[autornr]

in 2002 i purchased a vehicle for around 9000.00 and around halfway through the 5 year term the engine went out. the repair cost were estimated at almost the remaining balance of the loan. so i was forced to either find a another vehicle or get in debt again for around 5000.00 dollars. so i decided to get another vehicle. But before that i had asked the loan company if they could help with the cost, but they knew that wouldnt be possible. So anyways i got another car a chepo one. So the letters came demanding payment, but i had told them to come get the car that i would give back the car to them but they did not want it cause they knew what was wrong with car,a bad engine. So by know its 2004 and i get served to appear in court for my loan, which is around 500 miles away they filed the loan in there district. So i told them i could not get there and that would put undue hardship on me to get there. Then court day comes and the claim reads dissmissed. So as of right now i have a car parked in my driveway parked, covered, not registered and uninsured, and recently i got a credit report and that said chargeoff/ unable to locate debtor. The loan company knows where i am at. So my question is what do i do? Do i keep the car parked for the rest of my life, or some how later fix it? And what about ownership who owns it do i or do they? Can i just sell it maybe for parts? any input would be helpful.

[aaron]

I don't know enough about your circumstances to make a meaningful assessment of your situation; however, assuming you still have title to the car and fix it, you run the risk that it will be repossessed after you put that money into the car. You should consult a local lawyer, taking with you all of the title work, financing documents, correspondence from the lender and/or collection agency, and the pleadings from the lawsuit.

[lscrisp]

Hi Arron,

I went through almost this same thing, about 6 months ago. We had a truck that my wife was stuck with after the divorce form her former husband. He stopped making the payments and we ended up with it due to her being on the title.

We kept the truck and it ran, but the tranmission was shot and we only used it to haul dirt around our property. The finance company didn't want the truck, we told them several times to come get it, so they eventually dropped the issued and reported a charge off. That was about 2 years ago. About 6 months ago, I went to get a copy of the title and found that there was no secured interest listed. I asked the people at the DMV office what the deal was and they told me that any title with a lein longer than 7 years, gets the leinholder's name taken off. That opened the way for us to give the truck away to my wife's aunt, who sold it to some guy with a farm about 200 miles from us, who in turn, sold it to some guys who tok it to Mexico to restore it ro whatever they decided to do.

I was so happy when that POS left our driveway!!

Scott