Statute of limitations on car sale with deposit

Sold a car to a member here in april.  He gave me a $100 deposit on the $300 car and kept good contact for the beginning of may.  All contact(board posts and phone communication) went dark around may 20.  He doesn’t reply anymore.  I’m concerned that something has happened to him and at the same time am sick of staring at this car that’s supposed to be gone.  I feel obligated because i have a deposit, but i am about one more look at the car from busting out the sawzall and turning it into a pile of scrap. 

The last message i sent with no reply was one week ago today and read “when do you plan to finish paying and pick up the pinto?” 

I don’t know what to do 

Do whatever you want to with it at this point.  If he shows back up, I might consider refunding his $100.  Depends on hs story.     

Send the $100 back and do what you need to with the car:  resale, scrap, whatever.

Problem is I only have a first name, board handle and cel number.  No last name, no address, etc.  I figured because he was a member here I didn’t have to worry about it and didn’t write anything up as if he were some Craigslist flake.  

One month without communication, do as you wish, up to you if you want to refund the money if he ever shows up.

I recently sold a set of wheels to a guy, asked if he could give me a deposit and he would pay me the rest when he got his next paycheck. I typically say no, sorry, whomever gets me the money first gets the item.

However, this particular guy was cool, didn't try to beat me up on the great price he was getting so I accepted his deposit with the caveat:

"If you don't pay me the rest on the date we have agreed to, I'm keeping  your deposit and relisting the wheels for sale."

He agreed, and had paid me the rest the day we agreed before I even woke up.

spitfirebill said:

Do whatever you want to with it at this point.  If he shows back up, I might consider refunding his $100.  Depends on hs story.     

This.  Do as you see fit with the car at your convenience.  If he ever reappears, give $100 to him then.  You've tried plenty of times to keep in contact.

Maybe, you owe him back the $100.  Maybe not.  That would have been the personal conversation and terms you laid out with him.  Wait for him to ask for it. 

However, if you have made all reasonable attempts to let him complete the sale then remember, you continue to be the one and only rightful owner.  As such, you remain in control of the vehicles fate.  

Bring the Pinto back down in October?

Do with the car and the money as you see fit. Personally I would consider refunding the $100 if he ever got back in touch and his story was compelling. But morally and ethically to me the deposit is yours.

You might consider texting him "I'm cutting up the car if you don't contact me by [date] and then do exactly that.

Real things (sometimes bad) happen to real people.  In no way am I trying to "call out" the buyer but maybe something has "gone down".  Maybe someone else here knows him or knows more story.  

Of course, if something has gone down in his life, then perhaps the shell of a Pinto is not really his high priority right now.  Maybe by "moving it on" elsewhere, your doing him a favor and saving him from himself.  I know I could use that some times!  

if you have a phone number and email and first name some google sluthing usually will get you a full name. And some times more. You just have to sort through all the sites that want $$$ for the full report but if you take a little time you can usually get dam near all the Info on some one as various sites let you ser different things.

How did he get the $100 to you? Depending upon how, returning it could be easy. If it's a check, cash it, but be prepared to refund it if contacted.

If he paypal'd you, you should have his email address and can refund it that way, or not.

If he sent you a check, you have an address.

In person, well, yeah, that's a problem, but regardless, I think it's reasonable that enough time's gone by that it's effectively become yours again. I agree with doing whatever you need to do and move on, refunding him his $100 if and when he contacts you. You did the best you could given the situation, time to move on.

I wouldnt even fart with finding the guy.

Keep the money, move on.  Sell, crush, whatever.  If he shows back up, give him is $100 back, if not, don't sweat it.  

Might be that something happened to him...at this point I say you can't be expected to hold the car for him anymore, have his deposit money if he shows up and asks what happened to the car.

I am confused by the fact someone put a $100 deposit on a $300 Pinto

So can you give us the user name?  Maybe some one here knows them and or could check on them.  

Deposit was cash in person.  He’s a cool guy with neat old school racing stories I hope nothing happened to him 

I always write up a quick contract no matter what the sale price when it comes to something like a vehicle. 

 Deposit non- refundable, sale must be completed within X timeframe.   Eliminates questions like this. 

option to purchase  is the way to write it up ,  and a date when the option expires , 

not that anyone is going to chase a $100 deposit in court but in some states you need to return deposits.....

Any lawyers out there know of a Standard Legal form you can buy and fill in the names ?

I would be less concerned about the $$$. I mean it is only $100.  This is not a 20K deposit on a 80K car.  I would be concerned about there well being.  At the end of the day that is most important.  It may sound weird but it is another GRM board member not just some no one from CL.

In reply to dean1484 :

Agreed.

dean1484 said:

I would be less concerned about the $$$. I mean it is only $100.  This is not a 20K deposit on a 80K car.  I would be concerned about there well being.  At the end of the day that is most important.  It may sound weird but it is another GRM board member not just some no one from CL.

I agree, although that's not exactly the problem in question...sadly unless someone else on the board knows this guy IRL, the only way we'll know what happened is if he re-establishes contact on his own.

In reply to Patrick :

Pm me with his screen name. I'll see if I can dig up anything helpful.

Did some digging, he didn’t die.  Not sure what happened but got a message out of the blue today about picking car up next weekend.  

That is good news.  Thanks for the update.