Expired Tags, Car Impounded, Dealer MIA

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21

Payback for driving the dealer insane during negotiations.

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22

What other choice do you have except to go the legal route? Sounds like everyone’s thrown up their hands and said “not my/our problem”

23

Only way to protect yourself, every time there’s a new issue. A bank messing up what kind of car you’re leasing is some next level idiocracy, are they at least showing the right loan amount?

Only way I see this situation getting worse is somehow there is a XM out there and the dude defaults on it.

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24

You aren’t getting a lawyer on contingency since there is unlikely to be a financial recovery. That said, IF it were me, and I was going the legal route, I wouldn’t be trying to lawyer up to engage in some protected litigation, where BMW can bleed me dry. I would want a lawyer to send the dealer’s GC and BMW’s registered agent an aggressive letter saying unwind the deal and return trade/zero out negative equity or I am going to start suing everyone.

This kind of strategy occasionally works since it gets someone from the general counsel’s office digging around to make sure that BMW doesn’t actually have liability if they fail to remedy the issue. At that point, the dealer may decide that they need to fix the problem orunwind to make BMW’s lawyers go away/try to keep BMW from seeing how badly they screwed up.

Source - I was a law intern at a public company many many years ago and dealt with a few somewhat similar issues. No one wants to get a call from the GC’s office asking to discuss such a situation. At that point the employees priorities change quickly.

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25

This is what my advanced LLM model suggested:

1. Leverage Through the DMV and BMWFS

  • DMV Leverage: The DMV agent told you they can send the paperwork back to the dealer and require it to be resubmitted. Although this restarts the process (and might take another 8 weeks), that rework can also apply pressure on the dealer: they don’t get paid by BMWFS and don’t formally “close out” until the registration is finalized.
  • BMWFS Leverage: Since BMWFS hinted they might cancel the loan and unwind the deal if the title paperwork isn’t properly submitted, that can be powerful leverage. Dealers typically don’t want unwinds—it can be a headache involving reversing deals with floorplan lenders, plus they’ve already sold your trade. If you make it clear to them (in writing) that BMWFS is considering unwinding the deal, it may jolt them into action.

2. Send a Formal Demand to the Dealer

  1. Email May Not Be Enough: You’ve already emailed and gotten no response. If you haven’t already, send a physical, certified letter to both the dealership’s general manager and, if possible, their legal department or owner/principal.
  2. Explain the Situation Clearly:
  • State that the vehicle is un-driveable due to expired tags.
  • Emphasize that the DMV and BMWFS have pointed back to the dealer’s incorrect paperwork.
  • Make it clear you are prepared to escalate to the authorities (Attorney General, DMV Investigations) if they do not correct the situation immediately.
  1. Demand a Timeline: If there’s no response, indicate you’ll file complaints with your state’s motor vehicle regulator and the AG’s consumer protection division.

3. Involve Your State’s Consumer Protection Agencies

  1. DMV Investigations: Most states have an internal investigations unit that handles dealership wrongdoing, especially registration or titling issues. Filing a complaint there forces the dealership to respond and often triggers more immediate action.
  2. Attorney General’s Office: Many AGs have consumer protection departments that take interest in cases where:
  • A dealer fails to properly submit documents.
  • The consumer is left without valid registration or tags.
  • Title or financing paperwork is misrepresented.

Even a quick online complaint filing (if available in your state) can get the ball rolling.

4. Potential Private Legal Action

  1. Consulting a Consumer Attorney: You might want to consult a consumer protection or auto fraud lawyer. Many will offer initial consultations at no charge.
  2. “Unwinding” the Deal: If the financing truly can’t be finalized because the dealership can’t produce correct registration/title work, a lawyer could help you argue for a rescission (unwinding) of the contract. However, the complication is your trade-in being sold, which typically means the dealer would have to “make you whole” in some other way.
  3. Damages: If you incurred impound fees, or you’re effectively paying for a car you can’t drive, you might have a claim for those expenses depending on your state’s laws and the dealership’s negligence.

