With job losses and layoffs at their highest in years, car repossessions are on the rise. If you find you are behind on your car payments, this article can give you an idea on what your options may be.
Whether you are late now or know you are going to be late on making your car payments-call your lender now! With the amount of repossessions and loan defaults, "most" lenders are willing to help you avoid a repossession.
Talk to your lender about your options. Be honest and only agree to what you can truly pay. Some lenders are offering to modify car loans or extend them. Every situation is different and each lender may have their own practices. Most will want to work with you to avoid repossession. Repossessing a car is usually the last resort after all else fails.
If you can not come to an agreement with your lender, try selling your car on your own. You may not get offered what the car is worth but if it is close to it, you may be able to work it out with the lender or get a loan to pay the deficient amount off.
Try to get someone to take over your car payments. There are people out there willing to take over car leases and loans. There are also websites out there that can put you in touch with these people. They more than likely will need to qualify for the loan though. Every situation is different. You may also want to try and sell it to a dealer who advertises "we will buy your car even if you don't buy ours". There are a few of them out there.
If all the steps above have failed, you may want to surrender your car to the lender. Even though you are agreeing to this, it is still considered a repossession and will damage your credit. The lender will arrange to have you drop off the car somewhere or they will send someone to pick it up. Usually it is a tow truck aka "the repo man".
Voluntarily surrendering your car will allow to lender to take back possession of it. They will more than likely sell it at auction and bill you for the deficient amount along with any other fees involved with taking back the car.
