My aunt just told me, "Only you, Toby. Only you," while laughing at me

[Tobin S.]

I will admit that I told the story in a humorous fashion, but this is some fucked up shit. I called my aunt to ask for advice because with her being a realtor I thought she might know a little something about the law, especially when it comes to large purchases. The reason why she said what I told you in the subject line is because I have a knack for getting myself into, uh, weird situations.

I bought a a semi for $35,000 a couple of days ago. Doing that requires some legal documentation. I needed a temporary tag to operate the vehicle in my state until I get a permanent tag. They have a legal document that verifies the actual mileage of the truck. The have some legal document that's a certificate showing that a title in my name has been applied for. There was also a bill of sale and a receipt for the down payment.

So I'm at the table signing all of this shit. Seemed pretty straight forward so I didn't read it all closely (big mistake!) and I took my copies of all of the stuff and I went home.

So last night I'm online at the IRS site. I have to pay something called a Heavy Highway Use Tax for the truck. Every trucking company has to pay this for every truck they have, btw. The tax is a yearly fee of $550. To pay the tax you have to have an Employer Identification Number (EIN). It's like a social security number for businesses. I have an EIN, but I haven't used it in 10 years, so the IRS site kicked me out and said I needed to call someone there or go to a local office. I figured I'd just go to the local office on my way home this morning from work. I had to drive right by it on the way home and by being there they would fill out all of the paperwork for me.

So I go to the federal building downtown where the local IRS office is this morning. They have security there kind of like an airport. They confiscated my pocket knife. I went up to the fourth floor where the IRS was and took a number. A short time later I'm explaining the deal to Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller at the Dayton IRS office is alright, by the way. Even if they had a microphone on the desk recording what we said to keep him in line. I think he would have been cool anyway. :D

So we got the EIN sorted out. He said the reason it wouldn't work online is just that it had been so long since I had used it. We updated the address for it and then proceeded to work on the Form 2290 Heavy Highway Use Tax. He needed my address and the VIN of the truck. I had a pile of papers with me which contained the temporary registration for the vehicle. It had both my address and the VIN on it (or so I thought) so I gave it to him. He asked me if the form had the correct address and that's when I looked at it good for the first time. The street name was off by one letter. I started to get a little nervous, but he had my driver's license already and I told him that the address was definitely correct on there. Then he typed in the VIN as shown on the registration. That number is supposed to contain 17 digits. It had 16 on the registration. So, I had just handed an IRS agent a legal document that had the wrong information on it. My palms started to get damp.

So I went digging through my pile of papers and I found a couple of more documents that have matching VINs on them that are 17 digits long- the application for title and the odometer verification, both legal documents. He said that would work and that they were exactly the same as the one on the registration except for the one digit. After he entered the information he gave the documents back to me and I noticed that both of them had the wrong address on them. One was a letter off like before and the other had the same letter off PLUS the street number was wrong. Mr. Miller filled out the 2290 for me and I gave him the $550, smiled, and waved goodbye.

I picked up my pocket knife on the way out and immediately called the salesman at the dealership where I had bought my truck. I explained to him what had happened. He told me earlier, before I went to the IRS, that the title was ready. All I had to do was pick it up. After the IRS deal things changed.

I have my truck parked on private property. I had to drive it there from the dealer not knowing that the registration was wrong. If I would have gotten pulled over my truck probably would have gotten impounded. I went there to make sure the truck was alright and I verified the VIN. Everything was cool with Mr. Miller and the IRS.

So I called the salesman and told him the deal, keeping in mind what momma always said, "You'll catch more flies with honey than salt."

I went to the dealership and it turned out that everything about the deal was wrong as far as my address went including the contract. He said it wasn't his fault, the people who did the paperwork were wrong. After I explained how fucked up the whole situation was I started looking at the other paperwork. The address was printed by him on the bill of sale and the receipt for the down payment in his handwriting and it was the incorrect spelling. I don't know who was responsible for the wrong VIN and the wrong street number, but I think the VIN was his mistake, too.

He said it will all be fixed by tomorrow and we'll redo the whole deal. And you can bet that I'm going to read every fucking word on that paperwork. I know I should have done that before and you guys can feel free to call me a dumbass. Lesson learned. But I think you can agree that it's pretty easy to take for granted that a guy can copy down your address right, especially when he's staring at a copy of your driver's license.

[Mopar151]

1. Fast Eddie woulda blown a gasket!

I used to work for a used car guy. I slung a lot of Bondo and generally did some shaky shit - but god forbid you get a letter wrong on the paperwork! I learned something valuable, too - if you are going to be in sales or customer service - LEARN TO SPELL NAMES. Get that right for someone with a commonly misspelled name, and now they're your buddy.
I'm quite surprised that there was a back office screwup at the dealer, or that they did'nt catch the VIN error when they took it out of inventory.
The salesman deserves a little grinding on. His job is pretty simple, and getting details right is a big part of it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Tobin!

First, let me tell you: You are no dumbass!

Whoever did the paperwork was, though, for sure...

I'm sure it will all get fixed by tomorrow, and you'll be all set...

Hang in there, sweetie!

:hug:

[Swede]

3. You probably broke a few eponymous laws,as well.

Starting with Murphy's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponymous_laws

[kimi]

4. Of course you're not a dumbass!

And frankly I think it's a little out of line for a relative to laugh at you. Please don't take offense, though, it's just not something that I'd do. You're above board and handling nit-picky details, and it sounds like there are one heck of a lot of them. It's gonna get handled, and you've been honest and straight about all of it, that speaks to your sense of honor and commitment. Nothing to laugh at, IMO. I think it's pretty obvious whose mistake it was, and it certainly wasn't yours. Take care, smooth roads are ahead!

[madmom]

5. I once bought a used car off a friend of my then current SO. When he wrote up the

paper work he put my SO's name on the title, since we were together, I thought no harm-no foul, I just wanted to get on with things and not have to go through all the red tape at the court house to fix it. WELL.. after that SO and I broke up he took my car. Even though I paid for it, his name was on the title, it was his. Yes we do, do some dumb things sometimes, but if we learn a lesson I guess we get something out of it.