Repossession Stories and Questions
Repossession Gone Wrong-
Repo agent entered private property and secured the vehicle being repossessed to wrecker.
Owner of vehicle confronted the repo agent by chasing and yelling at the agent while they were in the wrecker with the vehicle in motion.
Wrecker hits another vehicle not involved in the repossession and does not stop at time of collision and does not go directly to police station to report the accident.
The bystander who's vehicle was hit calls the police and waits for them to arrive and files report.
Interestingly enough, the vehicle the wrecker hit is a brand new 2007 SUV with less than 100 miles on it, and is nearly $40,000 MSRP. The damage is several thousand dollars at a minimum.
The repo agent notified to local police of the repossession before it happened.
The repossession took place at a manufacturing plant where the owner of the vehicle being repossesed was an employee. Repo agent did not notify the company of the repossession or have permission to be on the property and the property is posted no trespassing.
My questions-
1. Is this a lawful repossession with respect to Breach of Peace?
2. Is it lawful to repossess on private property of a third party?
3. Besides leaving the scene of an accident, what other trouble is the repo agent in?
This occurred in Illinois.
Repo agent entered private property and secured the vehicle being repossessed to wrecker.
Owner of vehicle confronted the repo agent by chasing and yelling at the agent while they were in the wrecker with the vehicle in motion.
Wrecker hits another vehicle not involved in the repossession and does not stop at time of collision and does not go directly to police station to report the accident.
The bystander who's vehicle was hit calls the police and waits for them to arrive and files report.
Interestingly enough, the vehicle the wrecker hit is a brand new 2007 SUV with less than 100 miles on it, and is nearly $40,000 MSRP. The damage is several thousand dollars at a minimum.
The repo agent notified to local police of the repossession before it happened.
The repossession took place at a manufacturing plant where the owner of the vehicle being repossesed was an employee. Repo agent did not notify the company of the repossession or have permission to be on the property and the property is posted no trespassing.
My questions-
1. Is this a lawful repossession with respect to Breach of Peace?
2. Is it lawful to repossess on private property of a third party?
3. Besides leaving the scene of an accident, what other trouble is the repo agent in?
This occurred in Illinois.
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I wouldn't wish the stress it caused I and my family on my worst enemy.
Rocky
Rocky
Logic would dictate that people who don't make their car payments, should expect to have their cars repossessed, right?
And one would expect them to hand over the keys without hesitation, right?
Well, as my friend quickly found out, most of these folks took a dim view on having their cars popped at 2:00 in the morning. He was yelled at, swore at, chased and twice, fired at.
He made just fantastic money but one night he decided to end his career abruptly. Seems he popped a guys Cadillac in south Central L.A. and the guy took GREAT offense to this and chased him down the Harbor Freeway with a neighbors car after shooting at him.
That was the end of that!
1) Yes. I would think the actual repossession of the car is separate from the other acts. In other words, the car was going to be repo'ed. They chose to do it at work rather than at home probably because they knew they could find the car there.
2) Agree with gasman1, this is up to the company to press charges if they choose to. My guess is if the repo company takes care of the damaged car, the company will let it go. What is the penalty for trespassing??? Also since he did notify the police before the repo, they may have given him the "OK"
3) Since they notified the police before the repo (you don't mention if they contacted the police afterwards), not much else. Of course they will have to take care of the damaged car. I'm sure the repo man will claim he felt threatened since there were "multiple people" there screaming obscenities and chasing him. (May not be true but I'm sure this is what he will tell the police). Plus his job is to get the car back to the shop first. YOu don't mention if he did call the police, only that he did not go directly to the police station.
Police department stated they were going to charge the repo agent with leaving the scene of the accident among other charges if they did not take responsibility. Not sure if this actually happened during the holiday break.
Vehicle is at bodyshop being repaired and insurance company is on the hook at this point.
Company attorney has been consulted, though it is not public what action will be taken.
A lawyer that I personnally know said the repossession had a decent chance of being found as illegal/improper in a court due to breach of peace during the repossession. I suspected as much.
Will be interesting to see how this all turns out. I will update as more is known.
Personally, I don't think the tresspassing laws would apply here. A parking lot, unless you are behind a fence is generally considered a public place. The repo man was there for a legitimate reason - to take possession of a vehicle that he had a legal right to take.
Otherwise, the windshield repairman that was working on my secretary's car was tresspassing on my lot yesterday ... as is the Illinois Highway Patrolman that uses our parking lot to write up his reports.
At least, that is what is charged when someone parks in someone else's rental parking space.
1. Is this a lawful repossession with respect to Breach of Peace?
2. Is it lawful to repossess on private property of a third party?
3. Besides leaving the scene of an accident, what other trouble is the repo agent in?
I don't know the law in Illinois but I would guess this is absolutely a legal repossession. While the parking lot had no trespassing signs that does not stop the legal owner (the bank) or his agent from reclaiming "his" property. The "owner" no longer owned the vehicle and was not legally in possession of the car, especially if he knew they were trying to repo it.
As far as the tow truck driver not stopping at the accident. He would not be required to if he felt in danger. i.e. the owner running after him yelling. He would be required to notify the police in a timely manner. If they owner was threatening the driver in any serious way he could be partially liable for the SUV if he did anything to help cause the accident.
