It depends on your contract.
Usually if you miss two payments the finance company (not the company that sold you the car - they already have their money) will start taking actions to repossess your car.
In the UK, if you have made more than half the payments, you can (if you want) hand the keys over and owe the finance company nothing (assuming it was bought with a car loan or HP).
If you get into arrears with your car finance before you are half way through your term, chances are when your car is repossessed you will still owe the finance company more money, especially if you bought a new car or if you used a dealer who tricked you into reducing your monthly payments by leaving a lump sum to pay at the end of the finance term.
On a personal note, you should NEVER buy a car (or any other non essential item) on finance. If you can't afford a nice shiny new car with your own money, buy a cheap rusty one that will keep you on the road in the short term. Then put aside the payments (including interest) that you would have had to make for the car you wanted - open an e-savings account and set up a standing order from your current account to your savings account, treat it just like you were making payments to a finance company - and DON'T dip into it when you're short. If your cheap rusty car only lasts 12 months, then buy a better one when it dies (or fails its MOT) with the money you've saved and carry on saving the payments. If you were going to buy a little Ka or similar, you would probably be paying £200 a month for it for the next 4 years, with massive restrictions on the mileage you were allowed to do (usually 6000 miles a year before penalties) and at the end of the four years you would not own the car and would have paid nearly £10,000 for a car 'worth' about £6,000.
If you do what I suggest after 3 years you would be able to walk into the car showroom and buy the car with cash!
If you were unable to keep up the payments to yourself ( i.e. save the money on a regular basis) then you would probably have found yourself defaulting on payments made to a finance company and have lost your shiny new car anyhow.
aarons can repo as soon as you have missed your first payment as long as u give up the product if u dont nothing really they can do about it
As soon as the payment is recorded to your account and the lender has agreed to continue the loan ( find that out before you send payment ) its yours again, but I would not expect them to bring it to you, you are going to have to go and get it yourself.
Call a local attorney for state specific advice.
READ your lease. The lender can repo as long as you are in DEFAULT. As long as there is money owed on a contract, the collateral can be repossessed IF the contract is in default. Subject to some state guidelines.
As long as it takes to get it back.
"charge off" is an accounting term that has nothing to do with collection or amount owed or anything like that. They can repo a car if a payment was recently made as long as you are behind.
until there arms drop off
How long you can go before your car is repossessed depends on several things. Generally, as soon as you default on your note, your creditor can "repo" your vehicle. The definition of default may depend on your loan contract, but usually just missing one payment can qualify. It is best to communicate with your creditor before you miss a payment to work out other terms, and avoid having your vehicle taken from you.
As long as you are in DEFAULT of the contract, the lender can repo the collateral.
Legally, your car could be reposessed after one missed payment. The terms of your contract cover default. Most will not repo your car after just one missed payment, but they could. I would certainly suggest attempting to work something out with the bank.
Every company is different..collections start the minute a payment goes past due. Usually the repo starts after 3 pmts are due maybe sooner if there are no communications with the customer or maybe later if someone has managed to stall off the repo.
as long as you are in DEFAULT of the contract, they can repo the car. Dont forget the time element involved between you paying up and the repo co. being notified that you did pay. Have your reciept ready to show the repopeople that you DID pay and WHEN.