ComplaintsforThomas and Son, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  03/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We purchased a car from them on 2/20/2023. We did not know of an existing lien on this 2010 Challenger. On March 21 2023 we were hit by a car and our car was totaled? State Farm will not payoff until we have a clear title. As of today we still dont have a clear title. They NOW tell us they legally have ***** days to complete the title work. Can they sell us a car without a clear title and is still in someone elses name. We are owed $11,700 from insurance and this is causing us a financial hardship. They only started the title work after our accident.

  

  Business response

  04/13/2023

  To whom it concerns,
  I would like to begin by offering a humble apology on two fronts, the first being the delayed response to this complaint. It went unnoticed in our spam inbox, that is until a representative from the BBB contacted us. It is not our practice to shy away from public discourse. Secondly I would like to apologize to the ******' for any financial hardships they faced after totaling their vehicle. The unforeseen circumstances around this situation are certainly not the norm, nor are they typical of our business, however, our actions and practices are not illicit as we operate within the laws and regulations of the ****************, like we have since 1969. 
  ***************** and her husband did in fact purchase a vehicle from us on February 20th, 2023. This vehicle was traded into us, and it did have a lien on it when it was traded in. This lien holder was satisfied and our check was cashed prior to the ******' purchasing said vehicle. When our check was cashed we began staging the car for purchase (this is common practice because after a lien holder is satisfied liens are released through the state and titles are mailed to us within ***** hours). Days after the vehicle was prepped and listed for sale the ******' came and purchased the vehicle. This is where the unforeseen circumstances begin to enter the situation. 
  The lien holder that was satisfied failed to release the lien with the state. We noticed this about about two weeks after the ******' purchased because the title never came from the lien holder. So we reached out to the lien holder, they apologized, and released the lien but when doing so they elected to mail us the title thus prolonging the process, because if there is a paper title you have to wait for it to be printed and sent through the state. It is around this point that the ******' elected to purchase another vehicle, because they totaled the vehicle they purchased from us. 
  When we finally received the title from the state we had to send it in to our tag agency to complete the process of converting the title from the previous owners name and into the ******'. As you can see by the documents provided, as of 04/06/2023 the vehicle is in the ******' name. 
  It normally doesn't take this long to perfect the titling process and 30 days is normally plenty of time, however, due to the complexity and amount of "moving parts," sometimes unforeseen circumstances can prolong the process and that's why the **************** can give up to 60 days. It's also an incredibly rare occurrence that a customer would buy a car, total said car out, then purchase another vehicle before the insurance pay out, all before the original purchase was completed. 
  In conclusion, I want to say that we at Thomas and Son conduct ourselves in an honest upfront fashion. It's unfortunate that the ******' put themselves in a financial bind by wrecking their car and replacing it in such a quick succession, however, we maintained communication, followed the guidelines set forth by the ****************, and tried our best to expedite the process for ***************** and her husband.
  Should there be any further questions please don't hesitate to contact us.
  
  Thank you,
  ****** Thomas
  ************

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