Reppossed Bikes

[taszar76]

Hi all fellow bikers,

my bike got repossed after my late dues,i've made calls to the shop owner sayin that i'll be back for the bike in 2 mths time,hoping he won't charge me over the top.

in all i was backdated for 6 mths..paid up last mth $2300,my installment mthly is $217.i really want the bike back...my first legal bike..any chances of getting the bike back guys?

hope u guys could shed some light into this or show a fellowbiker any legal advice.cos i really want the bike tks in advance u all..

[drumbeat]

Hello,

 

What I am going to tell you might sound bad but it happened to my friend years back when I was in poly in '01. He bought a KTM200 from a bike shop in alexandra and being young it was pretty hard to own that kinda bike in terms of finance. I was his guarantor. He started to default on the installment payments, I remembered it was for a period of 6 months or something. One day he went downstairs to get his bike to ride and found out it was not there, after checking with the bike shop, it had been repossed. We weren't too aware of the law then and I am still a little unclear with the law now with regards to bikeshops financing your bike loan. The bike shop decided to chop him and told him that his bike was declared a total loss meaning that he could not ride it and he did not own it. We were young then and didn't have the courage to speak up so my friend paid the installments for the next few years without wanting any trouble, and didn't get anything out of it. I realise that now that I have bought a car and everything that when you take a loan from a bank, it's more stringent and if you default on your installements, this means your credit rating is affected, house can get reposessed etc, but for bike shops, you still can negotiate terms and don't let these monkeys have the upper hand after all it's a private loan so to speak because they are private companies, they would have to try very very hard to get their money back legally and for a few thousand dollar bike, it won't be viable for them to clamp down on you as the legal fees will be expensive. As for your bike, go to your shop and make noise, bring a friend etc......... end of the day, the best way to avoid this inconvenience is to pay the installment! My 2 cents worth!!

[contrarian]

Hello,

after all it's a private loan so to speak because they are private companies, they would have to try very very hard to get their money back legally and for a few thousand dollar bike, it won't be viable for them to clamp down on you as the legal fees will be expensive.

 

You are wrong. A hire purchase agreement for a vehicle is not a private loan by a private company.

 

Secondly they have the right to repossess, sell and still come after you for the shortfall, so it's not "very very hard to get their money back legally".

[drumbeat]

How sure are you? Cause the fact that I have never signed any papers from a bank or big companies when doing installments with bike shops. It is usually the bike shop 'for me' that does the in house loan, but i pay the installments so there is no issue anyway! It's definitely harder than the bank for them to get you. Maybe send ah long to find you hahaha.......

[contrarian]

How sure are you? Cause the fact that I have never signed any papers from a bank or big companies when doing installments with bike shops. It is usually the bike shop 'for me' that does the in house loan, but i pay the installments so there is no issue anyway! It's definitely harder than the bank for them to get you. Maybe send ah long to find you hahaha.......

 

Read your hire purchase agreement and see for yourself... check with your vehicle records to see what financier is registered with the LTA...

[taszar76]

hi contrarian

even if i'd made my payment would i get back the bike bro..payment for the total lost that is..

[contrarian]

What you should have done is to talk to the shop as soon as you knew that you couldn't pay the instalments.

 

Instead, you seem to have waited until they acted to reposess before you tried to talk to them. Seeing that you owe them 6 months, a bystander would think the shop has already given you quite a bit of leeway previously.

 

You can try to talk to the management nicely and make your offer, but it's really up to them if they have already repossessed properly. What the shop wants is money, not trouble - but since trouble looked for them already, I'm not sure they would be so agreeable now.

[c4ble]

I spoke to a bikeshop and for them, not claim within 2 weeks from repo = they will try to sell it off.

[contrarian]

I spoke to a bikeshop and for them, not claim within 2 weeks from repo = they will try to sell it off.

 

Yep, the standard procedure is for them to notify the defaulter of the repossession, wait at least 7 business days, then try to sell it.

 

Most shops want their money, not trouble. If the defaulter deals with them nicely and promptly (instead of when there's a lot of outstanding payments and an imminent sale), there's a reasonable chance that they could work something out.