Hello. My wife and I were laid off in the middle of last December. Up until now all of our bills have been paid on time. Our income is now much less than in December and we cannot continue to pay in a timely manner. We have a 2003 Van that is costing us around $680/mth ( loan, insurance, extra fuel ) . If we get rid of it we can pay all of our other bills. We have contacted Chrysler asking them to buy it back from us and we will pay the difference that will be owning for the remainder of the original loan term. They say they cannot grant us a loan without collateral ( right now that is what we have as more is owing that the van is now worth ). I have faxed/called tham telling them to come and pick up the van. They refuse to do that saying that they have ways of getting money from us. My ?s are: How can we give back the vehicle and release us from any liabilty should it get damaged? I have insurance on it at $180/mth but do not drive it. What is the likelyhood that they will sue to get the difference that we owe? I should point out that the vehicle is still in like new condition and I have not "bagged" on it just to be a knob. Thanks for any info. I live in Manitoba, Canada
have you tried selling it to a private individual? What is the negative equity amount and is there any way you can pay it if the van sells? U should try to avoid a repo if possible; sad thing is even if you do want them to take it back they will not come get it until they deem it's in default, according to your loan agreement. The laws in Canada may be quite different than US laws, but when they auction the car off after repo, they will more than likely slap you with the deficiency balance if it's high enough. More often than none, most banks and finance centers won't waste their time and money in legal fees trying to collect a small deficeincy balance. They will sell it to a debt collector for about 10 cents on the dollar and he'll come after you, maybe even seeking a judgement. My advice is to try all you can to avoid a repo. Sorry for the harshness but I've been there and it is not pretty!
Thanks for the reply. I have tried to sell it but it is cheaper to buy a new one. We owe about $20,400 but you can get a new one for $17,000 if you dicker on the price. The difference we will owe is about $8k and we do not have it right now. I just sent them a fax telling them it is their last chance to make a deal. If they are only going to get 10% from a CA they are plain dumb not to let me pay the whole difference.
Re: Re: Vehicle repo question If you are not driving it, why not just put it in a garage or storage shed (a U-store locker) where tehy can't find it to repo it (make sure it's behind a good, strong lock) and cancel the insurance? Taht will save some money each month. Then, you can pay it at a slower rate and not worry about repossession - they can't repo what they can't find.
Re: Re: Re: Vehicle repo question If he cancels the insurance, the finance company will buy it for him, and charge him for it...the premium is usually a gazillion times more than what an individual can buy it for.
Chrysler - been there, done that. Chrysler finance will allow you to extend the term of the loan by two months (basically, you get to skip two months of payments and have them reported as pd on time) for a token fee (you can negotiate $25 by, as sincerely and convincing as you can be, pleading poor. Tell them your situation. The first time you deal with the credit and collections department there, they will usually be sympathetic and somewhat helpful if you have had a good payment history up until this point. BTW, it goes without saying that you will of course be responsible for the added intterest of the extended loan. Once you default on the payment (sounds like you haven't) then they will repo the vehicle. I haven't had the occasion to study their repo procedures, but on the surface, it appears they run the game by the book. As soon as you default, they send out the notice of default, intent to repose, and spell out your opportunity to cure the default. Unlike some scammers out there, Chrysler does not want the vehicle back, nor do they want to run up a ton of fees and interest on you. They just want you driving a Chrysler for the rest of your life. If you truly can't recover your financial situation, you need to look at a counter-offensive. You MUST research the repossession laws in your state. I've found that that is way beyond the scope of what is covered on creditnet. Armed with knowledge of the repo laws (often referred to as closed end consumer financing or retail installment loans), you will hopefully be able to catch the creditor screwing up or perhaps even be able to orchestrate an opportunity for them to screw up (much the way most people suggest you do here on CN). Because these laws are generally written to protect the consumer, there are often punitive damages associated with any award you may get, and this might be enough to offset the amount by which you are short. FYI, if you are able to put things back in order, but you do have late pays, Chrysler will NOT care about your goodwill letter or phone call asking them to not report any lates. However, my experience has been, that although they told me they couldn't alter what they report, one late was removed, and another was adjust back one month on the report to reflect the actual payment month that was late rather than the month it went late - this made the negative report older and less damaging. Also, they did not report a 32 day late pmt as late. So, while Chrysler doesn't give the show away, they can be somewhat flexible. Good luck.
I just re-read your orginal post. Missed the part about you being in Canada, eh. I have absolutely no clue about Candian law, just beer and hockey. Furthermore, I imagine Chrysler has a different finance company set up in Canada, so much of what I have said may not apply to you. Absolutely research the laws that apply to repossession in your country. Also, I assume that at some point in the near future you will be working and you will need the use of another vehicle (you mentioned you hadn't driven this one in a while). One of the C&C reps suggested that I could go to the dealer, trade the vehicle in for an older used model, and reduce my monthly payments somehow. Of course, like your situation, without any money coming in, it didn't make sense to try to make any commitments to money going out, and we also know that the job loss was a temporary thing, so we just rode it out and made the payments as best we could. One thing worth mentioning, the C&C reps seemed to be complete jerks about accepting partial payments. This was not an option. They wanted all or nothing. I thought that was very strange.
I had a friend with a similiar problem - his solution was to torch the vehicle and make an insurance claim - it worked out pretty well for him, although if you are upside down on the finance you would still be left with a shortfall - and run the risk of getting pinched....
Hi. I am working now ( as is my wife ) but we don't make anywhere near what we used to. We went from 115K+ per year to less than 45K. Luckily we lived below our means or we would have really sc$^&&. I have not been driving it b/c it is a pig on fuel and it is worth more with almost no KM on it. We tried the trade in scenario but we will end up paying $500/mth for a 5 year old car. They did leave a message on my machine teling me they are now open to "resolving the situation".
Having a big cut in income is tough, but I'm glad to hear you're at least back to work. IMHO, although the litigious ones here may disagree, call them back and see what they are willing to do. You might be able to arrange for a temporary reduction in the payment amount or perhaps even further extend the terms of the loan so your monthly payment is lower. At least get you some breathing room to start catching up on the other bills. Good luck.
Oh yeah. great idea. Insurance fraud on an upside down loan. No one will ever investigate that. Hope the criminal SOL ran out on that before he decided to share his scam with a big mouthed twit who posted it in an open forum.
Re: Re: Vehicle repo question I'd sooner be a deadbeat than a criminal. Just think about the ramifications of what you post, preferably, before you post.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Vehicle repo question He can probably buy a limited policy taht covers comprehensive and collision but not Liability if he certifies to teh Ins Co taht the vehicle is "off teh road". that type of policy is available from Allstate here in AZ
