Letting the Car Go...

[Amy26]

Hi guys! Question!! I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do this or not but I wanted to know if I did decide, how I would go about doing it.

My reaffirmation agreement did not get filed with the court in time (stupid lawyer blames me instead of his paralegal!!!) so...I'm now faced with a decision.

I just bought the car in March and it has a 9% interest rate on it. I put zero down on it and its brand new and upside down by like 5k or so. I've been making faithful payments on it through the BK and its current.

I originally was going with the reaffirmation agreement because it was a decent loan and I was hoping that would be the one thing on my credit report that could help it get back to good.

Well, I'm a little peeved that I would be doing a ride through on a 6 year loan that isn't showing up on my credit... there is no point, to me, to be making payments on an upside down car that is not benefiting my credit score.

And I am mostly concerned about my credit for 1. my federal job and 2. my stupid car insurance went up a lot just because I filed ...

So, my question is... how would I go about "letting it go"? Its with Toyota and I am current. Do I need to stop paying on it and wait for them to contact me? Can I just call them up now (or in 6 months a year whatever) and say hey I don't want it where can I drop it off?

Thanks!

[music12]

if you are sure you want to give it back, just stop paying. at some point they will repo it. you are under no obligation to pay since it's been discharged. i don't know if the repo could appear on your credit report after a bk, though? maybe others would know.

[Amy26]

Well, I thought about that but they wouldn't be able to repo it... lol. We have garage parking where we live and you can't get in without an access card. Also, its my only transportation so I really wouldn't want them to repo it while I still have the tags on it... plus I am not allowed to keep a car on the premises without tags.

[drowningNdebt]

No the repo won't show on your credit. The account will simply be labeled something like $0 included in Bankruptcy. You do a ride through and keep the payments current, you keep the car. You don;t want the car then stop paying. No obligations. That's the advantage of doing a ride through. I'm doing a ride through on my 99' mercedes. I want to get a newer car after discharge.

[Amy26]

Hehe I know, thanks for the reply. I'm just asking how to go about letting it go. I have a good credit history with Toyota so its a shame to see it get tarnished but I'm not sure if I should just wait for them to contact me after so many months of non payment or go ahead and call them up and ask if I can just drop it off somewhere.

[bkmaggster]

Hehe I know, thanks for the reply. I'm just asking how to go about letting it go. I have a good credit history with Toyota so its a shame to see it get tarnished but I'm not sure if I should just wait for them to contact me after so many months of non payment or go ahead and call them up and ask if I can just drop it off somewhere.

It depends on if you want it to disappear randomly when you are walking out of the grocery store or a restaurant or the mall. Eventually, that's what's going to happen.

I vote for calling them up and being in control of the situation.

[brokeballer]

a little off topic, but why did your auto insurance go up? How did the insurance company even know in the first place?

[lookingforward]

I'm not advising this, but I read a thread on here somewhere where another poster took his in to the dealer to get the oil changed and just never went back to pick it up.

[drowningNdebt]

wow lookingforward thats a great idea. then just call the lender and let them know its at the dealer. Only negative is your license plate will still be on the car.

[Oxygen61]

Amy26-

I feel for you. My lawyer did the exact same thing....except I really made a fuss about it and interestingly enough Honda's lawyers filed it on 9/23 and my discharge was on 9/22.
So they were a bit late. I'm not sure what's going to happen now. So I will just give the car back like you.....no point in having a car for a few years without it reporting to credit.

[Amy26]

a little off topic, but why did your auto insurance go up? How did the insurance company even know in the first place?

Because car insurance is based off credit...they check my credit when they do auto renewals. I believe this is a state by state practice and not all of them do it.

My rates went up about 350 dollars a year.

And I'd feel a bit odd at just leaving it at the dealer without so much as a word... plus what about the registration with the DMV? How do you get the registration out of your name if you're just giving up a car?

