Dont lose your identity when you sell your car

Leaving plates on vehicle can lead to trouble

Rebecca Mollet opened her mailbox this spring and found a $1,200 fine from the Illinois Tollway.

Mollet checked the photo and realized her old plates were still on the streets. Someone was using them, and she was getting the bill.

"I feel as if my identity has been stolen, and in a way, it has been," Mollet wrote in an e-mail to Public Investigator.

Like thousands of car owners, Mollet has discovered the danger of selling a vehicle with its license plates.

The Wisconsin Division of Motor Vehicles receives calls almost daily from people billed for traffic offenses associated with their old plates, said Linda Lewis, vehicle records chief. Mollet's story serves as a cautionary tale for anyone selling their car.

"Most people are trusting and, unfortunately, they can't always be that way," Lewis said. "They have to protect themselves."

Like identity theft, the backlash of old license plates can haunt a person for life. As long as Mollet's plates remain on the street, she will receive any citations - or criminal inquiries - associated with them.

So far, Mollet has received three bills worth $1,475. She hasn't paid for anything, but each citation represents a new headache.

"Whenever I receive a violation in the mail for the plates, my life has to be put on hold and I must relive my mistake," said Mollet, who lives in Jefferson.

Here's how a $100 transaction started Mollet down a winding road filled with big bumps and blind intersections:

In 2005, she sold her Chevrolet Cavalier for $100 to her brother-in-law. She failed to remove the plates and make a copy of the title transfer document.

Her brother-in-law traded the car to another man, and that man sold it to Matt Lepperd, owner of L&M Automotive in North Prairie.

Lepperd said he sold the car as scrap to a Waukesha kid who wanted the Cavalier's teal spoiler and body decals. He remembers later seeing the kid drive a red Firebird with a teal spoiler - it looked ridiculous, Lepperd said.

Lepperd said he doesn't remember the kid's name, nor does he have any record of the sale because he was selling scrap, not a usable vehicle.

"It left here on a trailer," he said. "I would really find it hard to believe that car ever got put back together."

What Mollet should have done to protect herself was destroy the license plates and copy the title transfer document, state officials say. She didn't.

As a result, through each of the transactions, the Cavalier and its license plates remained in Mollet's name.

In 2006, Mollet received a $25 parking ticket in the mail from Zion, Ill. She called the city and said she no longer owned the Cavalier.

She also called her brother-in-law and learned that he traded the vehicle. They went to a local bank and signed a bill of sale document to show Mollet no longer possessed the Cavalier.

Zion officials dismissed Mollet's ticket after seeing the bill of sale. In 2007, Mollet used the document again, and officials in St. Joseph, Mo., dismissed a $250 handicapped parking ticket.

But last month, Mollet received a second letter from the Illinois Tollway saying her bill of sale was invalid proof and she needed to pay. Black-and-white photos show Mollet's plates on the back of a Chevy Cavalier. No one can be certain from the photo if it's the same Cavalier that Mollet owned.

"As far as we're concerned, Rebecca is the registered owner," said Mike King, spokesman for the Illinois Tollway.

The Tollway takes its cue on liability from Wisconsin DMV records, and all signs point to Mollet.

King said the Tollway rejected Mollet's bill of sale because it looked like a homemade document - which it was. Mollet typed up the two-sentence document on a computer before she took it to the bank.

"We at the very least require a notary stamp," King said. "We're obligated by law to pursue people who use without paying."

The DMV also could create a new title document for the car, but its location is unknown.

"We have a little difficulty with that because we know it's been sold to somebody else," Lewis said. "We'd really have to have a court tell us who the owner is."

So now Mollet is looking at two possible court appearances: one in Wisconsin to transfer liability and one in Illinois to appeal the $1,200 fine.

She might end up passing the buck to her brother-in-law, but he contends the next buyer should be liable - and so on.

"It sounds bad, but legally, he was the last one to be documented with those plates," Mollet said. "I'm looking out for myself."