What happens if you can't pay for your car after it's been repo'd?

Question

My daughter is going through a divorce and her soon to be ex gave her the car that they still owed money on. He said that he would make the payments and pay the insurance and that when she got a job that she would then take over the payments. She just found out that he had not been making the payments at all and this morning they came and picked up her car........so what happens now, the car is in his name and after his name it reads "or" then my daughters name. Does anyone know if they will get sued, will it be just him or both. He has a job but she just finished school and is looking for work, he left her with nothing and made it worse by doing this.

Answer 1

I went through this, and they will sell your car at auction, and send you a bill for what you owed minus what they got back at auction. Usually the bill is alot higher than what you'd expect. Lost mine because of a divorce also. It will also hurt your credit rating.

Answer 2

They both will be held responsible for the loan. The car will be taken to an auction yard, highest bidder takes the car. If they sell it for less than what your daughter/son in law owe, they will be liable for the balance of the loan. Garnishments can happen when you refuse to pay. They are both liable because the title is held in both of their names, meaning the loan was also taken out by both. She's gonna have this follow her until the loan is paid, or the finance company gives up trying to collect, which isn't likely, they just sell their claims to another company, and they try to collect. If the creditor would be willing to write it off as a bad debt, and stop collection proceedings, that would be great, if they are a small company, they may be willing. If not, prepare to pay for a long time, interest and towing charges are added on to the loan.

Answer 3

If the money can be raised you can get the car back from where it's impounded which is the best option because under these circumstances because she/he both are going to have to pay for this vehicle. You can stall for awhile and then the car dealers will hire lawyers that file to have wages garnished until they are satisfied. They will negotiate first for a cheaper price but if you pay it they come after you with both barrels. It ruins your credit and you have to pay for a car that you do not have. I'm sorry about your daughters circumstances. This happened to us after we co-signed for a car and the payments were not made and our credit has been ruined.

Answer 4

i own a shop and what will happen here is they have the car now ,and she will have a certain amount of time to come up with the back payments as well as one future payment,and then she can get it back,other wise they will sell it at auction,and anything it don't bring that's owed against it they will bill her for it,and also this is going to go down hard against her credit,and make it kind of hard to get a loan of a while,they don't sue people over this they just put an out standing debt against there credit,so if there's anyway she can save this she needs to,i know its going to be hard to do,but he should be held liable also for it,and it will probably go against him as well,since it reads him or her they will hold both of them responsible for it,i hope it works out,good luck with this.

Answer 5

They will sell it for what ever they can get for it.. (bad part about this is that they could sell it to a relation dirt cheap) and the difference will be charged to your soon to be ex; however, being a co-signer on the contract they will also be coming after your daughter. The best thing to do is when dealing with your lawyer in the divorce proceeding, get him to have your ex ruled as sole owner and payee of the vehicle. That will keep your daughter from being hit with part and/or all the costs but save her from a nasty credit rating because she would not be libel for the bill. Good Luck! you can also negoiate with the credit for ownership of the vehicle and refinance it; or, file bankrupcy which will protect your daughter from bills accumulated during the marriage but stick it to her ex because he would not be named in the bankrupcy.

Answer 6

The car will be sold at auction, if there is still a balance due after the sale (you can be sure that there will be) the company that financed the car WILL come after your daughter for the money. Actually they will try to get the money out of both of them. When they had the car titled in both of their names with the "or" in between it means that either one can be held liable for the whole ammount.

Answer 7

She needs to alert her divorce lawyer about this situation at once. Most likely the bank will go after both of them but face it, she doesn't have any money and he has a job. He will be the primary target in a lawsuit. Her lawyer may be able to intervine on her behalf to the bank. At any rate, this needs to be resolved by a judge in the divorce -- NOT by word of mouth agreement between your daughter and her soon-to-be ex.

Answer 8

This is going to perhaps sound a bit cold.

First off, don't get into a relationship with someone if you can't trust them. Your daughter must have seen this coming.

Second, don't buy things that you can't afford. You can't live a champagne life on a beer budget. There are way too many perfectly good used cars that you can buy with cash. Loans will lead to ruin.

Answer 9

well the finance company if a bank will sell it in auction for next to nothin on what u owe the they will send a letter telling you how much is left to pay and its up to where you live as in state what can happen or it can go on your credit as well!

Answer 10

They will keep the car for a certain length of time and then auction it off..some places will give you the option to buy it back first but that's what happens.