Repossession Car is Missing?

Question

Hello,

I have a friend who lives in California, and she has a car and she can't make a payment on it, its been past due for 4-5 months, the repo guys are looking for the car, but they can't find it to tow it. She is basicly hide it because she needs it to get to work, what is the law in California regarding this. How much trouble can she get into if the repo guys never find her car?

Thanks

Answer 1

i just went through the exact same situation minus the hiding away part. what happened to me is that the sheriff ended up calling me telling me that the bank had reported it stolen and if i didnt hand the car over the bank would press charges against me.

My advice is to call the bank and try to work out a payment plan. Its better for the bank if you pay it off than if they have to reposses it. So give it a try, your friend doesnt really have anything to lose.

Answer 2

As everyone else has said, the bank will report the car stolen and she will be charged with Felony Grand Theft Auto. Not only will the repo man be hunting for the vehicle, but the police will too. If the repo guy is smart, he will call on a phone that is registered on caller id as some prize giveaway etc. company, and have her drive down there to collect it. They most likely have somebody driving around in a regular car looking before the truck even stops by. There are many ways to snatch someones car. If she thinks she can have the car blocked off also, there are tools called go-jacks where you can place them on the car and move it around like its on a cart or move the other vehicle out of the way, before connecting it to the boom lift. As you have said, the account has only been past due for about 4 months. That means he has only been looking for about a month. She will slip up, and he will snatch it. They can easily find cars even out of state. Her best bet is to contact the finance company and work something out, or surrender the vehicle before she goes to jail and becomes a felon.

Answer 3

Eventually they WILL find it, mostly likely while she is at work too. They'll start staking her out and waiting for her to lead them to it, then follow her home or wherever, and take it.  As far behind as she is on payments it's unlikely the dealer will be willing to work with her at this point. Maybe if she'd dealt with this back when that first payment was going to be missed, but after this long, no way.

Answer 4

Nuthing.BUT they might call the cops to get the car.

Answer 5

Since it's not paid for, the car is stolen. They will put a warrant out on her eventually-plus she is damaging her credit permanently.