Car paid off, but he never gets title

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Updated: January 12, 2012 8:29AM

Dear Fixer: I’m hoping you can help me. In 2007, I bought my daughter a new Chevy Cobalt. The car was financed through US Bank.

I paid the loan off on April 19 this year. The bank told me I would get my lien release and title within 30 to 60 days.

I never got the title, so I called US Bank’s main number to let them know. That was in June. They told me they would send me a copy of the title and I should receive it in 7 to 14 days.

In the meantime, I did receive the lien release letter, but still no title. In October, I decided to go to a branch by my house. After a month of talking to them, I was told that US Bank had sent out the title and since I did not receive it, I needed to go to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office and pay $95 to get a duplicate.

All I know is if I do not receive a utility bill because of the mail, it is still my responsibility to pay the bill. Is it not US Bank’s responsibility to send me a copy of the car title?

John Grano, Addison

Dear John: The Fixer was about to strap on the ol’ anti-gravity suit to climb into the black hole your title had fallen into, but happily, there was no need. US Bank came up with a much easier fix. Spokeswoman Lisa Clark told us that while it is true that they mailed the title on April 25, they wanted to get this resolved for you. They have sent you another lien release and a check for $95 made out to the Illinois Secretary of State, so all you have to do is go get that duplicate title.

COSTLY LESSON:
A consumer’s tale of woe

You know the cliche, “It is what it is”?

Well, when a used car is “as-is,” it really is what it is.

Which is not good for this week’s Costly Lesson protagonist, Cassandra of Lansing. Cassandra got ripped off on a used car purchase when she bought an “as-is” vehicle on the strength of a salesman’s pitch.

It happened last winter, when Cassandra bought a used 1995 Buick Park Avenue.

“I’m a single mom. I asked the salesman if was there anything wrong with the car and I was told nothing was wrong, that they service all their cars. So I trusted these people,” Cassandra wrote The Fixer.

“Two weeks later, the transmission was going out.”

And unfortunately, since the car had been marked “as-is,” Cassandra had no recourse.

The people at the dealership fixed the car — but they added the cost of the repairs to Cassandra’s loan.

“I drove the car for two months. After that, I started hearing a really bad sound coming from the motor,” Cassandra wrote. “The motor was about to lock up and the car has a major gas leak that’s going into the fuel pump. The passenger-side rear engine cradle mount bolts have pulled out of the frame, and the brakes do not work right. The pedal goes almost to the floor, then the wheels lock up. The frame is cracked and rusted out.”

To make matters worse, the dealer is hassling Cassandra over the now-larger monthly payment and talking about garnishing her meager income.

Unfortunately, “as-is” is what it is.

Under the Federal Trade Commission’s Used Car Rule, vehicles that are labeled “as-is” are sold without any warranty protection.

Another lesson from Cassandra’s expensive mistake is to never, ever, ever take a salesperson’s word about the condition of a used car. Always have an independent mechanic look it over, inside and out. An independent mechanic would have seen the mess under the hood of this car. Hiring a mechanic will cost you a little, but you’ll make it up by avoiding a clunker or by using the information to help negotiate down the price.

What is a Costly Lesson? It’s an UNFIXABLE problem that cost someone a lot of money but holds a valuable lesson for the rest of us. If you’ve got something to warn the rest of us about, e-mail szimmermann@suntimes.com with Costly Lessons in the subject line. And don’t worry — for Costly Lessons, we leave out last names to prevent further embarrassment.

Getting the runaround over a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer at suntimes.com/fixer .