Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

No. Co-signing is always a bad idea. What you, as a co-signer, are saying to the lender by co-signing is that if person A (the primary) does not pay, then you will. Since person A here has not paid, the car was repossessed and sold probably at an auto auction where it brings in a whole lot less. To the extent that there was a deficiency owed, the lender is going to come after you for the balance as well as the primary borrower.

Regarding the taxes, I answered your question. If you do not pay then they are going to come after you and place a block on it. If you were a co-signer only then your name would not be on the tax bill.

How was the car registered? Who was on the title? If both you and the primary were listed then the tax bill will come in both your names. If the bills were sent to the primary owner, the tax collector will come after you if the primary borrower cannot be found.

Also, are you sure that the dealer did not make you the primary borrower? Lots of people have bad credit and are told by the dealer they need a co-signer. When they get one the dealer pulls a fast one on the buyer to make the sale - this happens when the person who is buying has siuch bad credit that even a co-signer will not work and the only way to make the sale is to list the alleged "co-signer" as primary so that is why the car dealers do it and hope for the best.

You need to stop re-posting hoping for a magic answer here that will get you off the hook and start by doing some homework. You need to find out how the car was registered/titled and if the dealer somehow made you the primary borrower. Depending on what you find out, you may have an argument if the car was only in the primary borrower's name but then you need to fight with the tax collector and find out how/why your name got on the bill.

If you find out either that you are a co-owner or the primary borrower, then you have to pay the tax colletor. They did not mess up. You can then go after your friend for contribution.

I tell people not to mess around with the tax authorities. They have powers that regular creditors do not have - they can intercept tax refunds (federal or state), place a block on the renew of your car registration or driver's license, garnish wages, etc. Don't mess with this unless you have a real good argument to be made as to why you should not be responsible..

And the primary owner is a deadbeat. Why do you think he/she needed a co-signer in the first place? It is because he/she had bad credit. By co-signing, you enabled that person to continue his/her poor credit habits. Let this be a lesson to others who read this - co-signing is almost always a very bad idea and always turns out poorly for the person co-signing.