CD Player Removed After Repossession

[SAMMIEP]

My question involves an auto loan or repossession in the State of: TEXAS MY CAR WAS TOWED THIS MORNING. THE TOW GUY TOLD ME TO CALL THE TITLE LOAN COMPANY HE SAID " THEY USUALLY GIVE YOU LIKE 20 DAYS TO GET IT BACK". ONCE I MANAGED TO GET A RIDE (4-5 HOURS LATER) I FOUND THAT I WAS BEING CHARGED A $405 REPO FEE PLUS THE GUY THAT TOWED IT INFORMED ME THAT THEY REMOVED MY BRAND NEW CD PLAYER BECAUSE THEY CLAIM "IT WASNT SECURED RIGHT". MY CAR IS NOW SITTING AT AN AUTO AUCTION AN HOUR AWAY LESS THAN 24 HRS AFTER BEING PICKED UP AND THEY DONT EVEN HAVE MY CD PLAYER! WHAT ARE THE LAWS? CAN HE LEGALLY REMOVE MY CD PLAYER AND NOT LEAVE IT WITH MY VEHICLE? PLEASE HELP!

[aaron]

When you paid to recover the vehicle and asked for your CD player, what were you told?

[Who'sThatGuy]

A repossession company has legal rights to protect your property. This includes removing unsecured items in your vehicle.
A laptop in a trunk of the vehicle can be removed and locked in a secured facility.
A $15 book can be removed from the back seat and locked in a secured facility.
An amp and kicker-box in a trunk of the vehicle can be removed and locked in a secured facility.
A CD player can be removed if it were just laying in the dashboard of the vehicle, however, if the CD player is secured to the dashboard of the vehicle, it would be considered theft if the CD player was removed from the vehicle.
If that is the case I would make a police report and let the police department take appropriate action as well as filing a complaint with your loan company.

[Mr. Knowitall]

It's not unusual for a repo service, retained to prep a car for sale, to remove non-standard equipment as part of that process. That's not "theft" even if some of the stuff is taped, glued, screwed or bolted on.

[Who'sThatGuy]

It's not unusual for a repo service, retained to prep a car for sale, to remove non-standard equipment as part of that process. That's not "theft" even if some of the stuff is taped, glued, screwed or bolted on.

A repossession company is not authorized to remove an OEM as well as an aftermarket CD player from a vehicle unless it isn't secured. It is considered theft for a repossession company to remove a radio that was properly secured ( aftermarket or not).

It is not the duty for a repossession company to "prep a vehicle for sale", the only duty the repossession company has is to retrieve a vehicle for the bank whom they are contracted to do work for. 9 times out of 10 a repossession company doesn't even transport the vehicle to an auction. A transportation company is hired to remove several vehicles at once from a repossession company's holding yard. So the sole duty of a repossession company is to find that vehicle for there customer (the bank) and secure the vehicle and it's belongings until it is retrieved from the loan applicant or is sent to an auto auction.

Once at an auto auction the vehicle is sent to RECON, this is the only company that is authorized to clean, replace or fix broken things or dented scraped bumper covers. RECON still wouldn't remove an aftermarket radio from a dashboard of a vehicle, they would just make a note if there was an aftermarket radio in place of an OEM radio in a vehicle and forward that note to the bank.

What we need to know from OP is, who took the radio out, the repo company or the auto auction and how was the CD player installed in the vehicle?

[Mr. Knowitall]

A repossession company is not authorized to remove an OEM as well as an aftermarket CD player from a vehicle unless it isn't secured.

Says... you? Got more than that?

It is considered theft for a repossession company to remove a radio that was properly secured ( aftermarket or not).

You know better than to just make stuff up, but that's what you're doing.

Once at an auto auction the vehicle is sent to RECON, this is the only company that is authorized to clean, replace or fix broken things or dented scraped bumper covers....

We're still in "Says you" territory, and on top of that are apparently to accept a one repo service can't offer a "soup to nuts" solution for secured parties.

Do you have any legal authority for anything you're claiming?

[Who'sThatGuy]

My brother-in-law owns a repossession company and my wife's cousin owns a transportation company. I know how auto auctions work because I run a 10 car carrier on the weekends for my wife's cousin to the auctions. A repossession company can only remove belongings of the owner, not any OEM parts from the vehicle. When you remove an OEM radio and replace that radio with an aftermarket one, the aftermarket radio would now be considered part of that vehicle. It would be up to the owner (bank) of the vehicle if they wanted to replace the aftermarket radio with an OEM radio and then bill there customer for the damages.

And yes, there are some repo company's that repo and transport the vehicles they have repoed to the auctions. But I haven't in my 22 years of being around these company's seen one that reconditions the vehicles too.

[aaron]

A repo services removal of an after-market CD player is not automatically an act of theft, in any state.

If SammieP gets around to answering the question he was asked in the first reply, it will be helpful.

[Who'sThatGuy]

I'm not arguing with anyone, but if I were to repo your car and remove your aftermarket radio, and not give that radio to the bank nor back to you once you redeemed your car, what would that be considered?

I see this all the time. the tow/repo operator takes a radio out of a vehicle that they just towed/repoed and keeps the radio for themselves. 9 times out of 10 the vehicle is auctioned off and the banks customers gets billed for the damages of the vehicle. It just so happens that the OP recovered his vehicle with a missing radio bringing light to this crime.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Who said they wouldn't give the radio back? Did you somehow miss the very first question asked about the radio?

They admitted they took it, they implicitly admitted they have it, so now we're waiting for the answer to that question.