What You Need to Know About Wrongful Repossessions

No Notice Required

In a typical scenario, a finance company or bank can order the repossession of your car or truck if you fall behind on your monthly payments. The bank is not required to give you any prior notice before repossessing the vehicle. Under Arizona law, the company employed to pick up your car --- the repossession or repo company --- can take your car out of the driveway, from a parking lot at work or at the store, or from any other place you may park the car which does not have any access restrictions. They cannot go through a garage, a locked gate or fence, or anything else which blocks access to the car.

Breach of Peace

In taking possession of a vehicle, the repo company cannot take any action which would be considered a "breach of the peace." Breach of the peace includes use of bodily force, threats, trespass, deception or trickery. A repo company also cannot enter your residence without your consent, and cannot seize property over your objections. 

I have seen cases where the repossession company will stake out a home waiting for the debtor to leave with the vehicle and then follow after it. This is legal so long as It does not follow too closely, drive recklessly or otherwise try to intimidate the debtor.  Forcing the debtor off the road, or pinning them into a place where they cannot leave is also a breach of the peace.

Remedies

Victims of a wrongful repossession or breach of the peace by a repossession company in Arizona can pursue damages against the repossession company and the bank for damages. The bank is liable to the damages caused by the repossession company. 

Maricopa County Superior Court Confirms Four Year Statute of Limitations in Auto Sales Contract

Maricopa County Superior Court reaffirms Four Year Statute of Limitations in Deficiency Claim

In the Case of Autovest, LLC v. Randall, CV2014-013134, Maricopa County Judge Karen A. Mullins reaffirmed that the statute of limitations to collect on a deficiency balance for an auto loan after repossession is only four years. If the car was purchased using a Retail Installment Sales Contract, and the dealer arranged the financing, then the statute of limitations runs four years after the car is repossessed.

Complete Defense to Colleciton Action

In Arizona, if you are sued by a lender for a deficiency balance after repossession, and the lender has waited four years or more to file suit, they you should have a complete defense to the collection action. Meaning, you should be able to get the case dismissed and not owe anything.

Defending a Lawsuit filed by Autovest, LLC

Have you been sued by Autovest, LLC?

Autovest has filed hundreds of lawsuits against Arizona debtors to collect deficiency balances on vehicles which were repossessed years ago. In many of the cases I have seen, the statute of limitations has passed. Meaning, you would have a complete defense to Autovest’s claim. Under Arizona law, an automobile lender generally has only four years after the repossession to file suit to collect any remaining balance. If it waits four years and 1 day, it is too late and you can get the case dismissed. 

Why then would Autovest sue on accounts which are Past the Statute of Limitations?

One might wonder why Autovest would sue someone on a debt if it knew the statute of limitations had run. Well, under the rules in Arizona courts, if you – the debtor – do not answer the lawsuit and raise the defense of statute of limitation, the defense is waived, meaning Autovest can get a judgment which it can then collect on. 

What should I do?

First off, do no wait to get help. If you wait too long, then Autovest can get its judgment and you will have to pay the old debt. 

Second, make sure you contact an experienced consumer lawyer in your state to assist you. If the statute of limitations has run, some consumer lawyers will agree to defend these Autovest cases with little or no cost to you.

Third, make sure you are not one of Autovest’s victims. Get help now!

Greater Glendale Finance, LLC Files Stale Suits Against Arizona Consumers

Greater Glendale Finance, LLC, previously known as Walker Motors Financing, LLC, continues to file lawsuits against Arizona consumers well after the statute of limitations has run. Greater Glendale Financing is the finance arm of the J.D. Byrider dealership located in Glendale, Arizona. Over the years, J.D. Byrider has sold thousands of vehicles to Arizona consumers and financed those purchases through its financing arm which has gone by the names of CNAC, Walker Motors Financing, LLC and now Greater Glendale Finance, LLC.

Like its franchise twin Bartolini Finance in Mesa, Arizona, and Bartolini’s sister company Grace Finance in Chandler, Arizona, Greater Glendale Finance is the financial arm for the JD Byrider franchise in Glendale. When a car is sold by JD Byrider, the sales/finance contract is assigned to Greater Glendale Finance. If payments are missed, and the car gets repossessed, Greater Glendale has four years under Arizona law to bring a lawsuit to collect any deficiency it claims to be owed.

What Greater Glendale is doing, like Bartolini Finance has been known to do, is waiting until nearly six years after the repossession before bringing suit. Greater Glendale then tries to argue that the contract is covered by the six year statute of limitations for a written contract, when the law in Arizona is clear that the statute of limitations on a vehicle finance contract is four years.

If you have been recently sued by Greater Glendale Finance, LLC, I may be able to help you. Please call Floyd W. Bybee at the BYBEE LAW CENTER, PLC (480) 756-8822 for a free phone consultation.

Statute of Limitations on Repossessions is 4 Years

The Arizona Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion addressing the statute of limitations in a repossession lawsuit to collect a deficiency. The case is titled Baseline Financial Services v. Madison, 278 P.3d 321 (2012) (click here to see a copy of the Opinion).

The opinion clarifies that the statute of limitations in Arizona for the collection of a deficiency on a repossession is four years, not six as many of the collection agencies argue. See A.R.S. § 47-2725(A).

If you are an Arizona consumer who has been sued on a deficiency balance from a repossession, please call Floyd W. Bybee at the BYBEE LAW CENTER, PLC (480) 756-8822 for a free phone consultation to determine if you have a defense to the lawsuit.