How to deal with 2 companies that refuse to pay? (1 Viewer)

[gianmarco]

My mother leased a vehicle from Volkswagen on Dec 28th of last year. Her previous vehicle, a leased BMW, was taken over by VW with 1-2 months left on the actual lease (they were just going to buyout the car and sell it at their dealership). Here in Missouri, if you have any vehicle under your name on Jan 1st, you have to pay a personal property tax on it.

Long story short, my mother took the new VW on Dec 28th and left the BMW but VW didn't actually go and take care of the paperwork and transfer until the 1st week of January. Thus, BMW paid the personal property tax (that's how it's done with leases) and have sent that billed amount to my mother for ~$800. When the situation was explained to BMW they said there's nothing they can do, they didn't get the paperwork until after Jan 1st, go talk to VW. When she spoke with VW, they said they can't do anything because it was still under her name and to talk to BMW.

IMO, VW is clearly the responsible party here but so far initial attempts through their finance dept have been fruitless. Any thoughts on best way to proceed from here?

 

[encaitar]

VW's issue. BMW has to charge the leaseholder of the vehicle, which was your mother at the time.

What I would do? Talk to VW. Tell them if they refuse to claim ownership of the vehicle on the day they received it, then you'll have to charge them a rental fee for the period they possessed it while you still owned it. I would make that rental fee rather steep.

 

[gianmarco]

VW's issue. BMW has to charge the leaseholder of the vehicle, which was your mother at the time.

What I would do? Talk to VW. Tell them if they refuse to claim ownership of the vehicle on the day they received it, then you'll have to charge them a rental fee for the period they possessed it while you still owned it. I would make that rental fee rather steep.

That sounds great in theory, but how do I tell VW to pay me a rental fee without filing some kind of lawsuit and actually get them to pay it?

 

[Bucks]

So who's name was the VW under on January 1? Did she pay the 2015 tax for the VW too? If they had enough time to put the new car in her name before January 1 then they had enough time to take her name off the other car. They can't have it both ways. Threat and then following through with small claim court seems the next step.

 

[ChiefD]

It's the VW dealerships problem. If she gets no relief from them, go to all of their social media outlets (Facebook, Google+, Yelp, etc) and post how they screwed her out of $800 by not following through with their end of the deal.

She will get her money.

 

[gianmarco]

So who's name was the VW under on January 1? Did she pay the 2015 tax for the VW too? If they had enough time to put the new car in her name before January 1 then they had enough time to take her name off the other car. They can't have it both ways. Threat and then following through with small claim court seems the next step.

It would be for 2014 (taxes for 2014 are due now and are based on who owned the vehicle on Jan 1, 2014) and yes, she just paid the 2014 tax on the VW. With this bill, she would be expected to pay personal property tax on 2 vehicles for 2014, so clearly it should be one or the other.

This isn't an issue of whether she owes it...she does not. It's the best way to get VW (since I don't think it's on BMW) to pay. The issue is that the VW dealership initially was going to try and buyout the car from BMW and resell but things may have not worked out and they ended up turning it back in to BMW, I think. Unfortunately, none of that paperwork or info was given to my mother as it didn't pertain to her anymore how they dealt with it (and didn't think about the Jan 1st property tax deadline). VW seems to think that BMW took over the vehicle prior to Jan 1st but there's no way for us to tell at this point since it was between the dealership and BMW.

 

[The Big Guy]

Rather than social media, I would escalate to vw corporate and I imagine that they will put the hammer down on their franchise holder

 

[BobbyLayne]

My mother leased a vehicle from Volkswagen on Dec 28th of last year. Her previous vehicle, a leased BMW, was taken over by VW with 1-2 months left on the actual lease (they were just going to buyout the car and sell it at their dealership). Here in Missouri, if you have any vehicle under your name on Jan 1st, you have to pay a personal property tax on it.

Long story short, my mother took the new VW on Dec 28th and left the BMW but VW didn't actually go and take care of the paperwork and transfer until the 1st week of January. Thus, BMW paid the personal property tax (that's how it's done with leases) and have sent that billed amount to my mother for ~$800. When the situation was explained to BMW they said there's nothing they can do, they didn't get the paperwork until after Jan 1st, go talk to VW. When she spoke with VW, they said they can't do anything because it was still under her name and to talk to BMW.

IMO, VW is clearly the responsible party here but so far initial attempts through their finance dept have been fruitless. Any thoughts on best way to proceed from here?

That's the rule of law, correct? And laying aside "it's a technicality", on January 1, 2014, she had two vehicles in her name, correct? Just wanted to walk through the facts.

Why the delay? It was nothing to do with her, correct - VW just didn't get around to it. The 28th was a Saturday, so they had a couple days to take care of it in 2013 (Monday, December 29 and Tuesday, December 30). That didn't happen apparently. So were they working January 1-2 (Thursday & Friday) and didn't back date it?

Whether they received the paperwork prior to January 1 seems irrelevant if VW dated the paperwork 12/28. It could have been in transit via USPS or FedEx or however they do it.

I would start with determining if the dates line up with showing who is responsible for the taxes. Surely she has paperwork showing the transaction occurred on 12/28, right?

 

[Gawain]

Guess that's one benefit to having lived in New York my entire life.

Taxes on your tv, the south is weird.

 

[Juxtatarot]

Do citizens get tax bills from the State of Missouri every year on their cars? Seems very inefficient. Just charge tax at the time of sale and be done with it. What happens if people don't pay?

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Do citizens get tax bills from the State of Missouri every year on their cars? Seems very inefficient. Just charge tax at the time of sale and be done with it. What happens if people don't pay?

Similar here in Arkansas. You pay annual property tax on cars, boats, motorcycles, etc. Its not outrageous - but it ain't cheap either.

Like $600+ this year on 3 cars - a 2013, a 2007 and a 2001 models.

 

[jon_mx]

Sounds like the companies played it in a way to screw you over. Not sure anyone owes your mother a dime. In a real estate deal, taxes would be prorated, but I am guessing the lease is written in a way which is best for the car company.

 

[tommyboy]

just tell them you're going to submit it to small claims court.

 

[mr roboto]

Wait yearly tax on a car? Huh.

 

[cheeseypoof]

Contact the Consumer Reporter of the local TV station. In the Philly area, they seem to get good results. Not worth the bad press in many circumstances.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Wait yearly tax on a car? Huh.

Personal Property Tax. We are fortunate to pay it here in VA too! ~5% of value of car. One of the beauties of owning a 10 year old vehicle without much value!!

We pay state and county taxes like this.