registration, so if OP hasn’t registered it it wouldn’t be registered in their name however since it’s a lease BMWFS is ultimately considered the legal owner.
This is correct. It’s not permissive use of the vehicle so OP almost certainly doesn’t have legal liability to third party victims.
Definitely do not do this. Beyond being dangerous if any force or threats are used to recover property it is illegal. No state allows self-help recovery of stolen property after the initial theft.
OP said he can’t register the car but I’d be impressed if he could convince BMW to go get his stolen car although I guess it’s no different than when the repossess a vehicle.
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