The lender can legally take the vehicle one day after the payment is due. That is, on the day the payment is late, the lender can begin repossession efforts. The day the payment is late, the contract is void.
It depends on the terms of the contract. Legally if you miss 1 payment you are delinquent and they can start repossession proceedings on their vehicle.
You can start to worry about repossession of your vehicle as soon as you miss your payment. Depending on the loan amount and the type of vehicle you have you may have up to 30 days from your last missed payment to risk loosing your vehicle. If you keep in touch with the lender of your car, you have a better chance of not loosing your vehicle right away.
no
The repossession laws will vary with each city/state. A title loan company can't repo a car if the payment is not yet due unless the car is behind on payments.
That sounds odd, repossession is usually done when you've missed payments.
Yes, if you have proof that your lender received your payment before your vehicle was repossessed. If you have this proof, you can sue them and get your car back and not be charged for any fees.
California allows self help repossession as long as there is no breach of the peace. There is no requirement to send a Right to Cure letter unless your specific contract says that one must be sent prior to repossession.
This will usually be stated in the contract you sign when financing the vehicle. Some places, especially the "Bad Credit/No Credit" lots will attempt to repossess in as little as one day after payment is due. I don't see any financier letting it go for longer than 4 months with no payment be for they file for repossession.
Yes, it is true that repossession agents must verify VINs before taking a vehicle. They have to be certain that they have the correct vehicle.
Your option is to make the payment or have the car repossessed. If you had 10K to put into a vehicle that carries you from point A to point B, maybe you should have put some of it away for actual car payments.
No months. It will be more like weeks or days. In practice, you can be one day past due and the lender can send your vehicle for repossession. It might be months before the actual repossession happens; it will depend on how difficult it is for the agency to secure it.