The phrase "you can run but you can't hide," meaning that you can try to escape from your problems but eventually they'll catch up with you, applies to hiding a car about to be repossessed. Eventually, the repo man is going to find your car. Repo men use every trick in the book, including staking out your house, following you and grabbing the car when you park.
Repossession
If you stop making your car payments or are consistently late, finance companies, banks or credit unions are going to send someone out to find and take back the car. If your car is repossessed, you have 15 days to catch up with your payments or pay the loan in full, plus any repossession fees, and redeem the car. Some lenders give you 25 days, according to Edmunds.com. If you can't come up with the money, the lender sells your car at auction. The lender deducts the amount the car sells for to determine what you owe. Chances are you still owe the bank, even after the car sells at auction, because you also pay for repossession fees, auction fees and interest.
Hiding a Car
Many people try to hide their cars to keep them from being repossessed. Repo men, also called recovery agents, perform a job called "skip tracing," which is looking for the car using online databases. The agent gets all of your information from your credit application, so he knows where to find your car. The car is only at the car owner's residence about half the time, according to Edmunds.com. If you move the car, besides searching online, the repo agent calls or visits all the places you could be. Some recovery agents install infrared cameras that read license plates on parked cars. The cameras can read 300 plates an hour, according to Car and Driver. The recovery agents cruise around the areas your car could be. When the camera reads an "assigned" license plate, the computer sounds an alarm, and a few minutes later, your car is gone.
Repossession Costs
If the recovery agent has to conduct an active search for your car, you pay for the cost. The more difficult you make it for the agent, the more it's going to cost you in the end. Repo men bill for the time they have to spend looking for your car, and that cost is added to what you owe on the car. If you are behind in your payments, the best thing you can do is to notify your lender. You might be able to work out a modified payment plan. If not, your car is a voluntary repossession, which saves you the repossession fees. Your credit report will probably read that you had a voluntary repossession, which might look slightly better to future lenders than having a repossession listed on your report.
Added Accessories
If there is any chance that you won't be able to afford your car, do not waste your money on fancy rims or speakers. Once you add those to the car and the car is repossessed, the lender keeps all your additions. If you did buy accessories, take them off and replace them with the original equipment. All you are entitled to get back is your personal property, including baby car seats. But sometimes your personal property can "vanish," according to Edmunds.com.
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