Car Won't Start Because You Missed A Payment?
It’s not unusual these days that debt collectors take extreme tactics to get you to pay up on your debts. Meet the vehicle disabling device.
Wall Street Journal posted this article entitled, "Late on Car Loan? Meet the Disabler," by Jonathan Welsh, which introduced us to the vehicle disabling device. Imagine that you’re driving along the freeway on your way home just a couple days after missing your auto loan payment and your car suddenly stops. Hopefully you’ve made it to the side of the road when you realize you’ve missed your car payment and the creditor has initiated this disabling device in your car to force you to either surrender it or make your car payment so you can continue to drive it. Sound like extortion to you? Well it certainly a form of extortion not to mention this creates huge risk exposure for the wary debt collector who happens to initiate a vehicle shut down causing damage to the consumer.
I’m not seeing any of these devices here in California yet, but it seems to be a sign of things to come. Protect yourself by asking the dealership if one of these devices has been installed in your vehicle when you purchase a car from a dealership. Also, if you’re in bankruptcy and have one of these devices, ask your attorney to request the dealer disable the device as it could constitute a violation of the automatic stay injunction that legally stops all attempts to collect debts against you.
