What To Do If The Bank Has Come To Repossess Your Car
- 15 Comment
A while back I wrote an article giving a few tips on how to avoid having your car repossessed. Turns out that the information has helped quite a few people and answered a few “grey area” questions about car repossession. Lately with the interest rates going up, petrol prices as well, electricity and food price increases, many people are starting to struggle with their finances. A lot of people have been living on the bread-line and are now in serious financial trouble, many even faced with losing their house, vehicle and some all their possessions.
Ok, to the point, and please take what I say here as truth because I only write from personal experiences and I have had my car repossessed by the bank as well, nothing to feel ashamed about but still not a nice experience!
1: If the bank has come to repossess your car, first thing, remain calm. Easier said than done but getting worked up, shouting or violent is going to get you absolutely nowhere, could even land you in jail. You may be in front of your pc at the moment with a large debt collector standing waiting for you to hand over the keys while you scramble for information via google, if so you are at the right place, remain calm. Remember, this guy is just doing his job. It’s a horrible job and he probably hates it but the bank needs people to handle these matters and he’s one of them, be as nice as you can.
2: Make sure you are not alone. Phone a friend if you are alone or get a neighbor to come and stand with you while you deal with this situation, do not be embarrassed and do not deal with it all alone. Why? You are probably in a bit of a state at the moment, the banks normally sneak up on you by surprise when they come to try and repossess a vehicle, you cannot think rationally when this happens, all you may be thinking is “how am I going to survive without my car”. Get somebody with you that can witness things and think clearer than you can at this point.
3: Now, with whoever you have by your side, make sure the debt collector presents you with a court order. This is important – they HAVE to have a court order to be able to take your car no matter how far behind you are with the payments, any good lawyer will tell you this. If they do not have a court order they cannot repossess your car. If they do not have a court order but say they will get one and be back or if they threaten to call the police while they are there, let them. Just do not let the car go before you have seen the court order.
4: If you are in arrears with your car repayments and they have come to repossess the car and have presented you with a court order then you have very little ground to stand on at this point, sign the car over and give them the keys. Do not worry and again, stay calm, deep breath! Before they drive away in the vehicle get all your personal belongings out, everything, don’t leave anything in the car at all that belongs to you. Chances are you will never get personal items back so check under the seats, in the boot, glove compartment, on top of the sun visors, in the cd player, everywhere, get your belongings out of the car before you let them take it.
5: Right, so they have taken the car and will have driven it to the banks nearest repossession warehouse to be kept alongside hundreds of other vehicles. Normally from here they will give you a certain amount of time to come up with the outstanding debt and a chance to get your vehicle back. If you can get the money to pay the arrears then my advice here is to act as quickly as possible. They sell repossessed vehicles at car repossession auctions and the banks do not hang around in cleaning up the cars and getting them on display for public viewing prior to auction, my car had already been given a nice valet (thanks ABSA) when I picked it up two days after they took it.
6: If you have paid the money and the bank has proof then you can collect your car from them again. Take your ID book (or passport), proof of your insurance (hopefully you are insured, if not, get car insurance quickly) and your valid drivers license. When I went to get my vehicle back my drivers license had expired and they would not hand over the car. I got my friend to drive me to the nearest traffic department where I managed to get hold of a temporary license, they will accept that.
If you cannot come up with the money to get your vehicle back and especially if you haven’t had the car for more than two years then I would recommend you let them take it. You will just have to make another plan to borrow a car or something until you can pick up a second hand one from somewhere. This is obviously a set-back but really not the end of the world, if you have a family it will be a bit tougher for a while but get your priorities right and give your family a roof over their heads and food on the table first.
Want to print this article for future reference or for a friend in need? Here You Go Then
I really hope this information helps a few people that may be wondering where to turn and what to do if the bank comes to repossess their car.
15 Comments on this post
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Veli said:
Hi Please help me, I need to become a debt collector for banks, What do I have to study and how can I make it sooner?
July 30th, 2008 at 12:49 pm -
Veli said:
Thnks for this helpfull information
July 30th, 2008 at 12:49 pm -
sue said:
if they drive the car away and they crash the car around the corner, who is going to pay the damages. they are not on the insurance and cannot drive the car. what then?
September 30th, 2008 at 9:39 am -
evans said:
Hi! Please help. When i bought my car i was staying with my parents and had no much responsibilities. Problems started when i lost my job and had to relocate for a new one.My car was repossed and had it for less than 2years. Will i be able to buy a car ever again.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm -
Justin Sawyer said:
Everyone that has taken the time to comment so far – Thank You.
