A Nova Scotia woman says her entire savings are gone after the used van she bought was repossessed, and now she’s calling for the province to change the way used vehicle sales are regulated.

Cristal Vanesch says she saved for months to buy a 2006 Dodge Caravan for her growing family in Dartmouth.

"I put everything that we had saved into that van to put it on the road for my kids,” Vanesch said.

She says she was shocked when it was repossessed on Tuesday.

“I knew I'd paid cash for it. I didn't understand what was going on,” she said.

In the end she learned the van was involved in a loan gone bad.

The original owner had put a $10,000 lien on the vehicle, sold it, and left the country.

Vanesch had bought the van on Kijiji, but says she tried to do her homework to make sure she was getting a good deal.

"I called Motor Vehicle Inspection. I asked them what all do I need. They told me make sure that you have the VIN number, check for taxes — different things like that,” she said.

The seller, she says, was honest, giving Vanesch a list of nearly $4,000 in repairs that needed to be done.

“He was really great. He was forthcoming with everything. He told us what he knew and even what he didn't know,” she said.

But it seems the seller didn’t know about the lien.

The van had changed hands as many as three times since the original owner sold it two years ago.

"When I called Motor Vehicles I asked them what do I all need. Nobody ever mentioned anything about a lien,” Vanesch said.

Since 2004, the province has provided a lien check service through Access Nova Scotia centres and online.

Most used car dealers perform lien checks every time they buy a vehicle.

Mike McMillan, who works for a dealership, recommends individual buyers do the same.

"It's well worth the money you would spend on it, because it gives you peace of mind that you're getting something that's not going to come back to cause you any issues,” he said.

Because the lien check process provided through Access Nova Scotia is done by a third party, it is not regulated by the province.

Vanesch now is calling for that to change.

"There needs to be regulations in place and not just an honour system,” she said.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie