Cash back to woman who couldn't own car

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The woman who bought a car she couldn't own and then had it impounded got her money back from the used car dealer who sold her a car he couldn't sell.

As Target 8 investigators reported , Penny Redwine bought a 1998 Dodge Stratus from Discount Auto Center on South Division last August. She paid $1,100, but the paperwork was never complete.

That's because the dealer did not have a clear title to the car, which technically was still owned by a Muskegon woman, and a loan company still had a lien on it.

State law requires car dealers to have a clear title in hand even before they put a car on their lot for sale. In Redwine's case the dealer didn't have title to the car and kept giving her dealer stickers every two weeks until police finally impounded the car.

The Secretary of State's office launched an investigation and got the dealer to refund the money to Redwine.

"He shook our hands a couple of times and kept apologizing for the mistake," Redwine said. "He gave me my money back, and I'm satisfied."

The refund, though, won't get her another car for her daughter to drive to school anytime soon. It will help them pay off the tickets they received for driving the car with dealer stickers instead of a title.

"Each time they stopped us we had no proof of registration or nothing to show them for the vehicle," she said. "The last time they impounded it."

Since the money was refunded, the Secretary of State considers the matter closed.

"I want to tell everybody," Redwine said, "be careful about where you purchase the vehicle from and who because there's people out there that's not right."