My friend is buying my lease a few months early. Leased vehicle is a GTI and obviously through VW Financial/Credit.
They do not allow sales to 3rd parties, so my friend gave me the money and I sent VW a certified check, etc. To my surprise the other day I received the pink/title and they took the liberty of filling out the back portion with my info already as the “new owner” along with price and dating it
So how the heck do I sell it to my friend now since title is filled out to ME and i cant fill it out to them? Time is obviously ticking because in California we have 10 days otherwise I will be responsible for the taxes, but since the title is already filled out with my info, will I have to be responsible for taxes now?
Totally confused. Planning on going to AAA tomorrow with my friend to hopefully get it sorted out, but was wondering if anyone had a similar situation and knows what the process is?
I assume you didn’t pay VW Credit the tax on your payoff, right?
You said it yourself- in CA you have 10 days to resell the car without being on the hook for taxes. You should get into the AAA ASAP and do the transfer to your friend. If the taxes haven’t been paid yet, he’ll need to pay it when he registers the car. License is probably close to due as well. Your name on the back of the title isn’t a problem- you’re allowed to be up to a 10 day owner with no taxes due.
Hey, thanks for the reply. Correct, I DID NOT pay any taxes when paying off the vehicle.
So even though VW filled out the back where it say “NEW REGISTERED OWNER” I can still transfer the title to my friend at AAA and they will be responsible for the taxes, right?
I can’t see why not. Hopefully, AAA can handle this transaction. You could try calling them to confirm.
If VW Credit put a date on the title that’s already 10 days old, there could be an issue. But I think it could be resolved with a Statement of Facts or something that the date on the back of the title was before you had the opportunity to transfer it, since you didn’t have it. You might be able to resolve such an issue with calling the sale date to your friend the same date you sent the check to VW Credit, which is essentially true.
I’d try calling AAA to see if they’re aware that according to the CA State Board of Equalization you’re allowed 10 days to transfer the car tax-free. They should know that.
Well title transferred at AAA. No issue, we both signed and then filled out new title transfer paper work and again signed. Friend paid taxes and we were done