Unfortunately I am not the expert on this subject and have no authority to answer your particular questions. The article is merely from personal experience and aimed at helping people in the same situation I found myself in at that time.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm -
Mel said:
my son’s car was reposses without giving them a court order or even telling them they were taking it.. it was taken in the middle of the night with both their kids car seats.. after reading this article my son called the local cops and they said they did not need to present them with any document because once they stopped paying the bank that gave them the right to take the car. my son was laid off and his work is fighting his unemployment he told the bank this and they were fine waiting till he contested this fight.. I guess they lied…. thank you for the information though… I read it to them and hopefully they realize it is not the end of the world and his family is more important…
December 30th, 2008 at 10:10 am -
Justin Sawyer said:
Thank you for your comment Mel.
I know how your Son feels, it is humiliating and a huge inconvenience especially given that he has a family.
These situations can be tricky to deal with and it is often very helpful to belong to Legal Wise or have access to a lawyer just a phone call away if possible who can give advice.
One small consolation is that he is certainly not alone. With the current economy there are thousands losing cars and homes on a daily basis. I hope things come right quickly for him.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:38 am -
Donna Jay said:
Comment from Donna Jay of North Carolina USA Here – http://www.makebigmoney.co.za/car-repossession-north-carolina-usa/
April 9th, 2009 at 6:18 pm -
Thandile said:
Thanx for the indormation – This will be very handy because I’m almost at the point where I might have to give my vehicle back to the bank. But what happens AFTER they reposessed it ? Can they sell the R420000 vehicle on an auction for R50 rand and still sue you for the outstanding R419950 ? Is there any protection in place to prevent them from selling the vehicle cheap ?
May 25th, 2009 at 1:29 pm -
Justin Sawyer said:
Thank you for stopping by Thandile and leaving a comment.
As I said in a previous comment above, I’m not an expert on the topic I’m afraid and just writing from personal experience and knowledge so I’m not really in a qualified position to answer your question accurately.
Hope you find the answer elsewhere.
May 28th, 2009 at 11:46 am -
John said:
Justin Sawyer I’m not a lawyer but I don’t believe they can just sell it for a few $$$’s if its book value is much greater because they know you could challange it in court.
You see if the average dealer is willing to pay so much money and they simply give it away then I’m certain they are breaking some law but it is something you would need to confirm with a lawyer.I’ve been to one of these auctions and most of the vehicles have been after some sort of accident. I wouldn’t want most of these cars for free and these are dealers bidding for them.
On the other hand it would be great to get in on one of these auctions where the cars have been repossesed I’d love to pay book value…………
February 4th, 2010 at 5:11 am -
John said:
The idea is that if you have a house and its value is $200K
in the area you live in. However you manage to sell it to someone for $2 Million, you could in fact be liable and end up in jail for comming fraud.February 4th, 2010 at 5:13 am -
Kitt said:
I lost my job and I made arrangments with my bank. They told me it was fine if I was late just to make arrangments to come and paid it in full. I had a death in a family which was quite a shock (it was a sucide) completely unexpected. I ended up having to leave town and then I had to deal with own depression. I was late 2 payments (one payment as of yesterday). They came while I was not even home and left a note saying they had a court order to repo my car. I went to the bank straightaway this morning as soon as they opened and they said the file said do not accept payment. I just finally got my life collected with a job, I am filing for bankcrupt and then this smacks me in the face! I have a family and live way out in the country almost an 35-40 min drive to work. Now what? I am so angry and depressed. I feel like giving up. Well the repo allow me to make the 305 dollar what I owe this month? I mean I can pay it, I have the money!! Just wasnt on time. Thats all.
April 18th, 2010 at 12:15 am -
Tyrone Pillay said:
I just spoke to a lawyer about the sale of reposessed cars at auctions and he advised that the auctions have no reserve, which in simple terms, mean that a bid can start at any amount and if the bid stops at 1% of what the car’s value is the bank has to accept the bid. This is sad as you have no say in the bid, however I am going to be doing more investigation on the matter. I can swear I saw something on carteblance where the NCA says that the seller has to be happy about the price the back sells repossed stuff, not sure if that peratined to property.
July 13th, 2010 at 10:57 am -
Justin Sawyer said:
Interesting info Tyrone, Thank You. Be sure to pop back here please if you find out more interesting information and we can hopefully help some people here.
July 13th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
