The first step in determining whether or not your car has been repossessed is to check with the lender who financed the loan. If they have not repossessed the vehicle, then all is well. You may be able to continue making payments on time and in full until the loan is paid off.
If you are unable to make contact with your lender, then you may want to try contacting a local law enforcement agency or government office for assistance. If they have no record of your vehicle being seized, then it is likely still yours and you can continue making payments as normal.
If you are unable to contact either of these groups and have determined that your car has been repossessed, then there is little else that can be done at this point besides filing bankruptcy and starting over again with another lender.
Call the lender
If you’re wondering whether your car has been repossessed, the best way to find out is by calling the lender. The lender will be able to tell you if they have the car and what their plans are for it moving forward.
Check your credit report
If you haven’t been making your payments, or if you’ve had an accident and missed a payment, your lender might have taken back the car.
You can check your credit report for signs that your lender has tried to take the car back. If they’ve sent notices to creditors or debt collectors asking them to take action against you because of nonpayment, then it’s possible that the vehicle was repossessed.
If your lender has tried to take legal action against you in order to get the car back, then it’s also likely that they took back the vehicle and sold it at auction.
Check your local DMV
Check your local DMV. If you have been paying attention, you will know that when your car is repossessed, it will be sent to a junkyard where it will be sold for parts or crushed.
This means that it is no longer registered with the DMV and may not even be on record anymore. The good news is that some states allow you to register your vehicle again for a fee after it has been repossessed.
Check with your state’s DMV website or call them directly to find out what the process is for registering an impounded vehicle in your area.
Check the title of your vehicle
One of the easiest ways to find out if your car was repossessed is by checking the title of your vehicle. You can do this by going to your county’s Department of Motor Vehicles and searching for a record of title.
If there are no records at all, then it’s likely that you were never issued a title by your bank or lender. If you have a copy of the title and it says repossessed on it, then this is more likely than not an indicator that your vehicle has been repossessed.
Call the company that repossessed your car
Call the company that repossessed it. You can do this by calling the number on your bill or looking up their main office number in your local phone book. You can also call them at any time of day or night, as long as you know what time zone they’re in.
Once you’ve reached someone who works for the company that repossessed your car, ask them if they’re able to tell you whether or not your vehicle has been repossessed. If they say yes or no, ask them for more details about why if they say no, ask them if there’s anything else they can tell you about what happened with your car.
How do they know if your car was repossessed?
If you’re still in doubt about whether or not your car has been repossessed, call up the finance company that holds your loan and ask them directly. They’ll be able to tell you whether or not they’ve taken possession of your vehicle and where it currently resides.
Conclusion
It can be difficult to find out if your car was repossessed. To do so, you must first get in touch with the lender that gave you the loan. If you don’t know who that is, or if you’ve been unable to reach them, then you can use a free service like CarFax or VinAudit to get more information about your vehicle.
