Bought A Car At The Dmv With A Clear Title, 3 Months Later Carvana Repossessed It, Now The Dmv Has Voided My Title And I'm Out $58,500. Location: California

Location: California , The purchase. May 28, 2026, Winnetka DMV field office
I bought a 2019 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG from a private seller I found on AutoTrader. Because of the amount, I refused to do it privately and insisted we complete it at the DMV.
We went to the counter together. The seller's title showed a lien from Carvana/Bridgecrest. He handed a signed lien release on the title page directly to the clerk — I never saw or held it. I asked the clerk specifically about the lien and she told me it was released. She processed the transfer. I paid him in full in cash at the DMV that day.
DMV then issued me a California Certificate of Title in my name with no lienholder listed. From that date forward, DMV records showed me as sole registered and legal owner with no lien.
The car had engine and cosmetic issues. I did the work myself over the next three months. Purchase plus parts and labor, I'm into it for about $58,500.

I purchased full coverage insurance on the car.

The repossession — August 17, 2026
Between roughly 5 and 11 PM the car was taken from Santa Monica while I was asleep. Swift Recovery Group took it, acting for MVTRAC, acting for Carvana/Bridgecrest. No court order, no notice, no contact with me before or after. Santa Monica PD declined to take a theft report. LAPD later took one and classified it as "theft by trickery," with me listed as the victim.
What happened upstream
The person who sold me the car had obtained it from Carvana using another individual's stolen identity. That individual is a genuine victim who had nothing to do with selling anything to me — she filed her own report in June, before my car was ever taken. I'm now in contact with her directly.
Swift told me the repossession authorization names the previous registered owner as owner, and Carvana as lienholder. That's the exact title configuration DMV superseded on May 28. So on the day they took it, they were acting on a lien the State had already released, naming as owner someone who was no longer the owner of record.
The insurance denials — three of them
Comprehensive coverage was in force. Denied August 31, upheld September 10, upheld again September 22.
In that third letter they conceded, in writing: the title identified me as registered owner with no lienholder; I completed the purchase in good faith and followed DMV procedure; they do not contend I participated in or knew of the fraud; and the question of whether the seller held void or voidable title is not resolved on the record.
Then they denied anyway, using a structure I can't get around by argument. Exclusion 13 is conversion. Exclusion 15 is repossession by a party acting on behalf of the owner. Their position: if Carvana owned it, it's excluded repossession — if I owned it, Carvana's taking is excluded conversion. Excluded either way, so they say they don't need to resolve who actually owned it.
They also admitted they possess none of Carvana's transaction documents, payment records, repossession authorization, or repossession report, and never obtained the Sheriff's report. Their entire account of Carvana's role came from a verbal summary a detective gave them over the phone.
The DMV voiding — last week
DMV voided the title they issued me, on the basis that the seller's documents were “suspected to be forged”. They also acknowledged the forged document passed through their system and was processed.

Called 30+ lawyers, no one will help.

What the fuck do I do.