Car lease issue – elderly person edition

OK, I’m not sure what to do for an elderly couple I know. They have a grandchild who is in my opinion the lowest white trash scum, basically an oxygen thief, even though they came from a decent background. This person has stolen from them in the past. Forged their identity to get cell phones etc. They’ve bought this person vehicles in the past and she’s let them down. Well unbeknownst to her husband or the rest of the family the wife again co-signed on a lease for a new car earlier this year. Now, surprise surprise this person has defaulted….again…. Better, they called up the leasing company pretending to be the co-signee and changed the address, account info, password etc. and told the elderly couple that they were paying direct debit so they wouldn’t see the bill. Really meaning they weren’t paying and wanted to hide it. Well inevitably the lease company started checking and it came back to the elderly couple once several months in arreas. Now, this isn’t the only drama with this person and they were at the couples house the other day while the Police were present. The husband asked the Police if they could get the car back for them, the police said it was a civil matter and could do anything, but I think the fact the police were there intimidated said oxygen thief and so the car and one set of keys was left.

The couple now don’t know what to do with a car they don’t want, don’t need and probably can’t really afford. What are their options?

While I believe people need to live up to their commitments and pay for what they’ve committed too, in this case I think they are an elderly couple, one of who was in some way coerced into co-signing on what was obviously a bad deal. What can they do? I’m almost tempted to tell them just to return the car to the dealer and take the hit. They aren’t buying a new car and own their home outright and if/when the move they wouldn’t get a mortgage it would be a downsizing so a bad credit score wouldn’t’ hurt them. As I said, I hate to advocate walking away from a responsibility you’ve committed to, but I really feel they were manipulated.

Any better suggestions?

Only thing I can think of, and this is a long-shot, but what about finding a young couple who is in need of cheap, reliable transportation and setting up a 'split payment'? Like the young couple pays 80% of the payment and the elderly pays 20% for the rest of the life of the lease. Young couple gets full use of the car.

Would have to be some personal trust and control on the part of the elderly couple, but I know you could find someone through a local church or something who would both be trustworthy, and you may be able to have someone at the church volunteer to help monitor the situation for the elderly couple.

Im not giving legal advice, but in my professional opinion turn the car in and take the hit. Any payments or deals would put them right back in the same situation where the possession of the vehicle is a civil matter that is not criminally enforceable. The grandchild could still go back and drive off in that car today and there isnt anything the police could do about it.

Sadly, I regularly get cases like this and while I sympathize, there isn't much I can do about the situation. I have to unfound the case because there is not a criminal element. All I can do is tell them that I will neither assist or interfere in their reclaiming possesion of their property but there must be no breach of the peace.

Definitely. Get out of the lease. There will be a penalty.

Have them go talk to the dealer.

I think Robbies idea has the potential to only make the whole mess messier by adding a third element of trust or lost trust into this situation.
My advice, get out, even if that means penalty.

Ps: I love the term "oxygen theif". New to me but a fitting description for some I have encountered.

Are there elder abuse laws that might come into play here? If not, then yeah, I'm in the "turn it in" camp.

Could it be wise to get a restraining order?
This may be police enforceable should the O2 theif arrive at the elderly home trying to reclaim car?

JohnRW1621 wrote: Could it be wise to get a restraining order? This may be police enforceable should the O2 theif arrive at the elderly home trying to reclaim car?

This.

Civil suit in small claims court against the oxygen thief?

If nothing else, a good butt kicking is needed.

Sell car to Car Max. Pay whatever the difference to lease company out of pocket. Chalk it up to paying for an expensive lesson and move on.

Since O2 theif likely still has a set of car keys, storing car "offsight" may be wise. If not, a Club on the steering wheel.

Looking at the issue of "We have a car we can't afford", take it back to the dealer/leasing company and take the hit and get out of it.

Now, after this, they may be interested in pursuing the credit bureau’s and leasing company to remove the credit hits. At the point of the oxythief pretending to be the cosigner, she perpetrated identity fraud. They can go after her as well, but probably won’t be doing that.

Oh, also--do they need their credit for anything really? Do they plan on any loans or new credit cards? I would advise them to freeze their credit.

Turn it into the dealer and talk to them. I'm sure it won't be the first or last time they've seen a similar situation.

Also, if they want to teach CO2 adder (see what I did there??), I'll bet the call she made to the leasing company was recorded. If she was pretending to be them, that's fraud.

I'd also fight the negative hit on the credit report and use the evidence of the above mentioned phone call to support the case.

Toyman01 wrote: Sell car to Car Max. Pay whatever the difference to lease company out of pocket. Chalk it up to paying for an expensive lesson and move on.

some version of this. You can sell a leased car to any party, just need to buy out the vehicle for the residual value + still owed lease payments. It's actually pretty straightforward if the values are close. It gets difficult when you're upside down on the owed vs. value, but you could just pay the difference to be done.

Thanks guys. I'll get them to talk to the dealer. I'll see if I can go with them one evening.

Definitely no no on the sub lease. I've met two people who have tried this in the past. Both were ripped off and the car never recovered.

Take out life insurance policy on oxygen thief. Wait patiently.

JohnRW1621 wrote: I think Robbies idea has the potential to only make the whole mess messier by adding a third element of trust or lost trust into this situation. My advice, get out, even if that means penalty.

I doubt you could legally do this without going the leasing company.

I doubt these people would do anything to their grandchild, but she sure does deserve it.

Car has been returned to dealer after talking to lease company

Thanks

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Car has been returned to dealer after talking to lease company Thanks

At least until horrid granddaughter and O2 Thief do it again out of spite. And they WILL. I know their sort. And, identity theft is a felony, period. If the DA's office should happen to get involved (cough call them yourself cough cough) there won't be anything the grandparents can do to stop prosecution of a felony.

You can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink. They've been down this road before.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Car has been returned to dealer after talking to lease company Thanks

What then was the outcome? They weren't penalized too bad, were they?