Following Repo Cars

If  your car has been in danger of being repossessed you may have already had a visit from a recovery agent.  Maybe

English: Picture of non-black 1927 Model T at ...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

you got lucky and he left without your vehicle.  You’ve been lucky so far but don’t expect him to go away and leave you alone because you got him to leave without a scene.  Remember that he needs your car, he is being paid to get your car and he intends to get your car.  Now he is more determined than ever to finish the job.  You stopped him once, but don’t think that’s discouraged him.

He has many options to legally get your car.  After all, this is how he gets money, by outsmarting people who try to keep their cars.  And he knows the laws and the repossessed car business.

For a police officer to take your car he needs a court order.   First, the bank who holds the lien on the automobile gets the court order from a judge.  Before the bank will spend this amount of money and take this time, the bank would need to know absolutely where to find the vehicle (or where you are if you know where the vehicle is) before they would go to court.

If you can hide the vehicle from the bank for a while, maybe a long while, the bank may write off the debt. The bank can take a tax deduction for it.

Once the bank has charged off the repossessed cars and used their tax deduction for the bad debt, the bank sells the loan to a debt collector for much less than is owed, just a fraction of the original lien amount.  The new company, the debt collector, will try to find you, and collect the money or car from you.

The charged-off debt usually is reported to a credit  reporting agency.  This affects your credit. During this process, you should still keep the car licensed and insured.  If you fail to keep the registration tags current, your driver’s license current and the automobile insurance up-to-date, you create a whole new set of potential problems.

However, upon renewal of the tags, the law requires that you provide and prove the address where you are living.  Although the DMV does not assist collection agents or repo people, your address and car information goes into a database.  Usually in most states for a small fee the public can get this information.  As stated on the repo cars guide , the repo man is aware of this and has obtained the time your automobile tags must be renewed, he is ready and waiting to obtain this information.   So, if you have moved, don’t be surprised to discover an empty parking spot one morning.