how do car repos work when there is positive equity

Question

I’m not on the line or anything but I recently bought a car. Decided to blow a fat wad last month and pay off half of it. The cars worth 29k and I owe just under 15k.

I forgot a payment on thanksgiving(thought I was on autopay) and got a super threatening phone call about possibilities if I didn’t pay by EOD Friday.

Obviously I paid it because it was my mistake and they even waived the late fee for me. But it got me thinking. Let’s say I said screw you(which I’m not because I value my credit that I worked and continue to work hard to rebuild) and didn’t pay. If they take my car back do I get the positive equity? I couldn’t find much with my lender given that it’s a tiny local credit union.

Purely for educational purposes here.

Edit:

So I’ve read my contract and it simply states that the asset of found in default would be forfeited. That seems criminal Timmy given that I’ve already put nearly $20,000 into US $30,000 vehicle.

In: 9

Answer 1

Best bet is to call and talk to the dealer. Most of the time they would rather work with you to keep the car. There is usually a clause in the contract about exactly what will happen. Generally, you’ll get max screwed no matter what. I had an auto body shop and did some repos on the side because it paid well for the time and expenses. A repo usually paid $300-$500 upon delivery. I only did jobs where the dealer kept a second key and I would grab cars at 1am-3am. There is always risk involved when doing a repo. People can be crazy, and it really sucks to show up and not be able to get to the car. The main dealer I did repos for put GPS tracking alarms on all the cars too. If someone tried to block the repo at home, like when parking in a garage, I next tried to take it at their work. If that failed, I watched the tracking and set a flag for whatever grocery store they have visited several times. The next time they go to the store, I get a message and try to grab the car before they are done.

It depends on the state, but some allow the dealer to reassess the vehicle’s value as whatever it will sell for at auction. In some places there is not a clear requirement for the dealer to actually sell the vehicle at auction. Often they can use the auction price they paid for the vehicle. They are also allowed to charge maximum storage rates for extended periods of time and other nonsense that will ensure you do not walk away with anything.