B might be in trouble with the law. Can E sue D?
in this case, at some point a fake title must have been created. Maybe there should be title insurance for classic cars.
“It appears that if A owns X and B steals it and sells it to C who sells it to D who sells it to E, at which point the police recover it, E is out of luck.
B might be in trouble with the law. Can E sue D?
in this case, at some point a fake title must have been created. Maybe there should be title insurance for classic cars.”
Yeah E can sue D and then D could sue C and on and on, assuming they can even find them and then manage to get papers served and then manage to get a judgment that they will probably never be able to collect...
And B could potentially be facing theft charges and everyone else could potentially be facing receiving stolen goods charges. But the likelyhood of any of that is about the same as the likelyhood of actually collecting on a judgement.
I think the collector car registries are the primary way of dealing with title issues. If the car you are buying is listed in the registry for that model and if it has a complete ownership history then you’re about as safe as it’s possible to get.
OTOH, If you’re buying an unregistered expensive collector car out of someone’s garage, then you really should have a formal written contract that the sale is contingent on a complete ownership history coming back clean and that the car and money will be held in escrow until that point. Then if the check comes back clean, apply to have that car added to the registry ASAP, so that it’ll be a lot easier for you to sell in the future.