‘I got defrauded’: Man says car he bought taken illegally by former owner

globalnews.ca:

A man on Montreal’s south shore claims a vehicle he purchased in September was unlawfully taken from him by the former owner of the car, leaving him out of pocket several thousand dollars.

“I was blown away. I could not believe she showed up to take the car,” Michael Gilmore said from his Brossard home. “I made my payments. I did nothing so I feel I got defrauded. She took my money and took the car.”

Gilmore says his ordeal started in September. He had befriended an elderly woman he met while working as a chef at a senior’s residence. He mentioned to her he needed to purchase a new vehicle. She told him she was no longer able to drive, and wanted to unload her Ford Fiesta.

They agreed on a price of $14,000. But Gilmore, who has three children and is separated from his former partner, said he could not afford to pay for the car in full. He says they came to an agreement he would pay $2,000 up front, and then $1,500 monthly.

Gilmore says the woman said she did not want to transfer Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) the province’s automobile insurance board, ownership to him until the car was paid in full. So, he agreed, meaning the registration of the vehicle was still in the woman’s name.

“She seemed nervous. She thought if we transferred the car I would not make the payment and I would run off with the car, but lo and behold look what happened to me,” Gilmore said.

He claims the two signed a written contract that a friend of the woman’s had drawn up, asserting he owned the vehicle.

He says in October, after the woman received a photo radar ticket in the mail for $140, which Gilmore said he would pay, the woman demanded payment in full for the car. Gilmore says he made his $1,500 payment in cash to the