When you own a car, truck or other vehicle on credit, it is very important that you stay regular in your monthly payments with the loan company because the title is with the loan company and they reserve some important rights on the vehicle. They have these rights on your vehicle because you signed the agreement with them according to your state laws. If you fail to make timely payments, they can repossess your vehicle anytime without taking the matter to the court. In some states, the creditors don’t even need to send a warning letter to the customer before repossessing the vehicle.
While your creditors have some legal rights to repossess the vehicle, they do have some limitations also before taking it. In particular, the creditors have to follow certain laws on how to repossess the vehicle and how much it is to be resold in an auction. If the laws are violated, they will lose other rights against you, and pay for the damages. Some of the consumers’ rights are mentioned here. You may get more information from your state consumer protection agency or a private attorney.
- Seizing the vehicle:
The creditor has the right to seize your vehicle when you have defaulted in your monthly payments to them. Read the contract copy signed with the loan company to understand what constitutes a default as per their agreement. You must talk to the loan company if you are expecting a default and work out a prior arrangement. Make sure that you have all the arrangements done in writing for future records.
While seizing your vehicle, the creditor should not violate the breach of peace. Taking your car over your protest or using threats is illegal. They are not legally allowed to take your vehicle from a closed garage without your permission. They are not allowed to cause any damage to you or your property and if this is done, they have to compensate you for the damages done. It will result in breach of peace as per the laws of your state.
- Reselling the car:
Once the creditor has repossessed your vehicle, the creditor may keep the car for a certain period of time so that you can catch up the monthly payments and take it back. Or, he can sell the car in a public or a private auction. In any case, the creditor has to notify you in advance before the date of auction. You may want to exercise this right if the car is worth more than what you owe on it.
The auction of the repossessed vehicle must be done in a commercial reasonable manner. If the creditor tries to sell the car at a price below the fair market value, you are legally allowed to put a claim against the creditor for damages or a defense against a deficiency judgment.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 9:34 am and is filed under Repossession. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Palteco Credit Union, a successor of failed Cal State 9 Credit Union repossessed my vehicle without waring or notice, for three months I was contacting Cal state 9 Credit Union without knowing that the credit union failed. My account was set of authomatic debit on the 28 of each month. On 10/02/2008 by 1:36 Am A repo man came to tow the vehicle, he failed to give my documentation, I called Police. The repo man disturbed my place of abode ich is and dismantled the drive shaft in the H2. When I paid the demand of the new credit union, who accepted the funds and issued receipt, the CU refused to release the vehicle due to “incident with the Repo man”. I filed a law suit which pending. Contact me by email dataprintco @ yahoo.com
Need assistance I can afford an att.orney due to bad enconomic situation
What I want to know… With the way the economy is…. Why would a loan company reposses your vehicle when the behind balance is only $300.11 and less than 30days deliquent? My loan company agreed to let me catch up the 300.11 and basically tricked me to keep making payments to catch up and then repossessed my vehicle over $300.11 and only 30days deliquent. I have paid them almost 20,000.00 on the vehicle. There has to be some law that helps people when it is such a situation. I mean, I have 2 kids and I am working 3 jobs. What a heartless company..Chase Manhatten Auto Loan..Do not get a loan from them..if you do..dont ever be even 2 weeks late..they will take your vehicle.
Does the Repo man have the right to park outside my house and block my driveway for hours? He also thought he was sneeky by hiding in the culdasac near my home. How much do these guys get paid anyway? I understand they have a job to do, but come on repo guys, there are a million and one to choose from. move on!
Kristen,
I agree with you, I think it is the Chase Corporation. I had a vehicle purchased with them, and tried to make payment arrangements with them, and instead they repossed my vehicle. I am trying to attend school full time, and lost my job this year. I explained that I had gotten behind due to medical bills with my child and they scoffed me off. I hate their banking institution, and had nothing but bad experiences with them.
I had the same thing happen to me with Chase. I was in the hospital when they took the vehicle and they refuse my cash to catch up on it. I’m spreading the word to never use them.
