If you’ve bought a car from Carvana and are having trouble getting your title and registration, you’re not alone. Carvana is an online car dealer that’s had huge problems over the last year or so with customers not getting the titles to their car. Lots of different states have cracked down on them, resulting in lawsuits and even threats that they wouldn’t be able to keep selling cars in certain states.
Some people have spent months or even more without title to their car. That’s a big deal. It means you can’t legally drive it and can get a ticket (or worse) if you do. Your car could even get impounded. We’ve had some clients with title issues with other online dealers who either had to pay thousands of dollars to get their car out of impound or weren’t able to drive it for more than a year.
So let’s say Carvana hasn’t given you your title and registration. What can you do about it? Our law firm has represented hundreds of people whose car dealers wouldn’t give them title to their cars. We use state consumer protection laws to force dealerships to hand the title over and pay your damages from the trouble they’ve caused you. If you can’t get your title from Carvana, by completing our claim form here. We may be able to help.
We use the arbitration clause in their contract against them. Most companies have something in their contract with you that says you can’t sue them in court. You probably never even read it when you signed the contract. Instead of a lawsuit, you have to do what’s called “arbitration.” The idea is they’ll make it harder to come after them. Arbitration is cheaper, is informal, and you don’t have the same rights as you do in court. But companies like Carvana will almost always have a lawyer there. So if you try to arbitrate, it’s you against a lawyer—and you usually lose.
We turn the tables on them. Our firm is handling hundreds of consumer arbitrations at any given time. Our lawyers treat the arbitration like what it is – a mini-lawsuit. If a company like Carvana won’t settle, we fight to the end. There will be a hearing (usually on Zoom) before an arbitrator—a private lawyer who acts like a judge. We present your case just like we would in court. And we take most of our cases on contingency, meaning we don’t charge anything at all unless you win, and our fees and costs come out of any settlement or award.
Because you can’t let something like that sit forever. Most states have short periods—a month or two tops—for a dealer to get you the title. If they can’t, it often means something’s wrong. We’ve seen clients who can’t get their title at all and are being given the run around by a dealer. That usually happens when they didn’t properly get the title before actually selling the car to you. They may not be able to get the prior owner to sign it over—which means you can never legally own the car you just bought.
If you wait, the statute of limitations is ticking. And there are things that can happen where you’ll need your title right away. Here’s one example we see often: car crashes. What you may not realize is that if you don’t have your title, most insurance companies won’t pay out if you get in an accident. We have had clients whose cars were totaled—and who found out they couldn’t get a new one because the insurance company wanted proof they were the legal owner.
Another issue is what if you need to sell your car? You can’t do that without a title. Arbitrations take time even in the best of worlds. So if you don’t get started, you could be sitting there with no car, and not able to afford a new one. We’ve seen people lose their jobs or even lose their apartments. If you can’t drive to work, how do you pay your rent?
Carvana has had lots of problems with getting people their titles. You’re not the only one. It’s not right for a single person to buy a car and then not legally own it months and months after they started paying. That’s why there’s laws about it, and we do our best to enforce them.
If you’re looking for a lawyer to help try to resolve your title and registration issues with Carvana, by completing our claim form here. We may be able to help.