It all started last may 2011 when my son had bought a truck then got fired from his job.. he brought the truck over to my house and asked me and my husband if we wanted the truck my husband said yes my son son we can trade straight across with no strings attached all we (my husband and I ) had to do was take over payments on it.. which we did.. I went and got it tagged put insurance on it and started to make the monthly payments on the truck.. ok fast forwardeding it is a year later and my son decides to take the truck back without us knowing he goes to my husbands place of employement and drives it off the lot... ok know my question is I had made the monthly payments on this truck for up to a year got receipts saying I made the payments except the girl down at the dealership didn't put my name on the receipts they put it in my sons name when I asked why she told me that the truck was in his name I told her can't you put me down on the paperwork she said no not until it was paid off... so I am wondering can I sue for the payments I made even though the receipts have my sons name on them we also made repairs to the truck when needed and paid the insurance on it as well... thank you for taking time out and reading my question

It appears your son is the primary borrower on the loan and that neither you nor your husband is on the loan. After all payments of the loan are satisfied, including the 'Pay Off' amount, you would expect your son to honor the verbal agreement and sign off on the ownership title to the truck, date it and give it to you. The ownership title is mailed to the primary borrower on the loan application, assumed to be your son…
You stated you traded straight across, was there another vehicle involved in this verbal agreement? If so, where is that vehicle? Did you make all payments timely on the truck? Did you pay late fees? Where any payments deferred?.
I don't see how you could get insurance in your names on his truck, without your son being on the insurance policy as well, unless one of you were a co-signer on the loan…
Look at it this way, you had use of the truck for a year and let's assume you were leasing it and in this scenario it isn't your truck or your son's truck. What I'm getting to is this, you made payments, but you had use of the truck. I would ask myself this, 'Is it better to be right and divide the family or is it better to be right and keep the peace?.
It appears the only legal ground you have to stand on is filing a claim in small claims court where you and your son appear before a judge and you both state your case, without an attorney, and the judge makes a decision in your favor or not. There is a filing fee...
It seems like a hard lesson learned, Do not make deals with relatives, family members or friends, with a verbally agreement only. I would think the relationship with your son is more important than a truck or anything that would dissolve the relationship, even if he has not honored his word…

You may sue your son for the money, your deal to pay for it was with him ( not the dealership) and he was the one that defaulted in his agreement.

So you file a law suit against the son if he will not make payments to you

i went and got it tagged put insurance on it and started to make the monthly payments on the truck..

What does this mean? Normally getting it "tagged" means getting license plates. But the truck should have already had plates. If you obtained new plates and insurance, you needed to show proof of ownership. So how did you do that?

What does this mean? Normally getting it "tagged" means getting license plates. But the truck should have already had plates. If you obtained new plates and insurance, you needed to show proof of ownership. So how did you do that?

I was wondering about that too, good question...