Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri
Resossess Automobile
My son has missed 3 payments on his car and GMAC wants to repossess it. A man came to my door tonight and said if the car isn't turned in by 5:00 p.m. on 9/18/02 he will report the car as stolen. The car was never registered because he did note have the $1200. for license and taxes. He has made about 12 payments on the car and is now unemployed. Instead of calling GMAC and explaining the problem, he ignored their letters and telephone calls.
Does he have any choice other than to turn the car over to GMAC?
Thank you for your time.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Resossess Automobile
He should turn over the vehicle immediately to spare himself the time and trouble of a court action to replevin the vehicle.
Re: Resossess Automobile
I decided my initial reply was too brief. While your son can insist that the creditor take him to court and get the court to order the vehicle turned over, it will merely cost him more money in the long run to do it this way, and will hurt his credit much more too.
Additionally, since he did not register the vehicle, the creditor might well claim that it has been harmed because it has no legal way to get title to the vehicle. Normally, when you license the vehicle, you give the creditor a "lien" on the car, and if they want it, they can act on their lien through "self help" (aka REPOSSESSION). But here, without the vehicle having been legally titled, I am not sure what they can do.
I doubt they could actually charge him with theft, but that depends on how zealous the prosecutor is in your county.
All this leads back to my original suggestion which is to surrender the vehicle and try to rebuild his credit in the next few years.
Best wishes.
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