Expert: Rob Painter, Ase, CFEI, CAFATE - 10/20/2010

Question
my husband and i let my mother and father-in-law borrow our truck. we lived in Tx and they lived in Iowa. we had them on our usaa insurance then decided they should insure the truck on their own since they were the only ones driving it.  my leinholder gave the okay and it was done. a few months later they got into some legal trouble and fled to mexico with my 3 year old brother in law in OUR TRUCK!! i attempted to make a police report but was told by the officer who answered that i could not report it stolen because i had willingly handed over the keys. but i did say they could take it out of the country either. anyway, i figured that since they were runaways they probably would not be paying the car note or the insurance so unfortunately we were obligated to take over payments. Then i realized i had to put insurance on the truck because i didnt know if they were going to keep paying their insurance company(progressive). i contacted progressive and they refused to let me know if my truck was insured by my inlaws because i was not listed on the policy to receive any information. when i contacted my insurance (usaa) they said they would not add our truck back on our insurance because it is no longer in the U.S. and informed me that my leinholder might add their own insurance if they find the truck to be uninsured. a week later we were notified by a U.S. marshal that my inlaws had been found and arrested by the Mexican Army and turned over to immigration then deported back to the U.S. and our truck was left behind.  Both my inlaws were incarcerated and my 3 year old brother in law was placed in the custody of cps. Both inlaws are facing long term prison time and i am still out a truck. we now have custody of my 3 year old brother-in-law and are still paying monthly on the truck. i spoke with my mother-in-law from jail and she gave me the address and the name of the people(mexican residents) to who she gave the keys to our truck. i do not know where to go from here. i cannot afford to continue to pay this truck and take care of my brother-in-law because we have a family of our own to support. what can i do about our truck??

Answer
Hello,

You have a very bad situaton and I can't think of anything good that will assist you. What is to stop the mexican family from saying your inlaws gave them the truck?

You can't just go over the border and get the truck without possibly ending up in jail yourself.

I can't see where you will ever have the truck again.

As for the payments, you are obligated under contract to pay them. Its not their fault you created the problems with the truck being in Mexico. Its not their fault you are stuck supporting your brother in law.


I know you may not want to hear this, but none of the problems you have would be present if you would not have loaned your car out.

You created this monster of a problem.

If you quit paying,not only will your credit be shot, but the lien holder might get a judgement against you to garnish your wages.

Other than that, you could file for bankruptcy and erase your debt.

Look, many times I can suggest options they never thought of.

Here I have nothing to work with.



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