According to this class action, auto dealer Carvana, LLC delays for months before properly and permanently transferring vehicles’ title to their purchasers, leaving them with only temporary and sometimes out-of-state plates. The complaint alleges, “As a result, consumers are often unable to legally drive the cars they purchased because they cannot timely register the car or get adequate insurance coverage.”
The Nationwide Title Class is all persons in the US west of the Mississippi River who entered into contracts with Carvana to buy vehicles, between January 19, 2020 and January 19, 2022, where Carvana agreed to provide car registration services with non-temporary vehicle registrations in the buyers’ state of residence. The Arkansas Title Class is all persons in Arkansas who are members of the Nationwide Title Class.
The plaintiff in this case, Robert Bodnar, bought a 2020 Hyundai Kona from Carvana, on or around May 2, 2021, under a retail installment contract (RISC) with Carvana. Bodnar lives in Arkansas, and the RISC was to be subject to Arkansas law.
In addition to the sale price for the vehicle, the RISC included several other costs Carvana charged to Bodnar:
- State License Registration Fee of $25.39.
- State Title Fee of $10.
- Temporary Permit Fee of $1.
- Vehicle Protection Fee of $1,175.
When Bodnar bought the vehicle, the dealer’s location was identified in the sales documents as Memphis, Tennessee. When Carvana delivered the vehicle to Bodnar’s home in Arkansas, it had a Tennessee temporary license tag.
When that temporary tag expired, it gave Bodnar another Tennessee temporary license tag, around June 1, that would be good for thirty days.
When that tag also expired at the end of June, the complaint alleges, Carvana had Bonar bring the vehicle to Carvana in Memphis, TN, where it gave Bodnar a third temporary license tag, good for ninety days. This one was from Arizona. According to the complaint, Arizona permits nonresidents to buy a 90-day temporary license plate to allow nonresidents to drive their vehicles back to the state where they live.
The complaint alleges that, as of the date of filing of this complaint, the car’s title remains with its original lien holder, Hyundai Financial Leasing, and Bodnar’s credit union does not have clear title to the vehicle it is financing.
In August of 2021, the complaint says, North Carolina revoked Carvana’s Raleigh area dealer’s license “for, among other infractions of dealer licensing laws, not delivering the vehicle title to the DMV in a timely manner and improperly issuing out-of-state temporary tags and plates to buyers … who otherwise had no connection to the state from which the temporary tags and plates issued.”
The complaint suggests that Carvana regularly operates as it has with Bodnar, issuing multiple temporary license tags to buyers, instead of promptly and permanently transferring title, in violation of state laws. The complaint points to the licensing and registration fees that Bodnar paid via the RISC and alleges breach of contract, among other things.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Contract
Most Recent Case Event
Carvana Delays in Transferring Permanent Title to Buyers Complaint
January 19, 2022
According to this class action, auto dealer Carvana, LLC delays for months before properly and permanently transferring vehicles’ title to their purchasers, leaving them with only temporary and sometimes out-of-state plates. The complaint alleges, “As a result, consumers are often unable to legally drive the cars they purchased because they cannot timely register the car or get adequate insurance coverage.”
Carvana Delays in Transferring Permanent Title to Buyers ComplaintCase Event History
Carvana Delays in Transferring Permanent Title to Buyers Complaint
January 19, 2022
According to this class action, auto dealer Carvana, LLC delays for months before properly and permanently transferring vehicles’ title to their purchasers, leaving them with only temporary and sometimes out-of-state plates. The complaint alleges, “As a result, consumers are often unable to legally drive the cars they purchased because they cannot timely register the car or get adequate insurance coverage.”
Carvana Delays in Transferring Permanent Title to Buyers Complaint