Expired Temp tags

So yea, I bought my Taco on Feb 8, 2013 and drove back to san antonio from Austin where I bought it, and the dealer said they would handle plates and registration etc... just like every other dealership I've bought from. Wow, shame on me for thinking they would do their job.

Austin Expo Cars. Stay away.

They gave me temp tags that I used for the first 45 days or whatever, then I called them in advance saying "hey i need my plates before these expire" and they promised to send them, well here we are in May just about and all that they did was change the date of sale in order to get another 45 days and they sent me the new paper plates. This HAS to be illegal right???

Well I called the finance co and they told me they dont even have the title yet!

So this dude at the dealer obviously has been screening my daily calls for the past 3 weeks because he answered on the first ring when the finance co called them for me.

Could this be a tell-tale sign that they dont actually have the title? or there are title problems? or are they just being stupid and lazy? Any thoughts?

 

So homedude called me and said the plates were already handled and they have been sitting on the title department's desk in austin for 4 weeks and haven't been sent to me under the impression that I was picking them up... you would think after 4 weeks somebody would wonder... "Man, I guess the guy who these plates are for doesnt need them..."

 

Sketchy. Good luck on the title shit. Hopefully it's legit.

 

I had something similar happen to me. It all worked out eventually, but I'll never buy a vehicle again without seeing the title in their hands. Dealer or not. The only thing I did right is I had my credit union withhold the rest of the funds until the dealer sent them the title.

The story was that the previous owner had the truck financed at his credit union, and that the dealer had gone to the credit union with him and paid the loan off. The title was supposedly electronic only, no paper copy, and the credit union was supposed to release it within two weeks of having the loan paid off.

I got in a hurry. I checked the dealer's license (smaller auto broker, not new car dealership) and he had no action taken against him for fifteen years, so I went for it, and just had my credit union be the bad guy and make him wait for the title before he got the rest of the money. But he still had my trade and down payment ($12K).

It's probably fine, don't sweat it just yet, sometimes the titles take awhile.

 

It takes a while. I work at a dealer and sometimes getting every signature and own to DMV with cut backs in the staffing levels at most DMVs it has slowed everything down. I spent 75min in line just to pay my registration...stay on them but realize it does take time...