Served papers for repo

On Wednesday I was served papers for a repo. They gave me 15 days. I recently lost my job and I'm now making about half of what I was 6 months ago. I'm3 months behind on my payments and even if I could pay the past due balance, I would be in the same position in another 3 months. I can't afford the car. If I voluntarily give the car back it will save me the cost of the repo man. They say they will auction the car off and I will have to pay the remainingbalance on the loan. However, I've been hearing that they sell at auctions for really low prices. I'd like to be able to sell the car myself and pay the difference in smaller payments. Any ideas? Do they ever let people do this?

I just did a voluntary repo back in July of this year. I still owed 6,000 on the car and they sold it at auction for 1000. They are after me for the balance but I do not have the money. Thats why I let the car go back in the first place. My car was financed through Americredit. I have no idea if your loan company will let you work out a plan or not. Some one will come along and have better answers for you than I did. Good luck!

LK - what you want to do is possible, and I've done it before with my own customers. But it also depends on the lenders policies and whether they want to entertain that idea.

1) You will have to initiate the surrender before they actually send out a repo guy. You might call them and propose your plan to see what they say. But they probably will not let you keep the car while you're trying to sell it -- they will want it in their possession.

2) Time is of the essence. They are not going to wait very long to sell the car, and so you will have to produce a buyer with a reasonable offer relatively quickly. You usually have a 21-day redemption period (varies by state) before they can legally sell the car, and my guess is that they'll tell you to have a buyer before then or else they'll proceed with auction.

is it a cure letter? what state are you in. if you are in a state with a 15 day cure then basically they can exercise their right to repo after the cure expires. but they dont necissarily do it right away depending on how far past due you are. if you voluntaily give it back they still stick the repo fees on there, although a voluntary surrender is a hundred or so cheaper than an involuntary repo depending on how much the repo company charges. they do sell vehicles at an auction for pennies on the dollar. mostly because alot of finance companys are just finance companies and not dealerships and dont have the means to put it on a car lot and try to sell it straight up. it all really depends on what you want to do. but it never hurts to call and talk to them. worst case scnario they say they want the car back. best case they work out a plan to try and keep you in the car. good luck.

Thanks everyone for your replies. If your intersted, the loan is through Nuvell, and they suck. I understand that I am behind, but being rude, annoying, and disrspectful isn't helping. They won't allow me to sell the car myself unless I can pay the balance in full. My remaining balance is $9480.62, but at best my care is worth $6500.00. So, I guess that option is out. Also, they told me that if I want to keep the car, I have to pay the three months I'm behind, plus the next four months of payments, plus all of the court costs (it comes to $3128.84), which I simply can't do. I'm going to voluntarily turn the car in and hope for the best. The lawyer I spoke with said it is typical for them to work out a payment plan on the deficency. I guess we'll see what happens.

On another note, the worst thing about this is the embaressment factor. I am still stunned that I'm in this situation. I have always been the responsible one. I've always been a saver, pretty conservative with my spending, and have had a pretty decent income in my adult life. I'm ashamed that this is happening to me. I'm trying to avoid telling my friends and family (except my mom) about this. I completely sympathize with anyone else in this situation, or one similar to it. Thanks again to everyone who is offering support and advice to people who are in the toughest times of their lives. If it wasn't for you anonymous strangers a lot of people would be a lot worse off.

do not be ashamed, my car was almost repoed once and i swallowed my pride and told my family, who helped me out. i have not missed a payment since but my situation is different than yours. i do not have advice but wanted to say that this is nothing to be embarrsed about, these days bad things are happening to a lot of good people.

Do not be ashamed at all!!!! In fact when our car was taken my nosey neighbors were sitting on their porch watching. The next day I got an email from them. They said they werent trying to be nosey but..........they wanted to know what happened! SO.............I told them the truth! They said how sorry they were and that if we needed anything just to let them know. Honesty is the best policy! Its no ones business but your own. If others dont like it they can lump it! We had to do what was best for us at the time.

i agree, all anyone can do is what is best at the time.. look into all options than pick what is best for you.

trust me, i work in the auto finance biz, you are not the only one. you would be shocked if you acually knew how many other people were in the same situation. the thing that gets me is how can they demand 4 payments that arent even due yet. i understand them demanding the 3 months that are past due, but they cannot demand you pay 4 months ahead to keep the vehicle. i would call them out on that one. you signed a contract saying you would pay "such" amount on "such" date. when you are behind they can demand you pay the past due amount, but they cannot say "pay your account current and then pay another 4 months ahead or we are taking the vehicle. to me that is a bunch of crap. dont get yourself down. it happens to the best of us.