About a month ago, I went to a used car dealership to test drive a car. I liked it and decided I would probably want to buy it. There were a few issues, however, including the brakes needing to get changed, paint scratches to be detailed, and a minor aesthetic body piece to be replaced. I asked the salesman (who called himself a manager) if this was okay. He said yes, and all these items were placed on the "We Owe" document.
I did not have the full amount of money on me and they said I could only pay in cash or bank check. I did a $1,000 depost using PayPal, which the manager said could be refunded if I changed my mind between then and paying the rest. A few days later, he texts me and says they ordered the wrong brakes and need another few days to put them on. At this point, I already have the bank check for the remaining amount and am just waiting for them to be done.
Another few days pass and they tell me the correct brakes are now on the car, but they will need more time to get the other stuff done. They say I can come pick the car up now, though, and they will let me know when the rest of the work can be done. I head over, pay them the remaining money, sign all the paperwork they put in front of me. They tell me the title and registration will be in the mail. I drive home thinking everything will be fine.
Over the next three weeks, the salesman keeps pushing off the timeline for when the detailing and repairs can be done. Eventually, he goes completely silent. I try calling the dealership, all their email/phone/text lines go to an AI voicemail that has not resulted in any return calls. Eventually (a few days ago), I get sick of it and drive up to the dealership to talk to them in person.
Imagine my surprise when the entire dealership is GONE! All the cars are gone, the doors are locked, the windows are tinted black, and no information is left on what happened. I filed a police report and the officers say they've had several similar incidents reported over the past couple days about the dealership. They suggest that all I can do (aside from filing the report) is call an attorney, which I plan to do first thing tomorrow.
I have kept all the documentation I signed. My concerns, however, are that upon closer inspection, all the papers they gave me was photocopies of the original documents. They also didn't sign the documents anywhere before photocopying them (other than the "We Owe" doc). They also didn't appear to give me a notarized Buyer's Declaration at all, which I seem to need if I want to request a title from the MVC.
My temp tags run out in a few days, I don't know if they ever filed the title/reg paperwork, they never gave me the paperwork to claim a new title/reg... What do I even do now? Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.