The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-01-13
CARS Los I
BY POOR
TITLES
Police Helpless When Finan-
ciers Seize Machines to
Satisfy Liens.
By GEORGE FRANKLIN.

Are you certain YOU own the
automobile you bought, paid for,
and have driven for months?
You may think you own the
ear today and tomorrow learn that
the bill Of sale tpurporting to IN
sure clear property title to the
car is worth the paper it is
written on and no more.
Buyers Have Suffered.
This has been the experience Of
SCORES of motorists in Washington
within the past few weeks. When
their cars mysteriously disappeared
from the usual parking place, and
they reported them as stolen they
believed themselves the victim of
some clever auto-thief. Later, when
the police reported they had located
the missing car, and that instead
Of being stolen 1t had been seized"
by the representative of some con-
Germ making business OF financing
automobile dealers, they experienced
an even more painful awakening. 4
The sting was made even stingier
by the police Information that 10
FAR as the police are concerned they
are powerless to render any assist
ance in recovering the stolen" car.
An attorney adds the information
that SO far as he can see the only
'ecourse is through a civil action
The results Of which are extremely
doubtful.
In the meanwhile the victim re-
mains carless. unless he finds 1t ex-
pedient to obtain possession of
another car from some other deal.
err, rent taxi by the week. or fall
back on the generosity Of sympathe-
tic friends
What happened is quite under.
standards. That is according to the
scores Of victims now nursing mem.
cries OF lost cars which seemingly
were taken from them without due
process of law after they had paid
the purchase price demanded by
the dealer and held in proof Of their
ownership claim a perfectly good
looking bill of sale.
Automobile dealers have to be
financed, they learned, and in the
process of obtaining funds to con.
duct their business are in the habit
of borrowing money from banks
securing the banks by mortgages
issued against the motor cars when
received from the manufacturer
These mortgages are duly recorded
It is presumed, victims say, that
when the purchaser of a car pays
dealer for it, the dealer in turn
satisfies the mortgage against the
car thus validating the bill of sale
But in many instances dealers, ii
is declared, overlook the mortgage
settlement with the result that
when interest or principal fall due
the holder of the mortgage seizes
the car, sells 1t, and liquidates the
obligation.
What victims of these car seizures
object to besides losing their autos
is the methods employed by the
financing companies in taking pos
session of the mortgaged cars. Ac
cording to scores of complainants
the process consists in ascertainine
the identity Of the possessor of the
car, easily established through the
license bureau records. With this
information obtained a clerk, OF
some other person, is empowered
by the company to lay in wait for
the car where it is most generally
found parked and, during the alb
sence of the driver, bring it in
When the owner returns he finds
lid uuSO IllASoAIS cIIlA dS
sumes 1t was stolen. Why the car
should be seized without notice be
ing served on the possessor who
honestly believes he owns the car
is what they cannot understand
Neither do police officials.
II cannot see by what right any
banking or financing agency car
| pCesess itself of a mortgaged cal
| under promiscuous seizure any
more than it could take possession
of a mans house and sell it with
out due process of law. Seizures
| of mortgaged autos should be made
| through constituted authorities
said Inspector Grant, head of thu
detective bureau. in discussing re
cent auto seizures.
There is no reason why the pos
SCISSOR of an automobile who be
lieves himself the legal owner
should be subjected to any sucl
treatment. To say the least, it il
lacking in courtesy. So far as tn
police are concerned we are help
less to aid the Victims" he con
tinued, 1.-The only remedy l can sug
gest being that when buying an au
tomobile the purchaser insist on
guaranteed title to the car. Tha
will necesgltate a search Of tn
mortgage, records, and il an unsat
isfied mortgage against the car /