In the time before computers, everything had to be done by hand, and it was a lot of extra work. This made things like removing your name from the liability of a vehicle you used to own a bit of a hassle at times.

What would you do if you were trying to remove yourself from a truck you sold, and the DMV guy said that you couldn’t do it because you didn’t have the right information? He even said, ‘You better hope the truck doesn’t slide into a school bus,’ as a way to show he would be liable.

That is what happened to the guy in this story, so he tracked down everything he needed and secretly registered the truck in the DMV worker’s name, making him liable for any future issues.

Sometimes good revenge takes hard work, and that is just what happened here. Check out the details below.

Now you’ll REALLY hope he doesn’t slide into a school bus full of kids…

Many years ago [pre-internet] I sold a truck of mine through a local paper called the Recycler; which is now a website but was only in paper form back then.

This is how things were done before online marketplaces.

People would wait anxiously at their local liquor store for the truck to show up and deliver the stack of Recycler papers to see who would get the good deals.

I only mention that because there is also a long weird story about the sale as well, but that is a different story altogether.

Everything seems pretty normal, so far.

Anyway, I sold the truck, took down all of the purchaser’s info and filled out the release of liability form that is part of the vehicle’s pink slip here in California.

I got the money and handed the keys and pink slip to the guy and off he went. I sent in the release of liability paperwork the very next morning. That should have been the end of the story…

The paperwork is taking a while to process.

About 3 months go by and I received a notice to renew the registration on the truck. I called the DMV and spoke to a very pleasant woman and stated that I had sold the truck and no longer have it.

They asked if I had sent in the release of liability form. I said that I had. I was told, “Ok, don’t worry about that notice then, you can disregard it.”

He has no reason to be worried about anything.

I replied that I have the buyer’s info if they wanted it again. She said, “No it wasn’t necessary as long as I had already sent it in, I shouldn’t worry about anything.”

The exchange was pleasant enough. I didn’t give it another thought. As a matter of fact a couple of months went by, I noticed the slip of paper with the info and just tossed it as I hadn’t heard anything else about the vehicle.

…Until another 6 months later…

Apparently, they never got (or processed) the paperwork.

I received another letter with a fine for not renewing my registration… I called the DMV again. This time I wasn’t met with a helpful voice on the other end, but by a complete jerk of a guy whom we’ll call David. I actually got his full name and wrote it down.

Throughout the conversation he would cut me off mid-sentence, was very rude and acted as though I was some sort of idiot and just a complete waste of his time.

Wow, not only is this guy unhelpful, but he is rude too.

I repeatedly told him that I had sold the vehicle and had already sent in the release of liability and was specifically told by the previous employee that I need not worry about it.

His response was ridiculous… “Hmmmph, you’d better HOPE he doesn’t slide into a school bus full of kids buddy, because YOU will be liable…”

Surely this isn’t the first person to ever sell a car in California.

Yes, he seriously said that…

I screamed, “How am I liable??!?!? I sold the truck!!!”

This can’t be true.

“As long as you are the last one listed as the responsible party, you will be liable for any and all accidents”, he snorted.

I tried to argue my case more, but he didn’t want to hear anymore about it and basically cut me off stating that unless I have proof that I sent in the release or had the guy’s info then there is NOTHING that he can do and basically hung up on me…

He is smart for not letting this go.

I was infuriated. This started a multi-day phone barrage from manager to supervisor to division manager [basically up the chain of command at the DMV] all with the associated hour or more wait on hold until someone finally answered.

Finally, after several days of calling [also back when long distance wasn’t free] I finally reach the top most head of the DMV for the entire state of California.

I hope this guy can actually help him.

I was talking to the absolute top brass guy. He was actually very pleasant as well. I explained what happened and how I had been treated.

He apologized and explained that although I may have sent in the release of liability, that it may have been lost in transit and therefore, my name is still associated with the vehicle.

What if the car was just abandoned? They must have a process for this type of thing.

He continued to tell me that due to the idiotic way their system was programmed at the time, you cannot just remove a name without adding another one in.

I asked, “Can’t you just put in something like Bugs Bunny and we’d be done?”

The DMV guy is trying to give him a way out of this.

He said, “No, that would be violating the law if he knew it was fake and put that into the system.” He went on to tell me that there have been instances in the past that were similar and the person in my shoes just registered liability of the car into the name of their local police station.

I said, ” Oh, so I can just put in my local police station and police chief’s name and all of this will go away???”

I see what he is saying.

Immediately, he responded, “No…. because I will know you fabricated the form and that will be breaking the law…”

“I’m confused… You just told me that…”

This is a terrible system, but at least he has a way to get around it.

He interrupted me and said, “Just listen carefully… Sometimes people in your situation have obtained another release form and put in information on their own accord without speaking to me on the phone and it will work in our system and remove them from liability… Understand???”

“Yes but…”

“No need to ask me a question. Just think about what I just said…”

Now this guy is getting it.

Me: Long pause- – – – –

“Ohhhhhh… got it… Ah ha…”

The light bulb went on in my head. He is telling me what to do without really incriminating himself over the phone.

Now he can finally move forward.

“Understood and thank you very much!!!”

He thanked me as well and hung up…

Oh, I love where this is going.

I was all set to register my truck to a police station but then I remembered that jerk, David from the first DMV call earlier in the week…

I called that DMV office again hoping David wouldn’t answer. He didn’t I got a nice woman on the phone.

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It’s crazy what you can get away with using a bit of charm.

I weaved a tale that David ***** and I have been friends for many years during and since graduating school, but I had moved out of state a few years ago and am trying to set up a surprise party for David at his home and need his info for the letters that I will be sending out.

Many of his classmates who were also friends have said that they too would like to attend. “I know it’s a huge favor to ask and may not even be legal, but don’t know any other way to get the info and have several people wanting to go from out of state.”

This is going to work out beautifully.

She paused for a moment and said, “Hang on, let me see what I can do…” and put me on hold.

A couple of minutes later, she came back on and gave me ALL of David’s personal contact info…

Jackpot!

There, now it is David’s problem.

I registered the liability from my truck to the ‘jerk David’, at his personal residence…

Ultimately, probably nothing came of it, but I would have loved to see him receive the registration letters along with the associated fines for lack of payment.

What a fun and satisfying story.

Since he worked at the DMV, he probably just fixed it easily but it made me feel better to waste just a bit of his time.

And have him wondering how the heck did this truck get in my name??? 😀

This is the type of revenge that everyone loves. If David had just been helpful from the beginning, it never would have happened. Well played.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about a hardworking employee whose management refuses to give them one single break.

Check out what the people in the comments have to say about this very funny story of revenge.

Yes, that was the whole point of what the head of the DMV said.

It seems like he could.

Sometimes you have to do anything that works.

The system is completely broken.

This commenter says the DMV is still like that.

A system like this is just begging for abuses, and it clearly caused a lot of problems. I can’t believe that this guy is the first person to not have the information about the party that bought the car.

I hope that they fixed the system since then. It is a nice thought to hope that this person’s story might have started the ball rolling that got the systems fixed.