Overhaulin'

What do title loan companies do when they cant find your car?

The tow truck company told me they were gonna press charges of theft against me but that was about 7 months ago I thought debtors jail went out a long time ago. and that this was a civil matter. a officer also told me you cannot steal a car that has your name on the title and if it was that easy they would never send out a repo man they would just call the police when ppl defaulted Let me point out the obvious. I took out a title loan. Lost my job and couldnt pay it anymore....now to the story....They tried to come get the car but the man couldnt get to it because it was in my backyard and i stay on a big hill and he couldnt get his tow truck back there. my dads dodge ram was in the way....so the man said move his truck I said no my dad doesnt let me drive his new 2010 truck and then he said i will call somebody to move it. I said go ahead but he never did. I went in the house and went to sleep and he left. and called me about 20 times that nite.

Public Comments

1. It is up to the lender to prosecute you for theft or just sue in court for payments.
2. From personal experience, I found myself in the same exact situation you are in about a year ago. They used to call me soooo many times day to day trying to reach me. I was in college at the time and was basically never in the same place with my vehicle. I was served with papers to go to court about 7 months after the fact, and yes, it was in civil court. They gave me an option to pay what I owed plus court fees (which can get REALLY expensive) or just give them the car...
3. They cannot successfully press charges for theft (or fraud). All crimes require criminal intent, which means that they could only charge you with theft or fraud if they had some evidence that you intentionally took out the loan with the intent of taking the car and stiffing the company. That is not the case here. But that doesn't mean that you aren't in any danger of going to jail. If they are in the mood (which they might or might not be), then if they can't get your car (but *can* find you) they may go to civil court and get a court order commanding you to produce the car. If you ignore that court order, then you are guilty of contempt of court. Even though it is a civil case, contempt of court is a separate criminal offense for which the judge could sentence you to a fine or jail time. Alternately, if the company cannot find the car and you don't even show up to court in response to summonses, they can request the judge to issue a "capias," which is an arrest warrant in civil cases, commanding the sheriff or a constable to arrest you and physically bring you before the court.
4. Whether or not you go to jail, is really in your hands. Most likely what's happened is that they had you sign a bunch of papers, including a Power of Attorney. The power of attorney allows the company to have the right to possess that car when you fall into default status. However, they must possess the car legitimately. They cannot tell you to move another car so that they can repo yours. If it's either in a private gated area or inside your garage with your door closed, they cannot retrieve it because it would be trespassing. Eventually, they will consider taking you to court to collect from you. If you cannot get served with papers, they cannot send you to court. In the end, the company will be able to retrieve the car if it gets pulled over by an officer and the officer reports the car. DO NOT SELL THE CAR. The title loan company now is a lien holder on your vehicle, so it would be against the law to sell it. Don't underestimate repo companies, they will go any where and stalk you to retrieve the car. Work something out with the title loan company (i.e. payment plan) to try to get it paid off. Most companies will work with you if they cannot collect from you, because it is a loss to them if you don't pay them back.