Keeping my car lease?

[kmb]

I know this is a hard question, but my lawyer is on vacation until after the holidays.

I have a car lease that is due to expire in 2/08. When we filed 13 in May, the creditor (VW) filed a claim for the entire amount--so what the full value of the car is, not just the remaining lease payments. Does anyone know if this means that I can keep the car after the lease expires and just continue to make payments until it is paid off? I am making the payments directly, they are not being paid through the BK. I want to keep the car, since I know it's in good shape, has low miles, and ultimately I'm not sure how to get financing for a new one, so I'm hoping that this is some technicality and I'll get to keep it.

TIA for your help.

[TexasLadybug]

My car lease was due to expire Dec. 23, 2007. I was also making direct payments on it rather than through the BK. I asked the bank for a 30-day extension on the lease which they granted. I obtained financing from a dealer who agreed to purchase the car at the lease buy-out price and re-sell it to me (high interest rate of course). I completed the necessary paperwork to request approval to incur new debt and it was sent to the trustee via my attorney. It took 2 weeks to the day to receive the trustee approval. Fortunately, the payments are slightly less than what the lease payments were, and I will continue to make the payments directly to the car dealer. Hope this helps!

[kmb]

Texas Ladybug,

How did you find a dealer? Was it the dealer that you originally bought the car through or was it another dealer, and did you have to "shop" around, or did you luck out with the first place you tried?

Just trying to get all the facts before racking up inquiries on my credit report.

Thanks again!