Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California
reposession
My wife and I were in a car crash where our car was totalled. After insurance we stilled owed 15,000 on the car. We need another family car because we have two children. The finance company said they would not extend our contract to lower our payment. I would hate a repo on my record but we need that other car for our kids. If the car was repossesed would we be able to have our payments lowered to what we can afford or would the payments stay the same as is now? What types of fees or penalties do you have to pay for a repo? Any other info you could give me would be awesome!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: reposession
If a car is repo'ed it is sold at an auction. A totalled car usually fetches $500. You would owe the balance on the finance agreement, plus repo costs, plus auction and storage costs, plus attorney fees for filing a civil action. So, you could easily end up owing $25,000 or more plus having a repo on your credit report. You might want to consider the option of bankruptcy. If you file a chapter 13, it is possible, even likely, you will pay nothing because of a glitch in the law. But you would need to file the bankruptcy before the car is repo'ed in order to take advantage of this glitch.
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