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Chapter 7- vehicle lien

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A

als2003

Guest
What is the name of your state? Ny
Here is a question we cannot seem to find an answer to. We filed Chapter 7 and it was discharged in April 2004. We had two vehicles at the time that had loans on them. We surrendered one of our vehicles and told the 2nd loan holder to come and get the vehicle. They never came and got the vehicle. My question is what happens now. Can we sell the vehicle? Will they still show up as a lien holder on the title. We would like to use it as a trade in for a new vehicle if we can. I know that the chances of that are slim but it doesn't hurt to ask. Thanks, Carol
 


racer72

Senior Member
You are not the legal owner of the vehicle. Contact the lein holder for instructions to return the vehicle or negotiate a deal to obtain outright ownership. Selling or otherwise disposing of the vehicle without the legal owner's permission could result in vehicle theft charges. I have a brother in law that did exactly what you want to do and he spent 12 days in jail. If the vehicle is not worth a whole lot, the lein holder may give up ownership as it may cost them more to dispose of the vehicle. Give them a call.
 
A

als2003

Guest
What if I order another title to the vehicle. Will the state still contact them to see if they are still a lien holder. What if the title were to come back clear. They have never even tried to contact us regarding the vehicle after we told them to come get it. It just seems odd that they don't do anything about it. What are they expecting to happen? Thank you for any answers you have.
 

myturn

Junior Member
I would think that you could still trade it in, but when trading it in, the car dealership would have to pay off the total debt of the car before the Lienholder would release the title to the dealer.

Instead of doing that, you could tell the lien holder you were leaving that car at the dealership where you bought it. They will then work with that dealer to take possession of it. I did that when I went through CH 7. I called the lender and said the vehicle will be at ABC Car lot and they could get it there. I got a call from the car lot 2 days later that the lender had already contacted them to start process of selling it. (I knew the guy at the lot so I had asked him to let me know when they took possession.)

By getting rid of the vehicle first, you don't have to worry about negative equity being put back into the next car. The bank still wants all the money owed on the car before they will release the title to the dealer for you to get another car.

Someone else may have differing information, but I would get still try to get the lender to take the car back and not try to trade it, unless you owe considerably less on it than it is worth, but if you did, the trustee probably would have taken it from you in the CH 7 proceedings.









***My opinion only. Not legal advice.
 

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