08-05-2009, 01:28 PM
I would like to warn you that this story will be lengthy. There's a lot to it, so bear with me.
Short and sweet - my Jeep was stolen
Now, for the long version:
Monday morning I came in to work and my boss told me that he might have someone coming in to look at my Jeep that I'm selling. So, around 9 AM this guy named Rodney comes in and wants to take a look at it. Rodney was coming in to rent a car, but when my boss found out he didn't have a personal vehicle of his own, he told him that I was trying to sell my Jeep.
Things go well, he really likes it and wants to take it for a test drive. He drives it around and then he asked if he could take it to Berea, where his insurance agency was, to get insurance for it, so he could buy it/have the title transfered over into his name the next day. He had no other transportation to do this and I had to work, so I agreed. I informed him that the tags were 5 months expired and that he COULD get pulled over for that. He said he'd be careful.
So, around 10:30 or so, a girl I work with gets a call from him at the office. He says the door fell off and that he had it at Hurst Auto Body to get it looked at. I called him back at the body shop and he said that it would be about $150 to get it fixed. He then asked if I was willing to drop the price by that much, so that he could get it fixed. I agreed, and was under the impression that it had been left there. We spoke later in the day about meeting at the courthouse the next day to transfer the title. He agreed to meet at 9 AM Tuesday morning to sign it over.
I called him at 8:30 AM Tuesday morning to make sure everything was in order, when he informed me that he had not been able to get insurance on the vehicle yet. I told him there was no way we could transfer the title without him having insurance. Afterwards, I called Hurst Auto Body to see if the Jeep had been fixed. They told me that, while he had brought it in and got an estimate, he decided not to leave the Jeep with them and have it fixed, and that they referred him to Kentucky Collision in Richmond. I called him back and asked where the Jeep was - he said he was in it and on his way to get insurance. I told him that was not what he had initially told me and that I needed him to fork over the money in full, or bring the Jeep back. I said I couldn't risk him driving around in my vehicle, with expired tags, and him having no insurance. I thought he would be en route to bring the Jeep back to me.
Instead, I get a call around 10 or 10:30 AM from MBA Insurance Group in Berea. They said he had just been in there trying to get insurance, but that they didn't understand what the situation with the Jeep was. I told them that I was not letting him have the Jeep until I got the money in full. She then informed me that she was unsure whether or not this guy would even be able to get insurance, because she didn't think he had the money for it.
So, I took a shower because I had to get ready for work, and tried calling this guy on my way to work. He didn't answer, so I left a voicemail stating that I was at work until 6 PM and that he needed to return the Jeep to me by 6 PM or I would be calling the police. Well, I heard nothing until 5:50 PM, when his "friend" called Enterprise and asked for me. This friend told me that he had come to her house trying to get the money from them to buy the Jeep. He told her what my voicemail said and she was practically begging me not to call the police yet, that he would bring the Jeep back tonight and she would make sure of it. During this phone call, he's cussing me in the background. She says that he's in Jackson County right now (I assume where she lived) and that it would take him a little while to get the vehicle back to Richmond. She also said, he was afraid I would beat him up if he had returned it while I was at work. We agreed that 10 PM tonight was a fair amount of time to get it back.
So, my fiancee' and I go to Enterprise (where he was supposed to be dropping it off and it was a public place) at 10:15 PM and the Jeep is not there. We go run an errand at the post office and come back around 10:30 PM - the Jeep is still not there. At this point, I call him and ask where he's at. He says that when he got back to Richmond, he went to his apartment and the electricity had been cut off and that he had been evicted from his apartment, but that he had everything loaded up in the Jeep. I asked him where he was taking it and he said he didn't know. I asked if he had anywhere to take his stuff and drop it off and he said no. He said it would probably be tomorrow morning before he could find somewhere to drop his stuff off and get the Jeep back to me. I was pretty upset at this point. I told him, no, he needed to bring the Jeep back immediately. That we both agreed that the Jeep would be brought back by 10 PM at the latest and it still wasn't back, so he needed to bring it there immediately. At this point, the guy hung up on me. I called him back and it went straight to voicemail. I left him a message informing him that I was going to leave the property and give him 15 minutes to return the vehicle, and that if it was not back by then, that I was going to the police. I told him I didn't care if he had his stuff packed up in it, that he could carry it with him for all I care and that him getting evicted is not my problem, but him romping about in MY vehicle was a problem.
15 minutes go by and he still had not returned the Jeep. So my fiancee' and I went to the Richmond Police Department to report the vehicle as stolen. We got there and spent about an hour with the officer doing the report. He said that he could not report the vehicle stolen until tomorrow night. Basically, since I let the guy into the vehicle, and THEN he decided to use it for other stuff (other than test-driving it) that it was not considered stolen, and only "unauthorized use." The guy could still get in trouble if he gets pulled over, but that's if he hasn't bolted already. The officer said that, since the guy said it may not be until tomorrow morning that he would be able to return the car, that they could not report it stolen until then. So basically, I'm stuck until tomorrow night. If he still hasn't returned it by then, at that point it can be reported as a stolen vehicle and put into their system as a stolen vehicle. I'm definitely not answering the phone tomorrow, because technically, if I do and he says, "Well I'm not going to return it until Friday," then the police still wouldn't be able to report it as stolen, however, if I don't hear anything from him, or it's not returned by then, THEN it will be considered "stolen."
