I don't know where these people get their info. If the bank cannot find your vehicle they will charge it off and take the tax write off which means they may sell the loan to another agency for pennies on the dollar who will hope they can get lucky. After a period of time if you have not been contacted you can always apply for a lost title. It will either come back to you free and clear or it will identify who the lien holder is and what the balance is. You can then negotiate a settlement. The only person who can report your vehicle stolen is the registered owner, no one else. Everything you need to know is at stopautorepo.com titled what the repoman doesn't want you to know
What you can do is send your payments in but avoid sending any info that would reveal the state you are in or where you are now employed. Since it has been a year the bank may have charged the loan off. They may have also sold the loan to another company that could still be looking for the car. Your car IS NOT stolen and you will never be charged with theft. It is a civil matter and under some circumstances you could be sued for the balance, but they must locate you first. You could call the bank and find out what you can do to obtain the title. Don't call from a phone that can be connected to you in any way. Also if you call from a land line they would then have the area code for your location. Everything you need to know about repossessions can be found at stopautorepo.com
I haven't made my car payment in nearly 3 years now. I know they are looking for it, but for how long? Will they eventually stop? Not sure I even care at this point. You can preach about taking the moral high ground all you want but the repoman will tuck his morals away while he hooks your car to his tow truck as will the creditor. FYI: Keep an address in one state which will allow you to obtain a driver's license in that same state. Register your car at that address, then go home to the neighboring state and drive with your out of state plates all you like. Anytime the plates or registration info is searched it will show your alternate address. This will work fine for a while but I'm pretty sure they will garnish my wages soon but it's been 3 years and I've had the same job and filed taxes for my real address and nothings happened yet. We'll see! Happy hiding!
The first thing you should be doing is checking up on when the car repossession laws are in your state.
This is a short guide that can help you work out what the repercussions are likely to be:
If you do manage to avoid the repo men, my advice would also be to make it as difficult as possible to track you down. If they do find you, they will still seek compensation for the vehicle, whether you own it or not - and can take you to court over that matter.
Additionally, you need to be on a cash basis anyway because you cannot trust yourself with credit nor can a creditor. Being on a cash basis is not at all as bad as what people think it is. People on cash generally do not live hand to mouth but pay as you go. If you ask a guy who is in debt if he would like to be out of debt he/she will probably answer a resounding YES. Since you are in this position then you are way ahead of most Americans. See there is a silver lining behind every cloud......Make CENTS?
There are a lot of questions which creep up in mind while you sell your car. Selling of a car is not a simple job. There are tons of individual buyers and dealers out there, but your deal might get stuck if you overprice your car. At the same time when you are in a hurry you might end up underselling your vehicle, where you lose money. So, getting the price right is the first and the foremost priority. A car having the right price according to its features and condition finds no dearth of buyers, whether it is an individual buyer or a used-car dealer. For getting the pricing right there are a lot of experts. Indianbluebook.com is one among them. They assess the car based on a number of features to get the price right.
I have a question too. I was living in Houston and took out one of those Auto Title Loans in a shopping strip. I have been paying on it for a year now and can only afford the interest. It is $300 a month. I owe $2000. My car is only worth about $3000-$3500 due to high mileage. It is a 2006 Kia Rio. I intended on paying it, otherwise, I wouldn't have paid this much so far. However, I was laid off at the beginning of May, just after a 3 week vacation...no warning, and, no savings. I had paid tons of bills before I left for vacation, and, now, I am broke. I am looking for a job, everyday, but, if my interest goes up and they tack on another $300, I will never pay this off. I had to move away 300 miles and stay with family. I don't want them to get in the middle of this and they have already helped me out too much. I hope I will get a job soon, but, what do I do if the price keeps going up and they tack on lawyer's fees and recovery fees, etc? I don't want to break the law, but, I don't know what to do. I need the car to work and soon, I will not ever be able to pay it off. I am already behind on 3 other loans.
They keep looking for it, and when they find it, odds are that there will be charges pressed for willfully withholding it in an attempt to receive them. Hope this helps, good luck to you.
Most likely they will haul you in to court and if you can't produce it you will have the option of paying it in full plus court costs ,late fees or go to jail for ether contempt of court or dissposeing of mortgaged property! Or both!
If you are almost one year behind in payments I am surprised they have not been looking for you. This is already on your credit report. They may get legal action against you for auto theft as that is what you have done. I think I would contact the lien holder and talk to them ASAP. If action is taken like this you can face jail time, and as of now, even though you may not think so, you never paid for one year and legally you are driving a stolen vehicle.
