false report of car sale

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Question

Country: United States of America
State: Washington

My question is in regard to a vehicle report of sale. Recently a notice was sent to me that a car was abandoned, and that a report of sale had been filed saying that I bought the car and am therefore liable. I contacted the state DOL and got a copy of the report of sale. On the report, my legal name is not used (I go by my middle name, Nathan, amongst my friends, but always my legal first name, Eugene, on anything like this) and my last name is misspelled. My driver's license number is also missing from the form. What I'm being told is that the only way to get the report of sale withdrawn is to go through a small claims court, but mostly I feel as though I'm just being forced to jump through hoops to find a solution to this problem. I just want to get this obviously wrong report of sale removed from the record so I don't have to pay for a car that isn't mine, preferably without taking it to a court room. What do I do? Is it possible that I'm not liable simply because of the supposed seller not using my legal name, and misspelling my last name, or do I have to continue to pursue this? Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

Answer

If you did not buy it then you will easily have it removed by the court--if you did buy it, then misspelled names etc. will normally not get you out of it and you will have to deal with it unfortunately--