…four thousand dollars for a car worth nearly forty.”
I called the DMV that afternoon. They’d received a duplicate title request with my signature and a bill of sale to a used-car lot called Prime Motors. The sale price was listed as $4,000. The application had been submitted by my son, Ryan.
The DMV clerk flagged the application as possible fraud and put a hold on my vehicle’s title. “No one can transfer it without you appearing here in person,” she said.
The car dealer from the group chat was named Rick. Prime Motors was his lot. The plan was simple: Ryan and his wife, Ashley, would tell me the engine was failing. Ryan would “take it to the shop.” Rick would buy it cheap on paper, resell it for full price, and split the difference with them.
I didn’t wait for Ryan’s “routine inspection.” I called my insurance agent and the police. Then I put the car keys in my safe.
When Ryan came over on Saturday to pick up the car, I met him at the door with a printout of the group chat. He tried to tell me Ashley had added me as a joke. Then I showed him the DMV hold notice with his name on the application. He stopped talking.
Ryan admitted that they were behind on their credit cards and that Ashley’s sister knew Rick. He’d told himself I didn’t really need the car anymore.
“I drive it every day,” I said. “To the library. To my friends. To pick up your children.”
Ryan was charged with attempted fraud. Rick lost his dealer’s license. Ashley moved in with her sister for a while.
I still drive my Lexus. Last month, I took my grandchildren to the beach in it. They sang the whole way. I’ve never heard a better-running engine.