Ugg this is so frustrating... lol. I did make a fuss about it with my lawyer but he blamed me. He said I waited too long to get the signed papers back to him... I had been working with his paralegal and she's just super annoying. I sent her what I *thought* was the only sheet I had to sign and then didn't hear anything from her... I did this around the 4th or so. I didn't hear back from her the following week...so I sent her an email asking if she received it. She said oh yes I did but it was incomplete... I need page #8 and #10 as well.... I'm like ok....were you gonna call me or email me and tell me I was missing stuff? So, by that time it was the 14th. I sent her the rest. I sent her an email again asking her if she received it and if we still had time to file it. She said Oh yea there is plenty of time!! So, I didn't worry about it... the 18th came and went with no filing.

I talked to my lawyer on the 19th or so and he was like yea it didn't get filed because you sent it back too late... he said I see you did get it in before the 18th but it was too late. And I told him what I mentioned in my above text and he was like oh well yea I'd have to go back through this long email chain that I have ... he basically blew it off and was then telling me I should just give up the car and go buy a new one as soon as I was discharged and that he would hook me up with some people who could get me into another car.........

[justplaintired]

I'm not advising this, but I read a thread on here somewhere where another poster took his in to the dealer to get the oil changed and just never went back to pick it up.

Now for some reason that strikes me funny! I wonder what they thought when no one came to get it?

Far as the car, I would call the people handling the loan. See what they say. You know some creditors still show timely payments even if it was included in BK. Our 2nd mortgage showed a timely payment made in August, we filed in June. So who knows, it would be worth asking. Basically since you filed on it now, you can let it go or keep it. Buy yourself sometime though, you'll need another car won't you? Since you are current right now, you have a little time. Maybe one of those high interest rate car offers that I am sure you are getting, we are getting them a couple times a week now, anyway, see what kind of car you can get. No sense in rushing in to letting it go.

You know our 1st mortgage never got our discharge papers, let alone our reaffirmation papers (didn't get to reaffirm), so now I have to sent them our discharge and order of no asset papers in a fax so we can get back online. Nothing ever goes perfectly. But dh work hours are short and more got laid off at this job, so I am glad we didn't reaffirm. I love my house and I pray I never have to walk away from it, but if things got bad I can walk away, crying like a baby ofcourse.

[LimpDisc]

"My rates went up about 350 dollars a year"

Wow! Was that on a single car? I expect ours to go up, but wasn't expecting that much of an increase. Do you mind telling the year, make and model of your car?

[Amy26]

2009 Toyota Corrolla. Yes, single car.

I imagine its because 1. Toyotas are the most stolen cars in the country and 2. I had pretty good credit before and now its in the toilet.

[Amy26]

Now for some reason that strikes me funny! I wonder what they thought when no one came to get it?

Far as the car, I would call the people handling the loan. See what they say. You know some creditors still show timely payments even if it was included in BK. Our 2nd mortgage showed a timely payment made in August, we filed in June. So who knows, it would be worth asking. Basically since you filed on it now, you can let it go or keep it. Buy yourself sometime though, you'll need another car won't you? Since you are current right now, you have a little time. Maybe one of those high interest rate car offers that I am sure you are getting, we are getting them a couple times a week now, anyway, see what kind of car you can get. No sense in rushing in to letting it go.

You know our 1st mortgage never got our discharge papers, let alone our reaffirmation papers (didn't get to reaffirm), so now I have to sent them our discharge and order of no asset papers in a fax so we can get back online. Nothing ever goes perfectly. But dh work hours are short and more got laid off at this job, so I am glad we didn't reaffirm. I love my house and I pray I never have to walk away from it, but if things got bad I can walk away, crying like a baby ofcourse.

Well, I don't think they will be showing it on my credit report because they zeroed out the balance on my credit report and marked it as IIB a long time ago. So, it already looks like the car was written off.

I suppose I'll give them a car later on if we decide to do something. I gave CarMax a call and they said that they frequently see people post bankruptcy get a loan and some do it right after its discharged. I might look around and see what I like and maybe get another one in a month or 2. I can always get another one first, make sure everything is good with that and then just stop paying on the corolla. I can then call them up and see what they want me to do I guess. I always get so nervous about dealing with things you're not paying on.