The Van Story 🚐💨

Same Janet, SAME!

If life were only that simple. "Now here's a little story I've got to tell"...

(Bonus points if you know where that’s from.)  

Let me preface this story with this. The van is NOT stolen. It has never been reported stolen and there is a legitimate title. This is not a situation of falsified documents. It’s a situation of a lying, shady man who sold us a van with a bad engine through a dealership that he claimed was his but belongs to someone else. The someone else who owns the business allegedly had no idea the “used car salesman” was using his business to buy/sell cars. The majority of communication that I have had, has purposely been through text messaging so I would have proof to back up my story and timeline.

Go get popcorn or a snack and make sure you have something to drink. This is a long ride so buckle up and keep your arms inside until we come to a complete stop. Here we go………

It’s June 2022. We find a minivan, contact the person and schedule a time to look at it and go. We meet June 6, 2022 at the parking lot of Huddle House in Senatobia near the interstate. The van looks nice, it’s very clean, no noise, oil looks good, and Rico takes it for a test drive. He returns and says that it drove good, and we start talking details with the sales guy. We will call the sales guy Mike Lipscomb.😏

Mike said he owned a car lot in Sardis and had just taken the van in on a trade. He said he had been driving it for about a week and it was mechanically sound. I had already explained to him that we needed it for our disabled daughter, and it had to be reliable. The price was in our price range and not one of those “too good to be true” scenarios. We negotiated a price and told him we had to get the paperwork done with the credit union. I took the VIN and went home and paid for a Carfax to be sure it had not been in wrecks, did not have a salvage or rebuilt title and had not been reported stolen.

We purchased the van on June 7, 2022, I got tags at some point, and all seemed well with the world.

At the time, I wasn’t doing much driving because it was prior to my hip replacement. I don’t remember when but one day when I cranked the van, I happened to look in my rearview mirror and saw white smoke. I made a mental note and went on about my business. Another day, I got on it because I was getting onto the interstate and looking in my rearview, I saw white smoke again, mental note #2. Fast forward and I began noticing that each time I cranked the van for the first time, white smoke. I try doing research and learn it could be a part that’s gone bad. Don’t even get me to lyin or guessing on what the part was because I can’t remember but we replaced it, and it did not fix the smoke.

The white smoke continued every single time I cranked the van for the first time and occasionally if I had to accelerate quickly. Since Mike the sales guy met us to look at the van and then met us again to pick it up, he was the one who had initially cranked the van for the day and why we didn’t see any smoke when we cranked it following him. I also began having to add oil frequently. I was driving the van as little as possible but on September 8th, I had to drive to Jackson, TN. I couldn’t drive the truck because I couldn’t get in and out of it with my hip, so I had to drive the van. I made it there and back, but I had to add oil before I left to come back home. Right afterward, I had to add oil after driving 25 miles to Southaven. I didn’t feel it was safe for me to be traveling with Maci, especially having to frequently add oil which meant I had to leave her in the van, pop the hood, add the oil, check the oil meanwhile continuing to peek around to check on Maci. The places I was having to travel with her were doctor appointments. The pediatrician appointments weren’t so worrisome but the trips to Le Bonheur made me nervous!! So, the van got parked.

Mike’s son sent me Facebook messages on September 20, 2022, September 21, 2022, and September 23, 2022. I didn't realize it until after the third message. He had asked me to contact him asap and in another message was asking for a picture of the title application. I replied to him on September 23, 2022. We had no paperwork and asked if the credit union wouldn’t have a copy for him. I also used the opportunity to tell him about the van being parked and needing a new engine to which he replied saying he would see if he could help. After that, crickets. Funny that he was asking about the title application because he still never got it sent in!

The van sat from the second week of September 2022 to September 15, 2023, when I dropped it off at the repair shop. 

October 24, 2023, I pick it up my newly repair van, very excited……until I call to see how much my tag renewal would be. I am told I cannot renew my tag because the Department of Revenue has never received the title application. Rico called Mike to find out what was going on with the paperwork and he advised he would get it taken care of. Rico followed up the following day, October 25th, and Mike said he would be overnighting the paperwork to the Department of Revenue with the title application fast tracked. He told Rico that his office had recently been broken into and trashed, he closed his car lot, blah blah and that was the reason he had not sent in the documents already. 😕 Just me thinking here, but ummmm, we bought the van over a year ago so the paperwork should have been sent in LONG before your alleged break in.

