Legal Question in Consumer Law in Washington

Vehicle Contract has been Broken

The summer of 2004 my husband and I wrote a simple contract to sell our 1988 Blazer to an acquaintance's son; enabling him to make monthly payments until paid in full. We kept the title in our name and made the buyer the registered owner. The buyer made payments until November of 2004 (payments totalling $1600 of $3000 asking price) when he moved out of state (CA - we believe) w/o notifying us and he stopped making payments @ that time. We don't have exact location of buyer or our vehicle! Is there anything that we can do? I'd appreciate any assistance on this matter! Thank you!


Asked on 2/25/05, 3:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: Vehicle Contract has been Broken

You can sue him to recover either the vehicle or the balance of the payments still due and owing; Procedurally, it would be easier to go after the money, because you can do that in small claims court.

Before you do anything though, you have to find him. You have to have him served with process (the summons and complaint). You might consider hiring a PI or skip tracer to find him. Once you find him you can sue him here. Process served out of state requires you to provide 60 days for response.

AN attorney can assist you in locating him, if all else fails. Hope you get some satisfaction out of this. If your contract was in writing and signed by the party, you have six years from the date the last payment was made to sue on that contract.

If your agreement was verbal you have three years.

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Answered on 2/26/05, 11:46 am


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