Matthews Motor Company took the paperwork for the 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid to NCDMV in June 2011 to be processed. At that time, we were informed by NCDMV that this vehicle had not been released from an old seizure order from a previous owner due to the county never documenting this release correctly. Thus, NCDMV would not process this paperwork until the seizure order was released. That caused an extended delay in getting the tag work done. We began the process of talking to multiple people in multiple departments to track down where the mistakes were made by this county. Finally, we went through the process of acquiring the necessary documents to release that seizure order. Then, NCDMV processed the paperwork & issued the tag. Once the tag was issued in September, the title should have been sent to Ms. Hooper from the NCDMV within 10 days. We were never notified by her or NCDMV that she never received the title. When it was brought to our attention on Dec 16 during the time Ms. Hooper was purchasing the 2007 Honda Accord, we contacted NCDMV. NCDMV then sent the title to her. The delay in Ms. Hooper receiving the title may have been an oversight on NCDMV’s part or because Ms. Hooper had moved to a new address. Matthews Motor Company followed through on all necessary processing of documents and is not at fault for the delay in the title being issued.
Ms. Hooper was informed prior to her purchase of the 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid that it had previous paint work. The prior damage was less than the 25% disclosure required by NC law. We never denied that there was paint work done on the car, & the Carfax report reflected only two accidents at the time, with no mention of any frame or structural damage whatsoever. We did not agree with Carmax’s description of severity of any previous damage, which is why we offered her $2000 more than Carmax had offered for the Civic Hybrid. The price of hybrid vehicles fluctuates throughout the year based on gas prices. At the time of Ms. Hooper’s purchase of the Civic Hybrid, a Civic Hybrid was valued at $1500 higher than a non-hybrid Civic according to Black Book Value. At the time she traded it, a Civic Hybrid was valued at $500 less than a non-hybrid Civic. That seasonal difference is $2000 of the $4000 she says she lost. We suggested to her that she wait to trade the Civic Hybrid until spring when hybrid prices increase based on gas pricing. She said she didn’t want to wait until spring and that she wanted to make a change right then. Also, when she bought the Civic Hybrid, it had 77,186 miles on it. When she traded it, it had 87,953 miles on it. She indeed drove the car over 10,000 miles in only 6 months, which explains the additional $2000 depreciation. Ms. Hooper still chose to trade in the Civic Hybrid & purchase the 2007 Honda Accord from us.
During the purchase of the 2007 Honda Accord, Ms. Hooper did give us $670, of which she divided between two separate checks. She asked us to hold & not deposit one of the two checks until January 6, 2012. We agreed to do that for her. She then called us before January 6 and asked us to continue to hold & not deposit it until after January 16. We agreed to this request, as well.
In regards to the insurance lapse…we are not responsible for handling anything with the insurance company, including cancellation of coverage, transfer of coverage to a different car, updating any customer address changes, etc. We are not aware of what caused the insurance lapse, but it was not related to the processing of paperwork that Matthews Motor Company was responsible for handling. The tag was transferred to the new car, the 2007 Honda Accord, from the old car, the 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid, and the insurance should have been transferred with it.
It was not necessary for Ms. Hooper to make all those calls to DMV and take time off of work to drive to DMV. She never called us in regards to what was going on with the tag & title work, nor had she ever expressed concern to us about this. If she had, we could have updated her without her having to make multiple calls to DMV. Her tag & title has since been completed, & the title will be sent to her from Raleigh within 10 days of the date of the registration.
Matthews Motor Company is as equally frustrated as Ms. Hooper with the time it took to accomplish getting the tag work done. However, this was an extenuating circumstance and in dealing with many government agencies & policies, there are rare occasions where these kinds of things happen. We worked on our end to face the challenges that arose during this particular instance and believe we handled things within the best of our abilities & within the constraints we faced. During our last & most recent communication with her, she was happy that everything was completed.