Question About Vehicle Repossession

[Annika]

Hi,

I haven't posted in quite awhile, but I have a question. A member of my family is >>thisclose<< to having her vehicle repossessed, and I'd like to ask about other people's experiences.

She's 3 payments behind ($1,200). The creditor has been calling and sending past due notices, which she's ignored. But then the creditor suddenly got quiet, and she started getting nervous.

She finally talked to the creditor yesterday to try to work something out (she called them). They told her she has to have a $400 payment in their hands by 5pm today, or else her account will be transferred to the Repossession Department.

Unless a miracle happens, she can't come up with $400 that fast.

Does anyone know approximately how long she'll have until they actually come get the car? Any other advice on what to expect?

I've already told her to get her personal belongings out of the car, just in case.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as far as the mess she's in, but that's a whole 'nother story.

Thanks!

[Annika]

Anyone?

She didn't e-mail me an update this afternoon, so I don't know if she was able to come up with the $400 or not. As of noon, she hadn't. (We e-mail each other rather than call, due to work shift differences.)

[HHM]

Its really hard to say how it will go down. But it usually takes a day or two, or even a week or two, once the account hits the repo dept. for the car to be actually repo'd.

Honestly, unless this person has the means to get caught-up (which it sounds like they do not), I would advise this person to keep the $400...that is money down the drain and will only delay the inevitable.

[Flamingo]

They can come at any time if that payment is not made. They work 24 hours and can come at any time. At this point, ensure all valuables are kept out of the car. We never went through a repossession but had a very close friend who woke up one morning and the car was gone. She was two payments late and had all sorts of notifications which she didn't pay any attention to and the next thing she knew the vehicle was not there when she got up to go to work.

[tay666]

I can tell you from my experience that not all repos are horrible.
I mean it sucked that they came and took the car.
But we hadn't paid on it for 3 months so it was inevitable.
Only thing was, they never sent us notice or anything. Called a couple times to say we were late and that was it.
(5th 3rd Bank if anyone is interested)
So, it was really out of the blue when the guy showed up.
He beat on our door at like 4 AM. Already had the car on the tow truck.
Wanted to know if he could have the keys. Was actually really insistent on it. Guess he could call it a voluntary surrender if he had the keys and it was a lot less paper work for him.
He let me go through the car and get everything out of it.
He even took our plates off for my while I was getting the few items that were left in the car (we had already taken most out, but there are the everyday things like registration, couple CDs, my wife's work bag, etc)
I thanked him, shook his hand, and he was on his way.

[Annika]

Wow, thanks! I appreciate all the responses, and will pass the information along to her first thing this morning.

As I expected, she wasn't able to come up with the money.

One it depends on where you are. In some areas of the country a repo still requires a judicial process.

She's in Georgia. I think she said (but I'm not 100% sure) that the lender is Capital One.

They tried to call her one more time, just before the deadline. She ignored the call.

I doubt she'd voluntarily take them the car, but I also doubt she'd give the repo guy a hard time, either. She usually tends to avoid conflict, especially when she's the one who made the mistake.

Thanks again!

[Annika]

FWIW, they repo'd her car today. She's not a happy camper.