You did it reddit, you got my car back thanks to all your legal advice! : legaladvice

Hopefully this doesn't get removed by the moderators, because I want to say thank you to the community.

Thanks Reddit for all your advice to get my car back in record time and I did NOT have to hire a lawyer in the process. All your advice was spot on:

Wrote Senator Tim Kaine- he referred to my car as stolen, forwarded my letter to the DMV's Office of the Commissioner, and provided me information about the Virginia Lawyer Referral service: Virginia Lawyer Referral (VLR) is a service of the Virginia State Bar. The Virginia Lawyer Referral Service will connect you to a lawyer in your area for $35. You receive a consultation of up to a half hour with him or her - no strings attached. Wrote VA State Senator Scott Surovell- worked with the DMV, found out Chase had released the lien in 2015! Wrote VA House Delegate Luke Torian- worked with #2. Wrote Jamie Dimon (CEO of Chase)- office called first thing Monday morning apologizing and that they were looking into it. Wrote Chase social media- instant response Talked to Kenny Boddye, who happened to be in my neighborhood running for PWC board- not sure impact, raised issues of the Prince William County Police Wrote the Consumer Financial Protection Board- not sure impact, but complaint lodged. Great source to research other claims! Filed a report with the DMV investigations branch- not sure the impact Wrote Rep. Jerry Connolly- not sure Wrote the US Comptroller of the Currency- letter in the mail still Keep a log of time/date and conversation of each person. I was able to piece together a lot of the puzzle because of my notes. Also have a record of how long this process took.

I have not yet written the AG or pursued this further with Prince William County Police. All in all, PWC fully refused to work on this case and refused to come my residence to at least take a report or even believe me...

It is clear the tow company was aware they were towing the wrong person's car not attached to the loan because I saw the tow order on the computer screen inside the tow truck, and it was for someone else's name, who I've confirmed was the prior owner. It is clear that the middle man for Chase knew as well, because they told me the loan belonged to the same name I saw in the truck. However, I am confused how and why Chase would repossess a car that they released the lien on in 2015.

All this to say- great job reddit. It took 49 phone calls for a total of 334 minutes, and approximately another 605 minutes of legal research, writing emails, filing reports, and documenting conversations. Total, about 15.65 hours of dedicated work on this to get it back without a lawyer.

So how can we the people hold these banks accountable? I'm a bit peeved that this could happen without any recourse. In documenting everything and every conversation, I can see multiple violations of the law. I also am glad I paid in cash- if I had had a loan, I am sure this would have dragged on for quite a while.

TL/DR: Chase returned my stolen car, and I thank Reddit for the advice to make it happen so quickly. How can we hold corporations responsible for this?

Edit: thanks kind strangers for the gold! Wow!