I want to return a car I financed at a "buy here pay here" lot. Can they garnish my wages?

Question

I asked the guy I bought the car from what would happen.

First he said they would take it to an auction and I would owe the difference. Then he said "they" would try to resale and I would owe that difference. I am in Georgia and have never had this happen before. The cars were just re-sold.

Does anyone know what will happen exactly? I thought they would just re-sale it. That is the entire point of going to a "buy here pay here" lot. They don't even report to credit agencies.

Answer 1

of course not but they can put a repo on your credit even if u return the car yourself

Answer 2

A repo is a repo, doesn't matter if the lot is a BMW dealer or a Buy Her Pay Here lot in your neighborhood.

When you buy a car you agree to pay for it in full.  If you fail to live up to that agreement your car gets repossessed.  Volunteering to turn it in is the exact same thing.

You owe the dealer the balance of the loan and if the car sale (auction or off the lot) doesn't cover their loss then guess what, YOU cover that loss.  You will be responsible for the balance of the loan.

They can sue you for it or garnish your wages, whichever method they feel will be the most successful at getting their money back.

Answer 3

Yes. You signed a contract and you owe them the money, whether you have the car or not doesn't matter. If you give them the car back, they will sell it and you will owe the difference between what they sold it for and the amount you owe them. You will get a bill for this amount, and if you don't pay it, they will obtain a judgment against you and they can garnish your wages. In the meantime, your credit is ruined for the next several years and you're paying for a car you'll never see again.

Answer 4

BHPH dealers can do almost anything they want. If the car you are returning has fallen apart and not worth them putting back on their lot -- or they just don't want it back -- they can sell it at auction and sue you for the difference between the sale price and what you still owe.

If the car is still in good shape and they think they can sell it again from their lot, they may simply take it back and not sue you for anything, particually since the car was overpriced to begin with and they've probably gotten the money they wanted already from you.

Answer 5

They're kidding about auctioning your car.  That's silly.  Their best money-making game is to sell the same car over and over.

However, legally, I see no reason to doubt they could try to get the full amount out of you.  It's a loan.  It's a really terrible loan, but it's a loan.  PLEASE UNDERSTAND that you may have been charged $3000 for a car that they bought for $500.  They may have paid for the car with the downpayment, and they don't even need the rest of the money, but you agreed to give it to them.  That's their game. You chose to play it.  You shouldn't do that.

If you don't have any money, how do you afford such expensive debt?  The places around here charge $50 and $70 a week.  Good grief, you could almost buy a new Cadillac for that.

A lot of times it's an $800 car for $800 down and $50 a week, for as long as you can keep paying it.  Most people can't pay a huge car payment like that for long, but they're too dumb to realize it when they sign the papers.