Oregon, a car thief's paradise
Here's an aggravating tale from KOIN. A Portland-area woman had her car stolen. She reported it to the police. But her car still managed to get fenced to a used car dealer in southeast Portland, and then sold to a buyer in Hawaii, and nobody at the Oregon DMV said boo about it. They issued the buyer a perfectly good title to the car. Apparently, it's now being driven around by a new owner in Hawaii.
Lauren’s car had not been flagged because, according to Oregon law, the DMV is only required to run a car’s VIN number to check if it’s stolen when someone comes in to transfer a car title into someone else’s name....
Had someone in Oregon bought her car from Van Doozer’s dealership and tried to transfer the title, then the Oregon DMV would have caught it. But because it was bought from someone outside Oregon, it didn’t raise any red flags.
The used car dealers used to be able to call the sheriff's office and run a check on a car before they bought it, but now it takes too long, and nobody bothers. Says the used car man in this particular case:
“The sheriff’s office now requires us to send an email with the VIN number and they get back to you within three or four business days.... And so back in the day, they used to do that and there is a way to do it,” Van Doozer said. “They’ve just gotten lazy and they don’t care anymore, essentially.”
Worst of all, the flack at the DMV can't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that anything's wrong.
“When there is a stolen vehicle, people try to point blame, but the bottom line is there are bad people and they’re smart, and sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop them from getting away with it,” Adams said.
The state and local governments here are such a disgrace. The next time your local politician comes around shaking hands, sit them down and give them an earful.
The paper trail may be weak. But, it exists. It’s sad that there seems to be a jurisdictional dispute about who should follow up on it.
ReplyDeleteI will say, the woman was a dummy for leaving the TITLE CERTIFICATE in the CAR. But come on.
ReplyDeleteJust check the "F" box.....another capital FAIL for all of the DMV wise heads in Salem. Team Tina leading the way to oblivion.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a whiff of shocked-there's-gambling-going-on-in-here from car dealer guy
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that so many people criticize the police and they are demoralized and need the support of the Council and community. When there is a bad apple that needs to be fired, go after them hard but make sure we let the 95% of the good one know they are appreciated and we have their backs. The bad ones win when they shouldn’t sometimes and that needs to be called out but in the same sentence, critics need to emphasize the good one have our support.
ReplyDeleteIt's always that one bad apple.......
Delete“The sheriff’s office now requires us to send an email with the VIN number and they get back to you within three or four business days.... And so back in the day, they used to do that and there is a way to do it,” Van Doozer said. “They’ve just gotten lazy and they don’t care anymore, essentially.”
ReplyDeleteThe process has clearly changed for the worse, but how does that give car dealers the right to ignore determining the legal owner? Isn't receiving stolen goods a thing anymore? "But officer, I would have to wait three whole days to know if the car was stolen......" I am guessing reputable dealers still wait for confirmation.
I fixed it: “When there is a stolen vehicle, people try to point blame, but the bottom line is there are bad people and they’re smart, and sometimes we are just unwilling to spend the time to stop them from getting away with it,” Adams said.
ReplyDelete