5. Practical “Stopgap” Measures

  1. Ask for Dealer to Cover a Loaner: Sometimes, to keep the peace until final paperwork arrives, dealers will provide a loaner or rental car (and cover costs) so you aren’t stranded. It might be a big ask, but it’s worth pushing—especially since the lack of driveable tags is on them.
  2. Stay in Close Touch with BMWFS: Keep BMWFS updated on every email or letter you send the dealer and any lack of response. BMWFS doesn’t like dealing with a poorly performing dealer, and they may apply additional pressure behind the scenes if they see you’re documenting everything carefully.

6. The Mystery BMW XM

  • Likely a Paperwork Mistake: The fact that an entirely different BMW (the XM) shows up under your name suggests a massive clerical or VIN error. That alone should be enough for the dealer to take immediate corrective action.
  • BMWFS’s View: If even BMWFS and BMWNA can’t trace where that XM came from, it’s on the dealer to fix. Keep emphasizing that in your communication with both the dealership and BMWFS: “We have a serious clerical error that may impact multiple vehicle contracts, not just mine.”
  • Potential Liability Concern for the Dealer: The longer the wrong car is on your account, the bigger the risk for them if it triggers the wrong contract or loan to be reported. That’s another pressure point you can highlight in your written demands.

In Summary

  • You do have some leverage: The dealer’s non-compliance on title work can lead BMWFS to cancel the loan, and the dealer really doesn’t want that.
  • Follow formal steps: documented letters, complaints to the DMV, and possibly the AG. That’s how you get a dealership’s attention when they’re ignoring you.
  • The ultimate nuclear option is unwinding the deal, but it gets complicated since your trade is sold. It may be possible for them to compensate you for the difference or to apply a different settlement if they truly can’t fix the paperwork.
  • Keep everything in writing, maintain meticulous records of who you speak to and when, and loop BMWFS in at every turn.

If the dealer realizes that a full unwinding is worse (for them) than just correcting the title documents, they might scramble to fix it. Good luck, and if it comes down to it, consider speaking to a local attorney who specializes in auto sales and consumer-protection law.

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26

Assuming it’s the same car…

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IMG_22261206×2622 359 KB

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27

Google BMW financial services executive linkedin and reach out to one of the execs?

(/s)

28

That would be pure madness

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29

Same car, thought all of it would be resolved but state said nope. BMWFS also said paperwork is wrong cause on registration it says BMWFS as owner as my X7 did.

The way dealer sent it, it would only show my business name on registration and would cause more issues down the road

30

Why don’t you just ask the DMV to give you the title in your name and issue the registration? Since that is how the dealer filed the paperwork. They can correct all that in a later date.

31

I know when I go transfer the lease, going to be held up even longer to get title re cut. BMWFS already told me if they got the title like this, they would have send to the state again to get it adjusted and would take god knows how long

32

I had a dealer be really shitty, BMW made it right. File a BBB complaint and they respond. Only communicate with the dealer and sales person in writing. Save all your texts. Took a couple weeks for them to respond but they investigated like crazy and even changed the car’s warranty because of what the dealer told me in writing.

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33

Yeah I think I might take your guys advice and send an actual letter vs email. I’ll throw their entire team under the bus with the GM. I’ll ask for my DAS to be returned and pay all my monthly payments up till now to make it right or they can take the car back.

I even offered them in beginning to do NC but “we need to register where business is incorporated not where it has a foreign office”

34

Just file a bbb with facts and wait. Don’t push for compensation. They were very generous and waived payments without me asking. They also changed the warranty on the car to what the dealer said (this is pre lease hacker days) even though it wouldn’t have mattered as my lease was 3/36.

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35

Yeah but I even told them about impound fees when it happened like i need a new tag to get the car out… they said “that isn’t on us, you should have not driven the car if it is expired”

36

Also, BMWNA and BMWFS are why I keep buying them because they are awesome to deal with. They offered me a $2,500 rebate without even complaining and potentially get more if I had to if this gets dragged out further.

I am going to send a letter to the GM via FedEx today and see if I ruffled enough feathers

37

Is it a nationwide dealer group or local?

38

If this gets you nowhere, you know what to do.

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It is Hendricks BMW

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Don’t send via fedex. send via USPS registered certified mail with return receipt (hard copy)

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