A repossession is when a bank or lender decides to take back their secured collateral after you default on your loan with them.  In other words, if you take out a loan to purchase your car, you typically provide the bank with a security interest in your vehicle.  If you default on that loan, the bank can decide to take back that vehicle to sell it and recoup their money.

Most types of collateral can be repossessed, including boats, Jetskis, and airplanes, but most commonly, for the everyday person, it is their car being repossessed.

If you default on your loan agreement and your bank has the appropriate paperwork, they are generally permitted to have your car repossessed, even without a court order.  

They may choose to repossess your car even if you are only a few days late on your payment.  

However, the banks and their repossession agents must follow strict rules when repossessing your vehicle.  If they do not, they can be sued and you can recover compensation for their wrongful repossession.

Repossessions can often be very tense situations.  They often take place late at night, in your driveway, yard or in front of your home.  Many times, if there is a confrontation or objection at the time of the repossession, the repo agent will call the police to help him complete the repossession.

Repossessions are a civil matter and the police are not permitted to assist or get involved in the repossession.  If they do so, they are breaking the law, and both the repo and the police officers can be held liable if that happens.  That being said, police officers sometimes do not know the law or do not care, and may try to threaten you with arrest or other legal consequences for failing to cooperate with their instructions.

If police are involved in a repossession, you should politely advise that this is a civil matter and that they are not permitted to get involved.  However, you should never put yourself at risk over your vehicle.  If the police officer continues to insist that you allow the repossession or continues to threaten you for failing to cooperate, you should comply with the officer’s instructions.

• You have the right to object to the repossession;
• You should record and video as much of the repossession as possible;
• You have the right to recover your belongings from the vehicle.  However, you do not necessarily have the right to recover your belongings at the time of the repossession itself, and may have to redeem those possessions at the repo yard.
• In most states, you are not required to pay anything to redeem your personal belongings.
• You have the right to redeem your vehicle, by paying the necessary amount within the required time period.  Typically this is about fifteen days from the repossession.  You lender must notify you of the amounts needed to redeem your vehicle.
• You have the right to recover your belongings in the vehicle.
• You have the right to recover any surplus from the sale of your vehicle.  For example, if your vehicle sells at auction for $10,000, but you only owed $7,500 after all costs and fees are calculated, then you are entitled to the remaining $2,500.

We offer a NO COST, FREE evaluation of your case to see if there are any errors that we may be able to help you with. If we think you have a case and you decide you move forward, we work on a contingency basis which means we do not get paid unless you get paid. We have over a decade of experience helping consumers assert their consumer rights.