Relative has taken vehicle i pay for out of anger

[JeepGeek]

I had been shopping for a new Jeep in May of 2005 but could not obtain a loan due to crappy credit rating. I had asked my grandfather to cosign on the loand which he agreed. Even then I could not get the loan my credit was so shoddy. Without my asking, because I could have coped with my current vehicle at the time, he went ahead and got me the loan outright in his name. I was appreciative even though i had not asked him to. I traded my own personal vehicle in on the new one, made the down payment with money I had given to him, and I have paid every payment on time as well as insurance. I lost my job in novemebr but 2 and a hal weeks ago I took a job to try an make the payment. I was $70 shy and had another family member front me the money until i got paid which was fine. The only money my grandfather had put on the jeep was this months insurance payment since it is in his name. i was going to pay him back as well. It is practicaly impossible to catch up on a month and a half worth of bills in 2 weeks time. Recently we got into a verbal argument about my job situation. I have only been ther for 2 weeks yet he gets on me about finding a job and giving me ONE WEEK to catch up on ALL of my bills or he is going to pull the insurance. (he is a controll freak in the 99th degree) SO the argument escaltes and he takes my keys. It has been a week now and he will not return my keys. He wrote a check in the ammount of my last payment and left i for me to take. Can he do this to me as I had traded MY OWN vehicle in on the new one and made all of the payments thus far? I have a kid on the way...3 months time and i cannot afford to go out and buy nor do I WANT to have to buy some unreliabl, unsafe junker of a used car. This was supposed to be MY vehicle...he just got the loan so I could obtain it, not to my knowledge for him being able to hold it over my head. If he does sell it out from under me which I am assuming he can legaly since everything is in his name.... what about me being compensated for the 5 grand Ive already put in on it? Not one red cent has come out of his pocket and the vehicle was purchased for MY exclusive use. Not for him or anybody else. COuld this not be considered a gift and therefore making the reposession unlawful? Please help....I dont like being forced to borrow cars and walk places when i worked so hard for 3 years to finaly get a vehicle I like and love to drive.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I had been shopping for a new Jeep in May of 2005 but could not obtain a loan due to crappy credit rating. I had asked my grandfather to cosign on the loand which he agreed. Even then I could not get the loan my credit was so shoddy. Without my asking, because I could have coped with my current vehicle at the time, he went ahead and got me the loan outright in his name. I was appreciative even though i had not asked him to. I traded my own personal vehicle in on the new one, made the down payment with money I had given to him, and I have paid every payment on time as well as insurance. I lost my job in novemebr but 2 and a hal weeks ago I took a job to try an make the payment. I was $70 shy and had another family member front me the money until i got paid which was fine. The only money my grandfather had put on the jeep was this months insurance payment since it is in his name. i was going to pay him back as well. It is practicaly impossible to catch up on a month and a half worth of bills in 2 weeks time. Recently we got into a verbal argument about my job situation. I have only been ther for 2 weeks yet he gets on me about finding a job and giving me ONE WEEK to catch up on ALL of my bills or he is going to pull the insurance. (he is a controll freak in the 99th degree) SO the argument escaltes and he takes my keys. It has been a week now and he will not return my keys. He wrote a check in the ammount of my last payment and left i for me to take. Can he do this to me as I had traded MY OWN vehicle in on the new one and made all of the payments thus far? I have a kid on the way...3 months time and i cannot afford to go out and buy nor do I WANT to have to buy some unreliabl, unsafe junker of a used car. This was supposed to be MY vehicle...he just got the loan so I could obtain it, not to my knowledge for him being able to hold it over my head. If he does sell it out from under me which I am assuming he can legaly since everything is in his name.... what about me being compensated for the 5 grand Ive already put in on it? Not one red cent has come out of his pocket and the vehicle was purchased for MY exclusive use. Not for him or anybody else. COuld this not be considered a gift and therefore making the reposession unlawful? Please help....I dont like being forced to borrow cars and walk places when i worked so hard for 3 years to finaly get a vehicle I like and love to drive.

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I'm also sorry that you might not like my answer but here it goes. I would advise you NOT to take a legal route. In most instances in dealing with family, you can forever cause issues over minor quibbles like this -- minor in the grand scheme of life. To begin, it seems your grandfather has the benefit of actually owning the car. Exactly what you may be owed is a different story. I don't think you will easily be able to obtain the physical possession of the car but you can recover an amount of money that you put into the car. I'm not sure why you couldn't buy another used car for that amount of money to get around but that's another story. Work this one out. Not worth taking to the legal system and it is going to be especially sticky but the bottom line is that you don't own the car and may be entitled to compensation. Good luck and let us know how things work out.