Automobiles

[Ineedhelp2]

How many cars are you allowed to have?

We have one main car that we use, and two junkers that need to be repaired.

I want to eventually fix up one that needs a new engine, but for now it is worth little, but there is a title loan on it of about $1,500.

I also have another older car I want to fix up for my son. Can I give it to him now? It's not worth that much. Would it look bad to transfer property at this time?

[FraggleRock]

I wouldn't transfer property. We had three vehicles when we filed. One was a brand new van with negative equity. One was a truck that we paid $400 for and another vehicle worth about $1K. We kept all of them.

[SinkingFast]

Yep. Don't transfer any property now. The Court looks back a year on property transfers.

I wouldn't worry too much about the old junkers. Be sure and document defects for valuation purposes.

[Ineedhelp2]

I was wondering if there was a limit on the number of cars. If not, I'm in good shape. We get a $3,400 total exemption, and the three of them together have less equity than that.

Also, is it true that if you owe more than you own on a car that a bk will eliminate the exess?

For example, if my car is worth $4,000, but I owe $5,000, does a chapter 7 eliminate $1,000 of the debt? And if so, do they go by wholesale or retail value?

[FraggleRock]

That's not the case. I wish it was, but no it's not.

[SinkingFast]

The number you can keep totally depends on the wording of your State's exemption.

Some States say "A vehicle." That means the filer gets one. Or a couple could keep 2 if filing joint.

Some States say "A vehicler per driver." If you had 5 drivers in your family, like we do, you'd get to keep 5 vehicles, as long as you don't exceed your exemption limit.

The Trustee can come into play there with the New Law. New Law allows for operation expenses for 2 vehicles. And the Trustee could enforce that issue if they want. Make you justify why you have more than 2 cars.

Our exemption doesn't specify a number of vehicles. We have 3 cars and can absolutely demonstrate the need to have each one.

[Inthestorm]

Does a 15 year old with a learner's permit qualify as a "driver???"

[lrprn]

Inthestorm, posting to old threads (especially a three year old thread from 2006) is against our forum rules. Bankruptcy and other areas of the law are constantly changing, and bringing up these old threads can expose information that was accurate when posted but now is not accurate. Also most of the members that posted in these older threads are no longer active, so any questions asked will not be answered.

In the future in this situation, please start a new thread of your own. Thanks!

I'm closing this thread to further posting.