My car was sold without my knowledge while it was still registered in my name — now I'm being offered $400. What are my options?

My car was sold without my knowledge while it was still registered in my name — now I'm being offered $400. What are my options?

I'm posting this because I'm honestly at a loss about what to do, and I'd really appreciate advice from people who understand Canadian law/vehicle ownership or have dealt with something similar.

This situation started around November of last year.

I had my vehicle at an autobody shop and had a verbal agreement with the guy there that the car could sit at the shop until either he or I found someone interested in buying the vehicle or buying parts from it. The understanding was that it could stay there while we figured out what to do with it.

I specifically asked him to let me know if anything changed.

Then he basically went radio silent.

For months, I believed MY car was still sitting at this shop.

The vehicle was still registered in my name. I never signed the vehicle over. I never signed a bill of sale giving the shop ownership. I never gave written permission for them to sell the vehicle.

Eventually, I decided I wanted my car back. I had a new vehicle that needed some work, and I wanted to take pictures of the old vehicle so I could start selling parts from it and potentially use some of those parts on my new car.

So I texted him saying that I was coming to take pictures so I could start selling the parts.

Instead of texting me back, he called me.

That's when I found out that my car had apparently been sold "a while ago."

I had no idea.

I was absolutely devastated.

The thing that makes this so upsetting isn't simply that the car was sold. It's that I was led to believe for MONTHS that the car was still there and that I still had control over what happened to it.

I was never told, "We're going to sell your car."

I was never told, "Your car has been sold."

I was never given an opportunity to come get it.

And I never signed anything transferring ownership.

When I confronted him about it, I was basically told the best he could do was around $200–$300.

I was also told, essentially, to get a lawyer.

At one point I spoke to police about the situation. During that conversation, the officer mentioned that he knew this person and that he wasn't shady, etc. That honestly made me feel like anything I was saying about my side of the situation wasn't being taken seriously.

Then things got even stranger.

After I said that I felt this was unfair, the guy started talking about a bunch of fees that I supposedly owed.

The problem?

I had asked him MULTIPLE times, including asking him directly to his face, whether I owed anything.

I was told no.

I was never presented with an invoice.

I was never told about these fees beforehand.

I never signed anything agreeing to these fees.

I have screenshots of the conversations about this.

It feels like these fees were only brought up after I questioned what happened to my car.

And now, this morning, I received a text saying that he is personally sending me $400, because apparently there is no invoice affiliated with his company for the $400.

That part is especially confusing to me.

If this was a legitimate transaction involving my vehicle, why is there apparently no company invoice or record for it?

As far as I know, there is no record showing my car being at the shop, no record of the sale, and no paperwork showing that I authorized the sale.

I understand that I should have gotten everything in writing. I absolutely accept that part. I trusted the verbal agreement, and I regret not protecting myself better.

But I also don't understand how I was supposed to know that my car had been sold when I was being told it was still there.

I also want to address something I know people are probably going to say:

"Well, you left the car there, so what did you expect?"

I expected the agreement we made to be respected.

The agreement was that the vehicle could sit there until either of us found someone interested in buying it or the parts, and then we would go from there.

I never said, "Please sell my car for me."

I never signed the vehicle over.

If I had actually wanted him to sell the entire vehicle on my behalf, I would have gone through the proper process of transferring ownership and giving him authorization to do that.

I also had conversations about how much money I hoped to get from the car. I understand that someone could potentially interpret those messages as me wanting the car sold.

But saying "I want to get X amount out of my car" is not the same thing as saying "You have permission to sell my vehicle without telling me."

And if there were storage, repair, towing, or other fees involved, I believe I should have been told about those BEFORE the fact, especially when I specifically asked whether I owed anything.

The $400 isn't even really the point.

The car itself wasn't some random object I didn't care about. It was my property and was still registered in my name. I considered it a safety net. I was planning on either selling the parts or using some of them to help repair my current vehicle because I don't have a ton of money to throw into another vehicle right now.

Finding out months later that the car was gone absolutely broke me.

I literally sat there sobbing because I had been relying on the fact that I still had that vehicle and could do something with it if I needed to.

Now I'm being told that it was sold a long time ago and that my compensation is apparently $400, despite the fact that I never knowingly authorized the sale and there apparently isn't even a company invoice for the transaction.

I'm not trying to start a witch hunt or send people after this person/shop.

I'm trying to understand what actually happened here and what my options are.

For anyone familiar with Canadian law, vehicle ownership, autobody shops, or situations involving vehicles left at repair/storage facilities:

1. Can someone legally sell a vehicle that is still registered in someone else's name without that person's authorization/signature?

2. Does a verbal agreement about leaving the vehicle at a shop change anything?

3. If there were supposedly fees owing, should I have been notified of them beforehand?

4. Does the lack of an invoice or written record matter?

5. What should I be doing right now to protect myself?

6. Should I be contacting SGI, police, a lawyer, or someone else first?

I have screenshots of some of the conversations, including the messages about the money/fees and the most recent $400 offer.

I'm also trying to keep this post anonymous because I don't want this to turn into a public fight. I'm genuinely just looking for advice because I feel like I lost something that was legally still mine while being led to believe for months that it was sitting safely where I left it.

I know I should have gotten everything in writing. Lesson learned. But I don't think that's the same thing as giving someone permission to sell my property without telling me.