What Are My Legal Rights to Getting My Repossessed Car Back in Utah?

Under Utah's Uniform Commerical Code, a creditor has the right to dispose of your repossessed car or sell the car at auction or private sale to a third party. If you want to buy back your vehicle, the creditor must inform you of the sale within a reasonable amount of time.

Buy-Back Rights

In Utah, you may buy back your repossessed car by paying the outstanding amount due, such as your most recent bill statement, plus any repossession charges. However, you must pay before the creditor sells the car at auction. The creditor is required by law to give you notice of the auction sale date, but you are not permitted to participate in the auction.

Post-Auction Rights

If you cannot pay the amount due before the auction takes place, the creditor will apply the car's sale price to your remaining loan amount. If the car sold for more than you owe, your creditor must provide you with the surplus amount. Conversely, if the car sold for less than you owe, your creditor will bill you for the difference, plus any repossession charges, which is known as a deficiency. However, if you voluntarily surrendered your car, Utah's Uniform Commercial Code states that your creditor cannot force you to pay your deficiency unless you owe more than $3,000.

Legal Remedies

You may be able to reverse or lower your deficiency if the repo man disrupted the peace while taking your car or the creditor failed to notify you of the auction day, sold your car in a commercially unreasonable manner or did not calculate your deficiency (or award you a surplus) correctly. Consult a consumer lawyer to discuss your options.

Bankruptcy Options

Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy can prevent a repossession and Chapter 13 can both prevent and reverse a car repossession after the fact. If you file Chapter 7 before the repossession takes place, your creditor may not repossess the car, but you must resume making full payments. If you file Chapter 13 before repossession, the creditor may not repossess your car and your future payments (and total amount due) will be lowered if you owned the car for a minimum of 2 1/2 years. Chapter 13 also reverses an existing repossession after the fact.