Consumer Law, Warranties Agreement over new car

[montague]

My daughter and her then fiance purchased a new car Sept 2008 in MT. The title is in both of their names but the car loan is in his name only. Their agreement has been that he makes the car payment and she makes the insurance payment. All was fine until he broke off the engagement in Oct 2009. They then made another agreement to continue this arrangement until April 2010 at which time she would get a new loan in her name only (due to her finances). He is now threatening to have his Aunt come to her workplace with the police to take the car back tomorrow.

To complicate everything, our daughter and the car are in Alaska as her ex-fiance is in the military stationed in Ireland. They agreed she would move home to AK to wait for his return to the states at which time they were to be married. She drove from MT to AK in the car in September 2009 before the engagement was off. She has his power of attorney which she used to purchase the car. Her ex-fiance now says he has given his Aunt a power of attorney.

Can he (or his Aunt) repossess this car?

 

[fredrikklaw]

Power of Attorney???

Joint ownership makes this a two-way street!

First of all, the only entity able to "repossess" the car is the finance company and only in the event of non-payment and as lien holders. Her boyfriend can take possession of the car on the strength of his half ownership interest in the car if he sees it parked somewhere, but then so can your daughter at a later date.

As for this power of attorney; I can only assume that it was the ex's idea as way of retaining control over the car in case of a break up, but he shouldn't have wasted the $20.00 having it notarized because as far as the current situation is concerned, it means nothing and he can spend another $100.00 and notarize five more power of attorney and give them to whoever he wants, but it will not alter the fact that your daughter has an ownership interest and right in the car and she cannot be ordered to return the car.

He can huff and he can puff all he wants but he is not going to get anywhere! There are a few options available to both of them that will resolve this matter with the minimum of fuss and aggravation; muscle-flexing is of course not one of those options. For any other of the civil options to work, he has to be rational and willing to sit down to a discussion.

fredrikklaw

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Agreed. This is a lot of huffing and puffing. With the loan being secured in his name, if payments aren't made then it's the lender who probably owns the car. As it stands right now, the ex is in between a rock and a hard place as fredrik mentions - joint title. The fact that the lender decided to only keep him on the hook for the loan is his problem. Best to have a rational discussion on how to dissolve this agreement with the car.