Statue of limitations for a car loan

[Bobby Jay]

Jurisdiction

California

Is there some sort of time frame for a loan company to repo a vehicle? The last payment was around 2007. I'm sure there was an attempt to repo the car but it never happened. The loan has been off my credit for years (4-5 years). My plan is to register the vehicle, the dmv told me the amount owed etc. Small fortune, but after the fees are paid it will be legal to drive. It was never my intention to keep the vehicle but after this amount of time, I may as well drive it. I'm sure the title will still state a lien holder. Meaning I will ever be able to sell it etc, doesn't really matter to me. I don't wanna spend around 2k getting the vehicle legit to drive and if by some miracle the loan company decides to look me up again and take the vehicle.

 

[zddoodah]

After 12 years, I doubt the lender cares anymore.

 

[adjusterjack]

Is there some sort of time frame for a loan company to repo a vehicle?

No.

A statute of limitations is a deadline for filing a lawsuit.

Actions (like repo) that don't require a lawsuit have no time limit.

While I agree with Z that action by the lender is unlikely after all this time, it is still possible that the lender's computers are set to monitor DMV records to see if that VIN becomes active.

I don't wanna spend around 2k getting the vehicle legit to drive and if by some miracle the loan company decides to look me up again and take the vehicle.

The wheel of fortune turns, round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows.

 

[Bobby Jay]

No.

A statute of limitations is a deadline for filing a lawsuit.

Actions (like repo) that don't require a lawsuit have no time limit.

While I agree with Z that action by the lender is unlikely after all this time, it is still possible that the lender's computers are set to monitor DMV records to see if that VIN becomes active.



The wheel of fortune turns, round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows.

Interesting, never thought of them possibly monitoring the DMV info. What throws me off is they could have easily found me. My thoughts are to get it licensed and drive it to another state and leave it registered in Ca. Just curious, what would you do?

 

[army judge]

My thoughts are to get it licensed and drive it to another state and leave it registered in Ca.

I'm guessing the car is at least 12-13 years old.

If you wanted to sell the car (and could), what do you think someone would pay?

To sell it, you're going to shell out at least $2K to the state, plus insurance costs to make it street legal.

Once you get it street legal, what can you do with a 12 year old car these days, when most cars die around age five?

 

[Bobby Jay]

It's 13 years old with 100k miles. The vehicle is in immaculate shape, valued around 10k. I'm not going to sell it, plan is to keep it. It's kind of back and forth whether or not they can still take it after this long. I don't mind shelling out around 1500 to make it street legal but if they can still take it, kind of concerns me just a little.

 

[army judge]

It's 13 years old with 100k miles. The vehicle is in immaculate shape, valued around 10k. I'm not going to sell it, plan is to keep it. It's kind of back and forth whether or not they can still take it after this long. I don't mind shelling out around 1500 to make it street legal but if they can still take it, kind of concerns me just a little.

I offer no opinion on what you should do.

It is solely your decision to make.

I would have guessed the mileage, too, had I ventured a guess.

Good luck whatever decision you make.

 

[mightymoose]

My thoughts are to get it licensed and drive it to another state and leave it registered in Ca.

This would be illegal. If the vehicle is going to be primarily used in another state it needs to be registered there. The other state wants it's taxes and fees for the vehicle using its roads. You usually have about 30 days or so to register a vehicle after moving.

 

[adjusterjack]

never thought of them possibly monitoring the DMV info

I was just speculating but these days it's not beyond the realm of possibility and wouldn't take much tweaking of software to do it. Probably isn't likely, though. But people come to these forums all the time reporting on how something 10 to 20 years old came back to bite them in the ass.

My thoughts are to get it licensed and drive it to another state and leave it registered in Ca

You'd be racking up tickets in the other state for failing to register the car there and your insurance company would probably cancel you if you concealed the new location from them.

Just curious, what would you do?

With all the cars I've bought and sold in my lifetime (over 100) I've never had to address the question because I never defaulted on a loan. But to spend $2000 on bringing the registration up to date, that would seem to go against my grain on a $10,000 car that could still, even remotely, be subject to repo.

If you are willing to spend a few thousand why not call the lender and see if you can arrange a discounted lump sum settlement in exchange for a lien release? By now it would probably be found money to the lender.