It’s October 27, 2023, and at this point, I take over communication. I texted Mike asking if he had overnighted the paperwork. He responded with “yes it’s there they should mail title to bank by Wednesday.” “U can check with the courthouse soon as they enter it u can renew tag.”

November 7, 2023, still nothing at the courthouse or Department of Revenue. I texted Mike asking for receipt where he had sent documents overnight. He finally responded with “Ill check morning it should be done.”

November 8, 2023, sent text to Mike for update with no response.

November 9, 2023, texted Mike again for an update with no response.

November 10, 2023, received a copy of a letter in the mail from Department of Revenue that had been sent to what I will refer to as Shady Auto Sales giving 30 days from the date of the letter (November 7, 2023) to comply or face further action. So, I am thinking that this is the name of Mike’s business, although the tag on the back of my van was for Action Auto. **scratching head**

November 14, 2023, I called Mike for an update due to no response to texts. He stated that he had left the paperwork with Jim Shady, the owner of Shady Lane Auto Sales, to send in and that he would call him and get an update. Advised me that Jim Shady had another full-time job so it could be a bit.

Texted later that day for an update and Mike stated, “Said he was calling me back when he got off.”

Now

collaborate and listen.

If you aren’t thinking wayment, if Mike was the used car salesman, with his own car dealership, why did he leave paperwork with Jim Shady who is the apparent owner of Shady Lane Auto Sales, then you aren’t paying very close attention. 🤷

November 15, 2023, called Mike and no answer. Followed up with a text asking for an update and Mike responded by sending me the contact information for Jim Shady.

I called Jim Shady at 4:51 and there was no answer, but he returned my call at 5:01 and we had a 10 minute conversation about the situation. I explained how we had gone about purchasing the van, that it needed an engine, and we had it replaced but now could not get tags because the paperwork was incomplete. During the conversation Jim Shady said that he had been unaware of this sale to us by Mike. He said that Mike had asked him for a favor to be able to make A (as in uno, one, single) purchase for himself or it may have been for his son through his car lot and he had said yes. He said I was not the only person that he had learned of Mike selling a vehicle to without his knowledge or approval. He said that Mike had been a dealer and had a car lot at one time (not any time recently) but had his bond revoked. Jim Shady stated he would get the paperwork processed and would send me a picture of the title and title application when we got off the phone, which he did send through text.

Between November 15, 2023 and November 20, 2023, several text messages back and forth. Jim Shady made promises on things he was going to do and did not and was unreliable.

November 20, 2023, we picked up a dealer tag from Shady Lane Auto Sales so I could at least drive my van!

Between November 20, 2023 and January 9, 2024, several more texts back and forth of excuses and continued lack of follow up on things promised.

January 8, 2024, I obtained copies by email of documents from the Loan Officer at the Credit Union that were faxed to her sometime after the van purchase.

January 9, 2024, I emailed copies of the documents to someone at Tate County Tax Collector’s office (TCTCO) to forward to MS Department of Revenue to a supervisor’s attention that she had previously spoken with who said he would try to help.

I have been communicating with one person at the Tax Collector's office on the reg, checking at minimum once a week to see if there was an update in my file and I was clear to get my tags. I feel like she needs a place at my dinner table on Easter!

According to my phone conversation with the employee that I sent the email to, after receiving the documents, she said she would have the one person I have been speaking with forward them but that some of the documents were missing information and signatures. 😱

I followed up with TCTCO that afternoon and she confirmed that she had successfully attached the documents to my file and sent to the supervisor’s attention at the Department of Revenue, but he had not read them yet and she would follow up with him tomorrow.

January 11, 2024, followed up with the Tax Collector's office this afternoon. My contact had called the supervisor she had a number for at the Dept of Revenue but had to leave a message. She also spoke with someone in the office, and everything still shows “pending” meaning no updates.

So here I am, waiting. And waiting. And waiting. 

📸 credit: iStock by Getty Images

UPDATE 3/1/2024:

Yesterday Rico calls the loan officer to follow up on the title. The conversation ends with the only thing left to do is take Jim Shady to court.  Of course, that means an attorney and money! How is it that the people who DO wrong always have it easy and it's the people who are wronged that have to jump through hoops? A few minutes later, the loan officer from the credit union called back and said they received the title in the mail earlier that week!

So today, I got tags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I think I will wait 4-8 months before I contact Jim Shady and let him know he can have his dealer tag back.