A tale of woe

I can't believe this has really happened but it has. I own a car here in the CDS and my son uses it. We want to sell it and advertised it on our separate facebook accounts. My son phoned one night to say that a couple wanted to buy the car next day but he'd promised them that we would clear an outstanding parking fine in Fuergirola Town Hall. My wife and I collected the documents together and drove down to Fuengirola and paid the fine and received the receipt. We then phoned the mobile phone number our son had given us and arranged to meet the couple at Iceland supermarket. We understood that we would give the couple all the paperwork and they would reregister the car at Trafico in their name and return to pick up the car. However on meeting them they said they wanted the car there and then and produced the money in cash. I said I wasn't happy doing it that way but they were insistent and reassuring. Last minute they said they needed to download a compraventa form from the internet and meet us again in 2 days time for us to fill in this form which would then be a legal document binding us both. I don't know why but I agreed and took the money. They took the car. They did meet us as arranged in two days time but then the clever twist  - she said she wasn't going to keep the car as it was too big. She drove a much smaller car (it was there but there was no sign of my car). She asked me to sign the compraventa as the seller and she would sell the car on and get the buyer to sign the buyer section and she would return the compraventa to me. What could I do at that stage but sign the form and hope that she was telling the truth? We couldn't phone the police as the couple would have either just disappeared or persuaded the police that it was all above board and that I had agreed to this procedure. They both spoke excellent Spanish of course - unlike us.

Since then we have seen the car advertised on Facebook and is apparently located down in Calahonda.

The question is - what can and what should we do now? We can't turn the clock back. Can we protect ouselves from future problems re this car? Can we disassociate ourselves from it?

Help
 

I would go to trafico and explain the situation and If you do not have the details of the buyers I would go and make a report to the police explaining the situation, maybe they can locate the car and the "buyers" through the ad in facebook. I heard of this practise before to avoid paying transmission fees, they never bought the car for themselves but to sell it on. It is happening all the time now but you need to be very careful, as the car is still in your name.. is it insured? Be careful with that.

As far as I understand unless you have a "buyer" sign the contract, the car is still yours no matter what they paid. 

I have since spoken to the woman who paid for the car (I only have her telephone number, nothing else) and she tells me that she has sold the car on. The guy is on facebook and advertising the car. She is waiting for the guy to obtain a NIE.

This is a potential nightmare in the making. Go to trafico and see if the car is still in your name which it almost certainly will be and report what has happened. Do you at least have her name? Go with some one who speaks good Spanish. Go to the police and give them all the information you have. You need an official record of what has happened just in case something happens. The women should also give you the details of the buyer even if he doesn't have a NIE, he will have a passport and ask her where is the copy of the sales contract, if they haven't signed it yet, tell her you are reporting it to the police and you need the details.

I went to Trafico yesterday and registered the car as Baja Temporal. I only needed personal ID (NIE and passport). I was registered as the owner on their system. Pure relief!!