My car was repossessed days after purchase – seller vanished when I tried to make final payment, then my vehicle did too

A DRIVER has taken a car seller to court claiming that their vehicle was repossessed within days – before they could even finish paying.

The buyer and seller were battling the automobile as the driver who purchased it said they only had $200 left to pay for it and the salesman stressed that repossessing it cost him over $5,000.

YouTube/ Judge Judy

YouTube/ Judge Judy

Both Robert Silas and Adrian Hite stated their cases in front of a popular reality court judge in a clip uploaded to YouTube on the official Judge Judy ( @JudgeJudy ) account recently.

After Hite repossessed the car, the buyer took it back which only led to the seller taking it again before Silas took the car salesman to court with the hopes of getting the car back in his possession.

Silas shared that it all started when he saw the automobile on the side of the road and talked to Hite about purchasing it.

He said they made a deal on June 1 as he only had $750 to pay for the car at the time they made the transaction.

The full price of the vehicle was $950 and Silas said he told the seller he’d pay the remaining $200 “after the weekend.”

While he didn’t ultimately pay the remaining balance, the driver stressed that he tried to contact Hite multiple times.

When Silas said that the seller told him, on a call, that he wouldn’t be able to receive his payment at that time, Hite quickly disagreed.

“When he called to make the payment, I told him to put the payment in the drop box because we were closed and my cars aren’t parked along the side of the road, either,” he slammed.

“That’s also not true. I have a business.”

That’s when Judge Judy intervened to say that the payment was in cash, she said she wouldn’t have put cash in a drop box either and Silas nodded in agreement with her statement.

Hite said that the buyer could’ve gotten a money order.

The judge told Silas that, if she were in his position and unable to hand the payment to Hite, she would have gone to his dealership to give him the remaining $200 the day after.

The buyer said he didn’t go to the seller’s dealership the next day but said it wasn’t because he didn’t want to pay.

“Your Honor, I was unaware of where his business actually was,” Silas explained.

Your legal rights: Car Repossession

When you first get a car and there's a credit on it, the creditor has certain rights on the vehicle until you've fully paid it off.

• In many states, a creditor or lessor for a car has legal authority to seize it.
• State laws differ so it’s important for buyers to read their contract to find out what could result in a vehicle repossession.

Once the vehicle has been repossessed:

• Once a car has been repossessed, a creditor or lessor has options as to what happens next.
• It may decide to keep the car as compensation for the debt owed or sell it in either a public or private sale.
• In some states, the creditor or lessor must let the buyer know what will happen to the car.

SOURCE: Find Law

“The place that I received the car was a vacant lot next to a building that I was unaware was associated with him.”

Silas claimed that he didn’t get a specific address from Hite until June 6, two days after he was supposed to give him the payment.

Judge Judy asked for the buyer to show a log of calls he made to the seller after June 7 but he said Hite wasn’t returning his calls and he couldn’t find another number to reach him at.

“The only number I had for him I called multiple times,” Silas said.

“And he stopped responding to me.”

When the Judge urged him, again, to show her proof he’d called Hite after the 7th, he looked through a stack of papers before asking to consult his counsel.

The seller accused him of lying about having called him.

The judge said she only saw one phone call from Silas to Hite on June 7 and nothing more though the buyer stressed that he called the salesman 10 times.

Silas began trying to prove that Hite didn’t have a dealership business though Judge Judy explained that point doesn’t matter if the buyer admits to purchasing a car he saw on the side of the road.

They went on to discuss the location of the vehicle and determined it was at a car shop that Hite took it to as he called it a “safe location” from Silas.

When the car seller said it cost $5,347 to repossess the automobile Hite referred to as a “junk car,” the judge didn’t believe him.

“I don’t believe you spent $5,000 because he owed you $200,” she stated.

That’s when Hite admitted the $5,347 total he gave was a combination of fees in connection to getting the vehicle back from Silas.