A dealership put me down on a car loan as the primary buyer when I only was going to be cosigner for my nephew, and put him down as cobuyer and cosigner. Is that legal? And what should I do? And my nephew had the car from day one with just liability than no insurance and has not made one payment and he and his unlicensed girlfriend has gotten tickets in it and toll charges and been using it to work door dashing without proper insurance. The car is now in repo status and my nephew has been avoiding me and the loan company. My good credit is horrible now and I don't want a repo on my record or get in trouble but I'm unable to pay anything nor any monthly payments and that the dealership knew my only income is disability What should I do? Can I get out of this loan and my credit back?
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2Does this answer your question? money.stackexchange.com/q/163637/84375– MTACommented Sep 15 at 16:33
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1A cosigner is responsible for paying off a loan, you've made a terrible blunder trusting this awful person.– Hart COCommented Sep 15 at 17:14
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4This question is similar to: A finance broker made me the primary instead of a co-signer. If you believe it’s different, please edit the question, make it clear how it’s different and/or how the answers on that question are not helpful for your problem.– mhoran_psprepCommented Sep 15 at 21:56
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Are (or were) you the registered owner?– DJClayworthCommented Sep 17 at 0:09
2 Answers
There is very little difference between the primary and co-signer. Both are equally liable for the car loan. That is why you should never co-sign for a loan that you aren't 100% ok with being responsible for paying off yourself or having your credit linked to the primary buyer.
The damage to your credit is likely already done if it is in repo already. The only option you really have right now is to pay off the car since you agreed to be financially responsible. You might be able to sue the nephew for the money, but even if you win it doesn't seem like you are likely to recover money from this person if they don't have it.
To answer your question. Of course it is legal what the dealership did.
You probably just need to learn a lesson from this and deal with the fallout.
Never, ever, cosign for a loan. ESPECIALLY for shady characters.
This requires some self reflection. Why did you cosign? You knew your nephew before this and knew, on some level, that he is not responsible. You could have sought advice before this. The bible says that cosigning isn't smart. On this site, there are hundreds of questions and answers with a tale similar to yours.
In addition to the cosigning bad decision, why did you obtain financing from the dealership? You could have used a credit union or bank to get better terms and full disclosure.
Dealerships will lie, cheat and steal to sell you a car.
How do you get out of this?
- Take possession of the car since you are an owner, the police can help.
- Make the payments on the loan to prevent repossession. As a cosigner, you agreed to do this.
- Sell the car for what you can and pay off the loan.
Doing that will bring our credit back quicker than having a repossession and collections on your account.