It's been a crazy couple of days, and all I was trying to do was sell a car.
Short and sweet - my Jeep was stolen
Now, for the long version:
Monday morning I came in to work and my boss told me that he might have someone coming in to look at my Jeep that I'm selling. So, around 9 AM this guy named Rodney comes in and wants to take a look at it. Rodney was coming in to rent a car, but when my boss found out he didn't have a personal vehicle of his own, he told him that I was trying to sell my Jeep.
Things go well, he really likes it and wants to take it for a test drive. He drives it around and then he asked if he could take it to Berea, where his insurance agency was, to get insurance for it, so he could buy it/have the title transfered over into his name the next day. He had no other transportation to do this and I had to work, so I agreed. I informed him that the tags were 5 months expired and that he COULD get pulled over for that. He said he'd be careful.
So, around 10:30 or so, a girl I work with gets a call from him at the office. He says the door fell off and that he had it at Hurst Auto Body to get it looked at. I called him back at the body shop and he said that it would be about $150 to get it fixed. He then asked if I was willing to drop the price by that much, so that he could get it fixed. I agreed, and was under the impression that it had been left there. We spoke later in the day about meeting at the courthouse the next day to transfer the title. He agreed to meet at 9 AM Tuesday morning to sign it over.
I called him at 8:30 AM Tuesday morning to make sure everything was in order, when he informed me that he had not been able to get insurance on the vehicle yet. I told him there was no way we could transfer the title without him having insurance. Afterwards, I called Hurst Auto Body to see if the Jeep had been fixed. They told me that, while he had brought it in and got an estimate, he decided not to leave the Jeep with them and have it fixed, and that they referred him to Kentucky Collision in Richmond. I called him back and asked where the Jeep was - he said he was in it and on his way to get insurance. I told him that was not what he had initially told me and that I needed him to fork over the money in full, or bring the Jeep back. I said I couldn't risk him driving around in my vehicle, with expired tags, and him having no insurance. I thought he would be en route to bring the Jeep back to me.
Instead, I get a call around 10 or 10:30 AM from MBA Insurance Group in Berea. They said he had just been in there trying to get insurance, but that they didn't understand what the situation with the Jeep was. I told them that I was not letting him have the Jeep until I got the money in full. She then informed me that she was unsure whether or not this guy would even be able to get insurance, because she didn't think he had the money for it.
So, I took a shower because I had to get ready for work, and tried calling this guy on my way to work. He didn't answer, so I left a voicemail stating that I was at work until 6 PM and that he needed to return the Jeep to me by 6 PM or I would be calling the police. Well, I heard nothing until 5:50 PM, when his "friend" called Enterprise and asked for me. This friend told me that he had come to her house trying to get the money from them to buy the Jeep. He told her what my voicemail said and she was practically begging me not to call the police yet, that he would bring the Jeep back tonight and she would make sure of it. During this phone call, he's cussing me in the background. She says that he's in Jackson County right now (I assume where she lived) and that it would take him a little while to get the vehicle back to Richmond. She also said, he was afraid I would beat him up if he had returned it while I was at work. We agreed that 10 PM tonight was a fair amount of time to get it back.
So, my fiancee' and I go to Enterprise (where he was supposed to be dropping it off and it was a public place) at 10:15 PM and the Jeep is not there. We go run an errand at the post office and come back around 10:30 PM - the Jeep is still not there. At this point, I call him and ask where he's at. He says that when he got back to Richmond, he went to his apartment and the electricity had been cut off and that he had been evicted from his apartment, but that he had everything loaded up in the Jeep. I asked him where he was taking it and he said he didn't know. I asked if he had anywhere to take his stuff and drop it off and he said no. He said it would probably be tomorrow morning before he could find somewhere to drop his stuff off and get the Jeep back to me. I was pretty upset at this point. I told him, no, he needed to bring the Jeep back immediately. That we both agreed that the Jeep would be brought back by 10 PM at the latest and it still wasn't back, so he needed to bring it there immediately. At this point, the guy hung up on me. I called him back and it went straight to voicemail. I left him a message informing him that I was going to leave the property and give him 15 minutes to return the vehicle, and that if it was not back by then, that I was going to the police. I told him I didn't care if he had his stuff packed up in it, that he could carry it with him for all I care and that him getting evicted is not my problem, but him romping about in MY vehicle was a problem.
15 minutes go by and he still had not returned the Jeep. So my fiancee' and I went to the Richmond Police Department to report the vehicle as stolen. We got there and spent about an hour with the officer doing the report. He said that he could not report the vehicle stolen until tomorrow night. Basically, since I let the guy into the vehicle, and THEN he decided to use it for other stuff (other than test-driving it) that it was not considered stolen, and only "unauthorized use." The guy could still get in trouble if he gets pulled over, but that's if he hasn't bolted already. The officer said that, since the guy said it may not be until tomorrow morning that he would be able to return the car, that they could not report it stolen until then. So basically, I'm stuck until tomorrow night. If he still hasn't returned it by then, at that point it can be reported as a stolen vehicle and put into their system as a stolen vehicle. I'm definitely not answering the phone tomorrow, because technically, if I do and he says, "Well I'm not going to return it until Friday," then the police still wouldn't be able to report it as stolen, however, if I don't hear anything from him, or it's not returned by then, THEN it will be considered "stolen."
It's been a crazy couple of days, and all I was trying to do was sell a car.