Do I have a claim?

[holly123]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FLORIDA

I AM THE PRIMARY CO-SIGNER ON A CAR LOAN. CAN I LEGALLY FORCE THE OTHER SIGNER TO PAY HIS HALF OF THE PAYMENT, INSURANCE, AND REPAIRS?

 

[Hot Topic]

Don't post in all capital letters. Your problem is no more important than anyone else's on the forums.

If the other party isn't meeting their financial responsibilities, take them to court.

 

[dcatz]

Can you force them to pay the ongoing loan obligation? Not based on the fact that you’re both on the loan. Is there a separate agreement on which you can rely?
Can you sue them for what you’re forced to pay to retain the car? Maybe. You’re a little light on facts but, when parties share a common liability and one party pays/satisfies/discharges more than his fair share of the liability, a right to “sue for contribution” may arise.
Unless the loan also covered maintenance and insurance, those are separate matters anyway.
So you may have a claim. Is it a good one? Well, if they’re not paying now . . . .

 

[holly123]

Well, sorry about the caps lock first of all. Unintentional...

To give a little more factual basis: I am the primary signer on the loan and he is the secondary. I signed it in the first place because he couldn't get credit approval by himself. The trade in was solely my car and the down payment came from that equity.

We had tons of problems with the vehicle and almost sued the dealership for selling us a car that was supposedly under warranty but actually wasn't. In the end, we got most of the necessary repairs taken care of, but NOT all of them. One such issue was the tires. VW requires all "certified pre-owned" vehicles to be sold with tires of a minimal tread. All 4 tires were below the minimum tread but we lost that battle. As a result, I paid for 4 new tires.

Then I began experiencing problems with the brakes and rotors which I was told were "as good as new." In the end, I am going to have to pay for those repairs. However, the other person on the loan has since walked away from the whole thing and refuses to pay for the car loan or any repairs.

I am a graduate student so not only do I have loans up the ***, I am living off of those loans and am on a very tight budget as a result. Yet I have faithfully made every loan payment, insurance payment, and I have paid for all repairs and routine maintenance [i.e. oil changes, wipers, etc.]. I have also paid over $200 in advertising costs to try selling the vehicle (not to mention the TIME i spent doing all of these things) to no avail.

Does that provide more information? Basically, I am in a situation where I cannot spend money on an attorney unless I know or feel confident that it will actually get me somewhere. Any further advice you could give would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[dcatz]

In my opinion, this isn’t a situation where more is better. Regardless of whatever might have been implied by the suggestion to “take them to court”, you don’t have grounds to compel them to pay on the loan. Like you, they’re an obligor. Even the obligee couldn’t do it. The obligee could re-take collateral and sue for a deficiency balance but not force payment. The question about a separate agreement (about matters such as who would own the car when paid and who would owe who for payments made) was more a search for hope where I expected that none existed.

The tires and mechanical repairs are not tied to the loan and are separate issues. We don’t need to know whether the car is being shared between the parties but only one is paying the loan, insurance and upkeep. See the prior comments about suit for contribution. From the comments about efforts to sell this automotive albatross, one might infer that the car is being treated as “yours” as a practical matter. If there is a chance of later disagreement about issues such as ownership, right to hold and transfer title and/or right to reimbursement, a simple agreement between yourselves could address those, and you probably don’t need an attorney for that or anything else that you actually can accomplish. The decision is yours.