Consumer complaint received 2022-04-29
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA
State: CA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem when attempting to purchase vehicle at the end of the lease

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX XXXX and I want to submit a complaint about Hyundai Motor Finance. 

Back in XXXX, I leased a new Hyundai XXXX. I got the vehicle in Michigan and I moved to California back in XXXX of XXXX. For leased vehicles, the vehicle registration has to include both the lessee and the lessor. I am not able to register my vehicle in California because the lessor ( Hyundai Motor Finance ) will not give me the necessary documents to complete my registration. The California DMV requires either of these two documents : ( 1 ) the vehicle Title or ( 2 ) a Power of Attorney for the signature of Hyundai Motor Finance.

For the past 7 months, Hyundai Motor Finance refuses to provide either of these documents. Due to their lack of support, I have not been able to register my vehicle in my new state of California ( and my previous registration expired in Michigan ) so I have been hit with late registration fees ( {$320.00} ) and letters from the DMV that my registration is incomplete and my vehicle can get impounded if I get pulled over by the police. I can not legally drive a vehicle that I have been paying $ 11,000+ lease on-time for the last 3 years, and Hyundai Motor Finance does not care about me as a customer to help me with this. 

Document Needed ( 1 ) Vehicle Title : I started this vehicle registration process back in XXXX of XXXX when I moved to California, and for the last 7 months, I have called Hyundai customer service every other week ( our phone calls are recorded by Hyundai and I have a phone log of all of my calls to them ), they constantly refuse to help me. First, I was told that Hyundai never received the original title from the Michigan DMV. Then, I was told that they actually did get the original title but that there was a discrepancy in the title and that they needed to get a duplicate title to fix said discrepancy. Then, I was told that the title was lost but that Hyundai was working with the Michigan DMV to get a duplicate title. The story keeps changing every time I call, and I even had to reach out to the Michigan DMV myself to figure out what is going on. Michigan is a state that does NOT hold vehicle Titles. The Michigan DMV has confirmed that Hyundai DOES have the title for this vehicle. The Hyundai customer service agents and the titles departments are telling me incorrect information and it feels like they are not telling the whole truth and refuse to help me for no good reason. 

Document Needed ( 2 ) Power of Attorney for the signature of Hyundai Motor Finance : Not only is the Titles Department not following up with the Michigan DMV to get a duplicate title, they also will not provide me with a Power of Attorney. With the power of attorney letter, I can at least register my vehicle in California and not be at risk of getting charged with driving without registration. I am totally helpless right now, and as a lessee, I can not do anything without Hyundai 's help. The California DMV has already given me 3 extensions for temporary driving permits and they told me they can not extend this any longer and I need to get either documents ( 1 ) or ( 2 ) from Hyundai to register my vehicle. I have already paid {$320.00} on late registration fees, and I am unable to buy the vehicle at the end of my lease because Hyundai claims they do not have a Title to give me. They will, however, gladly sell me a vehicle without a title which is illegal. 

To make matters worse, I am going to still be liable for this vehicle if I return it to a dealership at the end of my lease, because the next person will also not be able to register it and won't be able to transfer the vehicle to their name successfully so I will still be held liable for this late registration under my name until this gets fixed. Please CFPB help me fix this, this is my last resort. 

Thanks, XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation