[sb0718]

My parents bought a car from a dealership who financed them for the car and then they went bankrupt. My brother got pulled over by a police officer when he was driving the car. The police officer told him that the car was not registered. My parents then went to the DMV and the DMV told them that the dealership never filed their paperwork, and that the car could be stolen. Couple days later my parents received a letter from them saying that they were not financing their car anymore. A couple of weeks later a repo person shows up to their house, telling them that they need the car back.

My question is how can they find out who they should be making their payments to? Or if they decided that they do not want the car anymore, could they get their down-payment back, plus the money that they have invested in the car (The car has had problems)? And who to go after? And what kind of attorney should they be looking for?

Thanks

[smoothy]

Whomever bought that debt from the dealership that went out of business does in fact own it now. They should have sent your parents a new payment book or bill. Perhaps it was overlooked or thrown away by mistake not recognising what it really was.

Debts can and do trancend the life of any business or individual as they can be sold or passed on to others until that debt has been paid. Particularly in a secured debt as this is.

Technically if they weren't paying for the car for any reason... the person who owns the debt owns the lien... and thus the car when it went into default.

Any down payment or previous payments are not owed back unless the real value of the car at auction is higher than what has been paid so far. That is unlikely.

Hiring an attorney is a waste iof time and likely they will be told by any lawyer they contact.

Also maintenance and repairs were their responsibility... that can not be recovered.

The repo people should be able to tell them who owns the debt... and they can then get current on the payments plus any additionals fees owed as a result and stop the reposession.

[Fr_Chuck]

If they are going bankrupt really you have no one to go after, since it is the car firm who now can't be sued since they are bankrupt

Next there is no one to pay, expect maybe the bankruptcy court, the issue is, do you have paper work to prove the loan ?