Here is my best guess of what will happen. The owner will still lose his car. (which he did not pay for in the first place) The police will do nothing about the trespass or the hit and run. The Repo agent or his insurance will pay for the SUV.
As the previous poster stated, they called your cell phone because that is probably the only phone number they had for your friend. My guess is they were probably looking for him and assumed that since he called from this line, it was his. Also they have a contract that requires payment for the car. Since the payment was 4 months late, they have the legal means to use whatever methods at their disposal to retrieve the car. Looking up the contact information on a number your friend called them is probably one of them.
Not sure how you were harassed. You should be blaming your friend for sticking you with a car that was 4 months late and using your cell phone to contact the loan company. If he was having trouble with the government "screwing with their pay", he could have called the loan company, explained it to them and arranged alternate payment. They want the money, not the car.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone who put their life on the line so I can enjoy my freedoms. but don't use that excuse here. Please put the blame in the right place...your friend. there are protections in place to help those in the military, your friend did not do what he needed to do.
1. I'm not buying the story that this debt is the military's fault for "screwing with" your friend's pay. I think that's probably an excuse for poor money management, to be honest with you.
2. There are plenty of protections.... The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940 prevents creditors from taking adverse action (e.g., car repossession and eviction) against a military member during deployment. This does not mean, however, that military families can ignore their obligations while a service member is deployed. Being in the military isn't a 'get out of jail free' card on not paying just debts.
3. The services offer plenty of help in trainingg young soldiers,sailors, and airmen to handle their finances
DoD Trains Military Members to handle finances
4. There are consequences for your friend for not straightening things out. At a minimum, his cost for credit is skyrocketing. More seriously, he could have a security clearance denied or revoked. Most seriously, under circumstances when the member deceives, evades, makes false promises, or demonstrates a grossly indifferent attitude toward the debt, the failure to pay can be punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
You might considering calling your friend and tell him to quit making excuses and start making payments.
He can get in way too much trouble for a 20 year old to handle, over something as stupid as a car.
October 1966 to October 1968.
I had an 02 Honda Ody that I bought new. Maybe 6 months into a 5 year loan I had a seizure and as I'm the one who does the bill paying things got backed up here and there. I called American Honda Finance and proposed a solution to the fact that I was now paying each month late. I asked that they push the whole loan back a month. I'd still make monthly payments but we'd skip the current month and add it on at the end. They took that offer.
Honda doesn't want to repossess the car if they can avoid it. It's a pain for them and they likely lose you as a customer when thing improve on your end. Call them up and spell out your problem. I'm betting they work it out. If the first person you talk to doesn't, ask for a supervisor.
With so many people falling into serious credit trouble, most finance companies are glad to work with those who actually WANT to pay.
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His Mortgage co (Countrywide... ) is being a jerk but everyone else is fine with it. He has excellent credit too.
It doesn't surprise me that countrywide is being a jerk about it. They are on the verge of bankruptcy and probably need his mortgage check to make payroll for the month.
I wish I had the cash to invest in a apartment complex right now. With the path secondary lending is going in the mortgage biz there are allot of people who normally could qualify for a home that won't now, plus the folks who are going to lose there homes.
We bought our house a little over a year ago and it was our first house. I bet we would have a much harder time buying a house if we had waited a year or two.
Punctuation, man, punctuation. It is hard to read. Good luck.
Is there life after repossession?
If you are able to re-establish some credit(credit card etc) and have a good downpayment,good job and are financing a car well below book value you have a pretty good chance.
If you are looking to get a car right after a repo, good luck.
Your only shot is a buy here pay here lot.
How do you find buy here pay here lots?
Crazy isn't it?
True, if the repo hasn't hit your bureau yet.
However, If you had the $2 grand,chances are your car wouldn't be getting repoed in the first place.
How do I get a job as a repo person? What would make me qualified? Surely they are not all big muscle bouncer types. Could a female do this job?
Look for the guy with plaid pants. :P
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I think Discovery Channel had a show about Repo people, and one of them was a female. You've got to be tough though. People were ready to kill repoman/woman when they were towing their car.
If you buy a car for $500 or $1000, chances are its gonna need a lot of work at some point.
I agree that a BH-PH lot is a last resort, but for some people,it is their only real option.
How hard they come after you or try to collect, I don't know, but I would assume they would report that along with the repo if you don't pay up. Anyone know if they would show up as a double whammy on the credit report or just one big FUBAR? So, to clear that up, your down payment cash would be gone. Now what you going to do?
No, that repo and chargeoff won't go away.
but, if you do re-establish than you can have the privilige of paying 20-25% interest on your next car,instead of just being kicked out of the dealership.
Or, you can go to a buy here-pay here, where they hook the car if you miss or are late on 1 payment.
So does Bozo the Clown but I wouldn't buy a car from him either.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
No different then renting vs buying a house.
Is it ever possible to "rent" a car for a reasonable fee?
I guess it would depend on how long you were renting it for
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Why people pay MORE for a 4 cyl. camcord is beyond me !
A current year used Fusion/Impalas are a heck of a bargain!