'I was enraged until it dawned on me that the car wasn't in my name': Man scammed after purchasing $800 used car, collects $3,000 in parking tickets for revenge

Author image for Isabella Penn
Isabella Penn
Feb 17, 2024 9:00 AM EST

The OP in this story may have lost out on the $800 he spent on the car, but the sweet revenge he got on the seller made up for it. In this story, the OP purchases used cars every six months or so and fixes them up to make them drivable for work. One time, the OP was running pretty low on cash, so he decided to settle and buy an $800 car that he thought would be easy and cheap to fix up. Looking back, there were many red flags that he overlooked, which should have deterred him from buying the car. Nevertheless, he went ahead with the purchase.

Shortly after his purchase, the OP discovered that the car had a major legal issue. He thought it might have been an innocent mistake, but when he tried to contact the seller, the seller ghosted him. After the OP got his first parking ticket on the unusable car, he was pretty upset. That is until he realized the title wasn't in his name yet. 

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  • 01
    Posted by u/John-Wilks-Boof 17 hours ago $800 Car Turns into $3000 in Tickets
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 02
    From 2018-2022 I(25M) was a consistently broke pizza delivery guy. My common method for vehicles was to buy cars for >$1000, do minor repairs and drive them for 3-6 months until they exploded. I'd make
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 03
    10x on the car and would wash repeat, did this probably 7 or 8 times over the years. The only time I ever got burned was buying a 98 civic coupe. I remember
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 04
    I was a lil extra broke but needed a car for work that week and civics/corollas were/are the easiest and cheapest for me to work. on.
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 05
    I texted him and drove to felony flats in Portland (red flag 1) and was greeted by a man with a gold grill (red flag 2) who didn't speak much english, which wasn't helped by my poor Spanish.
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 06
    The car itself was pretty beat up cosmetically but. ran perfectly so I gave him the $800 and headed to work. This is where the fuckery begins.
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 07
    The next day I head to the DOL to register the car only to realize that the title was voided due to the car being in a wreck so I wouldn't be able to register til I got the proper title. Annoying but I figured
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 08
    he made an innocent mistake. I call him and leave a message saying there's issues with the title and he dosent respond. I call 100+ times over the next 2 weeks to get it figured out but he keeps
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 09
    ignoring me, and at this point I figure I've been had, I move the car to the public street to deal with another day. One morning I come out to find tickets for no registration and no insurance left on the car
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 10
    $150-$200 between the two, and a tow warning. At first I was enraged until it dawned on me that the car wasn't in my name and those tickets weren't mine to deal with, so I made a plan.
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 11
    Every few days the car would get reticketed and tagged for towing, I would come out, place the tickets on the driver seat, move the car by a few feet and erase the tow warnings. After 2ish months I had racked up
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 12
    about $2000 in tickets on this car not in my name. One day I get a frantic call from who'd you guess, the man who sold me the car who also miraculously learned perfect English.
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 13
    Telling me he was getting calls from the city and begging me to not let them tow it (I think at this point he realized what I was doing), and that he would get me the title that week and that the
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 14
    delay was because he and his wife were in a nasty divorce and she had the current title. I simply responded "what car?" And hung up on him. As I was leaving my
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 15
    apartment I saw the cops there getting ready to load it on the tow truck and decided to let it go in case the former owner came looking for it. Ultimately I never got
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 16
    my $800 back, but he got $2000 in tickets ($4000 if they went 30+ days unpaid), a $1000 tow bill, and if the story about his divorce was true, a suuuuper ex-wife because the car was still in her name
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 17
    too(can't put a price on that). I never heard from him or the city about the car, my only regret was not driving it to an empty parking lot and leaving it in a handicapped spot,
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 18
    but didn't wanna risk being seen on cameras. Hope you enjoyed!
    via u/John-Wilks-Boof
  • 19
    FINE
    via Erik Mclean

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satisfying petty-revenge-reddit parking ticket revenge-stories used cars cars scams fees
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