Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: Reposesion

Unfortunately, what you heard is incorrect. After a vehicle (boat, car, commercial vehicle) is repo'd, depending upon the terms of the contract you signed when you bought the vehcile, the lender has the right to auction the vehicle, and come after you for the difference between what you owed at the time of repo plus all costs of collection repo and sale, and what they recovered at auction. Depending upon the size of the loan, $15,000 is not an unreasonble number. Additionally, it does not matter if the vehicle was repo'd, or if you voluntarily surrendered it. Voluntary surrender might have saved them some money in recovering the vehicle, which in turn would reduce what you owe, but its too late for that. You need to negotiate some sort of settlement with them, or consider bankruptcy if you are unable to repay the debt. Once the vehicle has been repo'd, they should be willing, with some negotiating, to settle for less than the full amount owed. As for your credit, its already quite badly affected by the repossession itself, and the longer the remaining balance goes unpaid, the worse it will get.

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