that he has paying back when he was employed more than two years ago.
He continue paying for that car with unemployment and odd jobs.
But then he got behind about 2/3 of the way. The thing is that he moved a few times
and the dealership doesn't even know where he lives. So he hasn't even driven the car for a couple
of months because the brakes went bad. He didn't know what to do return the piece of junk or fix it and keep driving it and/or try to catch up with the stupid payments.
So another friend told us that he should on keep on driving it since the dealer already lost the car and a repo man is looking for it to be sold in auction. That the worse that can happen is that they will find it and take it or if stopped by police, he will end up walking home? Is that true? Can my friend go to jail if stopped by a cop? He wants to keep driving it until next registration (May) and they he will go park it by the dealership and leave it there? What's the legal stuff involved here?
and that is probably very expensive. So the dealer will depend on a repo man, and he will most likely wake up some morning and find the car gone.
(still not a lawyer)
But it could go missing anytime the repo man finds it leaving him stranded. Repo men are real good at finding cars. The cops could get involved if the dealership get the court system involved and he could get arrested for auto theft. Depending on the amount owed some dealerships will press the matter. I am not a lawyer but I have some experience in this matter. His best course of contact the dealership and see what he can work out or return the car. Please note even if he returns the car he will still owe the difference between his debt and what the car sells for after expenses at auction. Never buy a car on credit. It is always a bad deal.
The part about him still owing the difference reminds me of a case I knew of where the fella told the finance company "I din't pay you when I had the vehicle, what makes you think I will pay you now?". Of course they will trash your credit though anyway.
They can sue, and/or garnish wages on top of trashing your credit. Most of the time it is not worth it to them but if you rattle their cage enough or owe enough they still have options on how to make your life hell even after the repo. I know a thing or two about what can be done in collecting a car loan.
It's not an LE issue - if pulled over they will not arrest him for being late on car payments.
Your friend should try to work something out with the dealer. Most likely this will be a pointless exercise, as the dealer will not care about your friends situation.
If your friend has no intention of paying, why bother returning the car? Continue to use it until either it gets repossessed, or so much time passes that they forget about you completely.
I hope your friend has a garage - I don't think a repo man would break into your home to take back the car, but I could be mistaken.
They can call LE to have them order you to hand over the car. If they see the car out and about they can boot it and tow it even with your stuff in it. They can and will wait for you to drive to work and repo it there. They can after you refuse to turn over the car report it as stolen and have you arrested. I know someone that it has happened to. I know something about this. Trust me if they want there car they will get it. Best bet is to deal with whoever the loan is through and try to work things out. They want money more than the car, often but not always they will try to work something out, if possible.
Breaking into a garage is considered trespassing, and is still illegal even for a repo man. Repo aren't allowed to break any laws in their work. They can only effectively steal cars because the cars are now considered possession of the bank, so there is technically no theft.
On the other hand stashing the car in a garage or some far out of the way place to hide it from a repo man could result in him getting sued for it or end up with his wages garnished and credit thrashed as mentioned before. Really if he doesn't even want the car anymore as it sounds he'd be best off just handing it over.
If the banks cannot collect the car because of the actions of the former car owners they can as the currant car owners report it stolen. They can get LE involved and force them to turn over the car or face arrest. A local auto dealer a few years ago locked all of the cars behind a fence so a local repo company could not collect the cars that were floored by a local auction. The auction pressed charges and got a court order to let the auction collect their cars, the police came and opened the gate and arrested the owner of the dealership. So you are correct they can't bust into a garage but they can do other less fun thing to get their car back.
an auto deficiency debt is created when a car is repo'd and sold at auction and there is still a remaining balance proceeds from that auction have been applied to your loan.. defeciency balances are common in repo cases because of the additional costs incurred during the repo/auction process that are also your responsibility to pay.
your friend will not go to jail for driving the car.
the dealership and/or their representatives will FLAT OUT LIE to you on the phone.... they will say ANYTHING to get that car back in their hands because this is where possession is 9/10ths of the law.
once they get the car, they will get paid and stick your friend with an even higher bill.
one of my longest and best friends is a girl who was trafficked into the country and forced to work as a child prostitute (looong before craigslist even existed), until i introduced her to the lovely world of collections and she is now one of the best repo agents in the country.... she goes by the name captain something which is hilarious (to me cuz she's so "valley girl") but she says its effective.
you remember the application you filled out when you apply for a auto loan.... you listed a bunch a personal references that the loan company doesn't even bother to check because the purpose of that list is to give them a starting point in the event you default on the loan and disappear.
so when the "captain" calls the people on that list with an "emergency" reason for them to give up your dude's new digits, these people will sing like canaries thinking they are helping out their friend in his moment of dire need.
the "captain" will pull his current credit report and contact all of his other creditors, they can contact the utility companies, they will access voter registration databases..... any address connected to your friends name at any time in any computer database will be watched and nearby residents of those addresses can be contacted and pumped for information.
repo agents are very similar to bounty hunters in their tactics.
the more money owed, the more aggressive they will hunt the car.
some states have very short statute of limitations on automobile loans so once the statute of limitations is up, they can no longer repo the car and they can no longer take any court actions against you but they will continue to call you and lie and say they can.
when the statue of limitations gets close, they will call and lie to you and try to convince you to make just a ridiculous low payment like a $1.... because the statute of limitations on a loan starts on the date of your last payment so when you give them $1, you also reset that clock for them. ... this is a tactic used by almost all creditors to extend the life of your loan, and the student loan companies are especially fond of using it... they can also reset the clock when you submit to them anything whatsoever acknowledging the debt, helllooooo deferment forms (they aren't really helping you).
there are alot of things that they "can't" legally do but they rely upon debtor ignorance to get away with doing them anyway.... i actually had a car repo'd once, .... i can't post the results of that event because i had to sign a gag order but i can tell you that in this arena, a little knowledge can go a loooooong way.
the federal consumer information center (FCIC) is a great resource.... i get their book every year and used to take it with me to the automobile dealerships..... omfg ... i'd point to my book and read aloud "the extended warranty is a common scam tactic used by many dishonest used car dealerships to drive up the cost of the loan but does not actually offer you any real protection" and the salesmen would just get apoplectic... one of them actually demanded i give him my book.... huh uh foolio.
also you will find your state attorney general's office website helpful. they have a consumer complaint form you can fill out if you feel a business is conducting unfair practices.... http://www.naag.org/
submitting that form is a strong kick to the nuts of any business so please utilize its power responsibly.
... if something happened to the car. If it was totaled in a accident for instance, your friend could call the dealership and tell them where the car was. And walk away.
You didn't mention the status of his insurance coverage though. Careful that nothing happens that could be insurance fraud which WOULD put your friend in jail.
MVR