We fell behind with Chase Auto last October..they never offered a hardship program. They repossessed the auto in March. We received no documents. A bill came in from Chase’s collection and demanded $6500 on a $7500 loan. Chase stated that they didnt repossess the auto till June 2009. This is a bold face LIE! They claim the auto had higher miles then at the time of the repo and that the body and frame was damaged. Another Bold Face Lie on Chase’s part! Now we are out of a auto and stuck with the balance of $1000 less then the load..someone stole the auto or then stripped it and damaged it..What happened to the bailout money Chase got? Isnt it to help people with loans? Crooks!
my car was stolen and cnac , the lowest form of life are giving me agony regarding a claim that they would have repoed the car anyway.does my insurance co. have not reimbuse me because of jd byryders claim. they state they are make sure the insurance co,. does not honor my claim. this co, cnac has made me so nervous throughout the course of dealing with them that i am experiencing severe emotional distress. if they say i am in default is my insurance claim void? helpp….. karen eastridge, \
I am writing about J&B Buy Right Inc. I financed a van with a book value of only 1.500 hundred dollars for almost 9.000 dollars.. This is a company the picks families or people who are disabled like myself who dont have good credit and are struggling to survive. J&B Buy Right will REPO your car even if your a day late on your payment I really dont know if this is against peoples rights in Florida but they do it. I wish someone would investigate this company called J&B Buy Right. They need to be stopped I hope moer people come forward and write about there bad experiences that picks on the poor with there super over priced cars…
Ok, my car was reposed, so my question is, if I want to by the car back, but it has been sold, the total amount has been posted on my credit files of the balance.
1. Shouldn’t the dealer let me know how much the car was auctioned off for or resold for?
2. Shouldn’t the amount be deducted from the total amount owed, then updated or posted to the credit bureau?
3. And should he not let me know how much has been written off for taxes, and shouldn’t that be applied also, sense he is getting credit for the loss?
If you are behind in your payments and have credit card debt, I would recommend to just file Chapter 13 bankruptcy. In Chapter 13, it puts a stop to all judgements, harrassing calls, and repossessions. The bank or credit company MUST stop efforts to repossess your car. Also, if your car was bought more than 910 days from the date you file, they lose lien on the car and you can do what is called a ‘cram down’. This means that if the car is blue book valued at less than what you owe, you only would be responsible to negotiate the current market price. I know people say don’t hide the car. But that’s EXACTLY what you should do. Keep it until the magic day arrives and then file. They have no recourse.
ok we bought a car and we put down 5000. on a 11000. car. when we bought the car we gave them 1000. cash then when our tax return came we would pay them another 4000. well i received my loan for school before our tax money (and the rest of the down payment was not even due yet) but anyway I went ahead and put 2000. down. 2 days before we were suppose to get out taxes back we got a letter in the mail saying that it would be an additional 10 days. so i called the dealership and asked him for the name of the finanace company so i could give them a copy of the letter. well there still was no finance company. so i told the dealership what was going on they gave me an additonal 10 days.. cool. but when the 10th day got there no money so i took 1300. to the dealership and that left my balance at 700. i paid another 200 the next day and owed 5oo. after calling 18 times and asking who the finance company was because i was going to need to make a payment they decided to repo my car.. should i take them to court? i am so mad… i dont think there was ever a finance company.. and this dealership is just a “hole in the wall” so i guess i am just as stupid for giving them my money. ps. i even paid 600. for brand new tires on this car.. the car that i drove for a month and a half. what would you do i really could use someones advice ANYONE??? Thanks for your time.. Kim
My husband is a escort driver so he is all over the country. he decided to take me and our 2 boys with him cause its summer. we got over 1300 miles away and were a day late on the car note . when the dealership decided to repo the car. they new what type of business my husband did . we called and called and finally got in touch with them to make arrangments and they gave us the run around finally my husband told them to send us all the paper work that was in the car . they sent us a few papers but intentionally kept all the car payment reciepts and the reciept from which we purchased the car. we had just put over 2000 dollars in to the car cause there was so much wrong with it and the dealership new about it cause they let us pay smaller notes because of it. it seems like they just wanted us to fix the car so they could take it. i mean we are without our cloths and everything. CAN THEY DO THIS ? DONT WE HAVE SOME OF RIGHTS ?