A Toronto man said he was shocked when he received a more than $1,000 towing and storage bill for an SUV he sold 15 years ago after the vehicle was never registered to the new owner. “I don’t think that’s quite fair. I don’t think it was my responsibility to follow the buyer to make sure he transferred the ownership,” said Mario Iamundo, who sold his 2002 Honda CRV in 2011. Earlier this summer, Iamundo said he received a bill from Classic Towing and Storage in Etobicoke, asking him to pay a total of $1,130 in towing and storage fees. “They informed me that even though the car was marked as sold, my name was still the last registered owner on that vehicle’s history,” said Iamundo. “I was responsible to pay the storage fees for a car I haven’t seen in 15 years, which doesn’t seem fair to me,” said Iamundo. In a statement to CTV News, General Manager of the towing company Kevin Araya said that it is more common than people realize for new owners not to transfer vehicle registration. “We go by the registered vehicle owner. We don’t go by who it was sold to,” said Araya. It’s not clear if someone had been driving the car for the past 15 years before it was recently impounded. “My biggest advice is to hand over the ownership and get them to change it into their name, and only then give them the keys, because until then they (the seller) are still the rightful owner,” said Araya. In a statement, a spokesperson on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation told CTV News that “Buyers must register themselves as the new owner of a used vehicle within six days of the sale. After that period, sellers can visit a Service Ontario centre to update the vehicle’s status to “sold.” The ministry said that while vehicle ownership will still appear registered until ownership is officially transferred, the vehicle’s sold status will still be recorded. “Once ownership has properly been transferred, the former owner is no longer responsible for the vehicle. If the transfer is not completed properly, the vehicle may continue to appear in the previous owner’s name until the ownership is updated.” A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service told CTV News that when vehicles are sold privately through online marketplaces or sold to vehicle recycling facilities, a properly completed bill of sale must be completed by the seller. Police said that “when a purchaser fails to transfer ownership with the Ministry of Transportation, the vehicle remains registered in the seller’s name, despite no longer being in their possession.” “The Ministry of Transportation cannot change the ownership into the purchaser’s name without the proper application being submitted by the purchaser.” Under the Repair and Storage Liens Act, tow operators can seek payment from the registered owner, regardless of who actually owns the vehicle. Iamundo said he reluctantly paid the storage fee but thinks there should be more safeguards in place to protect consumers from being on the hook for charges long after they’ve sold their vehicle. With files from CTV News Toronto’s Farah Chandani
