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High-Tech RepoMan
PlayfullyClever writes "A new gizmo is upping the odds that even the most hard-knock customer will come up with the car payment. Hooked into the ignition system, the gadget comes in a handful of versions with one common conclusion:
No pay, no start.
It's worked wonders at Norfolk's Patriot Auto Sales, where nearly every car that drives off the lot is outfitted with a PayTeck Smart Box, a system that hands over a five-digit code in exchange for each payment. Come due date, the car won't crank until the customer punches the code into a palm-size keypad wired into the dash.
I would think this "Smart Box" would get hacked way too easily, leaving car companies without their money."
Well, at least people with bad credit histories will be given the chance of buying to buy a car. It won't matter for those who have the money, but it just might be good for those who are poor.
You don't own it, the lot owns it, you're making payments and they are allowing you to drive the car. Once you pay off the loan its yours to do with as you wish, but if you fall behind on the payments, its their right to seize their property.
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You don't own it, the lot owns it, you're making payments and they are allowing you to drive the car. Once you pay off the loan its yours to do with as you wish, but if you fall behind on the payments, its their right to seize their property.
I'm sorry, but in virtually every sane auto contract that is not so.
If I buy a car from a dealership then I am going to get a bill of sale. I will eventually get a title from DMV that shows that I own that car. The title will also reflect the security interest of whomever gave the loan for that car (assuming I didn't buy it outright) -- but the fact remains that I own the car.
A security interest is not the same as them owning the car. The lot got paid for the car by whomever I got the loan from. It's the same theory behind a secured credit card (another typical ploy used to screw people -- WTF does a secured credit card with no risk to the issuer require massive fees and 20% interest??). The bank doesn't own the funds you deposited into the account to get the card -- they only have a security interest in them.
Now I can't speak for the contracts that you sign if you buy a car from a carshark "buy here, pay here" type guy. I'm not stupid or desperate enough to do business with one.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Those liens are callable if you default, and since most car/land loans are secured with the property in question, it's the bank/dealer's right to seize their property if you are in default.
You are entirely correct -- but for the use of the word "their". It should have been "your".
It's also a little known fact that in virtually every state if they seize the property they have to make every attempt to sell it for maximum market value. Anything gained above the amount of money they are owed has to be turned over to the owner of the property. Of course with a car loan you are screwed because cars never gain value -- but if they seize your house and the market will pay twice what is owed on it then they have to send that excess cash to you.
Of course nobody knows this and being the nice industry that it is most people get screwed over anyway by the credit sharks.
You know, it's very easy to slam someone for not being able to pay their bills. But why don't you take a look at the credit industry sometime before sticking up for them. A lot of them are bloodsucking motherfuckers that pray on people.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.