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Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong thread. I currently own a 2010 Toyota Yaris that I've been financing since June 2010. I made all of my payments up until recently when my temp job ended. I've been out of work for three weeks, and thankfully my Federal Tax Refund has kept me afloat for my bills this month. However, my biggest chunk, my Toyota payment is past due. I'm going to hit a month late next Monday, the 28th.

 

Has anyone ever had their car taken, and if so, how many months were you behind? I talked to a Toyota rep back in January and he told me two things that may or may not be true: 1) Missing a car payment with Toyota won't affect your credit until the payment is 30 days or more past due. I haven't checked my credit report, so I'm not sure if that's true. And 2) You have to be horribly deliquent, such as 3-6 months past due for them to waste the energy and money to have their car repossessed as they know that keeping the customer is the main money maker for them.

 

I'm in my mid 20's and just a little concerned about this, as the car is my main means of getting back and forth to a job(once I get one) and also the main fact that having my car repo'd would destroy my credit and incure possible legal issues/damages as well.

 

Thanks for any and all advice.

Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
LIGHTNIN
Senior Contributor

Re: Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

Legally they can repo after one missed payment.

 

DH about 10yrs ago had his SUV repo'ed.

What I didn't know about an auto loan was, you don't only have to have you missed payment but your current one too.

 

This is what happened, DH payments was due on the 1st. On Jan 1st we didn't have the payment and then Feb 1 rolled by.

It was the middle of Feb and I had Jan payment, Ford would not accept one payment for Jan, they wanted Jan and Feb.

At the end of Feb on a Friday, I called ford and told them I would have both payments on Monday after I got paid, they said OK.

The next morning on Saturday bright and early they repo'ed the SUV.

Boy O Boy Was I mad, but if was my own fault for not having an emergency fund for these type of situations.

 

From that day on, we started living within our means.On that Monday we found our suv paid the payments plus the repo fees.

But lucky for us, it didn't show up on our CR's.The late payment did but the repo didn't.

 

Don't believe them about keeping customers.

What they want is the money, they will repo your auto and sell it and still come after you for the difference.

Do want you can, but try to keep your auto payments current. Once you get behind, its hard to get current again.

I understand you are out of work,make it a job about finding a job.

Work 40hrs a week or 8hrs a day looking for work,hit the pavement knock on doors ask if they are hiring and turning in a application,if not hiring turn in a application anyway. The last business I worked at hired the first person to show up for an interview, that could pass a drug test. Good Luck to you, hopefully you can find a job soon and keep your vehicle.

 

FICO's May 2015 EQ764 ~~Live below your means and always keep an emergency fund -Love Everybody ~ Big Kenny ~ Big and Rich ~~~~~Credit Scoring 101 - Common Abbreviations - Freq Req Threads - Free Credit Reports - What Steps Do I Take?DV? PFD?
Message 2 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

1- If you are going to be past due on a car payment you need to call PRIOR to being past due and you may be granted an extension or a deferral. ONCE YOU ARE LATE THEY WILL NOT. You must be caught up to get a deferral.
AWAYS CALL ASAP.

2- Effecting your credit is the last thing you need to worry about, having them repo is the big deal. Once it gets repoed your credit will be more effected then anything else and you will have a hard time getting any financing on a different car.

3-They can repo you at 1 day after a missed payment, you are in violation of your contract.

4- in most cases they will wait for a second missed payment. YOU NEED TO CALL THEM.

5- Any belief that you get that they will "wait," and take their time and give you 3-6 months is purely anectdotal. Counting on it is not a good thing. ESP: since people who have fallen on hard times and are not making car payments are in many cases no longer paying their car insurance, or are expecting the car to be repo-ed and trash the car- killing its collateralized value.

6- Missing your car insurance payment, the insurance company may make the lender aware and that is grounds for immediate repo.

7-This customer is a money maker thing is not even remotely correct- a car laon is collateralized, if you do not pay they take the vehicle, try to sell it, attach all transaction costs to you minus the sale. Yes they will take into consideration their aggravation to you making the payments and being caught up, but the REPO infrastructure is set up and exists to be used. 

Message 3 of 7
Creditaddict
Legendary Contributor

Re: Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

 


In my experience it was about 3-4 months... but like other poster said, if you are trying to hang on to this... CALL! it probably won't help long term, but you might be able to be granted a skip a payment.

 

Message 4 of 7
grussell70
Contributor

Re: Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

most of the time it is at least 3 months and some of them will let you skip 2 payments and put them at the end of the loan. just call them and talk to them.


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Message 5 of 7
grussell70
Contributor

Re: Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

@ lightnin ford motor credit was one of the worst when it came to repo's. they wanted what you were behind plus current month and repo fees. i even had them when i was down to my last payment to try and get about 1700.00 worth of extra fees out of me and 800.00 of it was supposed to be for repo fees that never took place. they told me that when they send it out for repo that they have to pay for the service. who do you know that pays a repo man if they don't repo the vehicle. i didn't pay that. they couldn't produce any evidence where they paid a repo man.


Starting Score:05/02/2010- TU-589-EQ-549
Current Score: 02/13/2012- TU-711-EQ-675-EX-735
Goal Score: TU-750-EQ-700-EX-750
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Message 6 of 7
llecs
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Has anyone ever been repo'd? Curious how far you can get behind on payments.....

OP, YMMV on the lender naturally, but I went through a repo 6 years ago this month and made a decision to never go though that again. My contract with AmeriCredit had a default clause in there of 10 days post due date. I was consistently late, even as much as 60+ days late, but they took my car after being only 30 days late (from the due date). I was given the offer to redeem it for the month I was late plus the current month plus towing and storage. The total to get the car back was less than a thousand. I remember calling them and the CSR listened and reminded me about that default clause and said they normally don't take the cars that early (slow day maybe?). I continued with the payments for another year before PIF. FIL also went through a repo but with Toyota back in 2000. He was 60 past due when they took his truck. He had to PIF to get it back at around $7000 at the time. OP, do whatever it takes to raise some cash. Tap into savings. Work extra. Pawn stuff off. It's only temporary. As mentioned, I wouldn't expect an immediate response, but a new late can drop you 50.
Message 7 of 7
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