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Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

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Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#321

Post by anigbrowl »

AlbertCory wrote: post #275
jpk2f2 wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neighbor got scammed.

I don't think so. Aside from the shadiness of it: he called the car loan company and they owned up to repo'ing it. He did in fact pay too little on his monthly payment. So how would a scam work? (I don't know if he called the police or not, or what they would do in a case like this. Probably say, "Yep, sounds legit" and that would be the end of it.) see above comment. Not a scam.

How much was the underpayment (I know you said a dollar or two, but I presume this had gone on for a while?). It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.'

I find the story wholly believable, a lot of people who work in payments seem to be stupid and/or stubborn, and it might be the industry selects for those traits.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#322

Post by anigbrowl »

chongli wrote: post #210
astura wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Repos are extremely costly. My friend let his car get repossessed because he did not need it anymore thinking that was easier than selling it and there wouldn't be any negatives other than on his credit. He was surprised to get sued for the cost of the repo, which was thousands plus they managed to sell the car for much less than it was worth.

I wonder how costly it would be if one of these self-driving cars killed a bystander while repo-ing itself.

They'll bill it to the person they repossessed it from. Someone will introduce a bill to make them liable for murder, on the grounds that they were engaged in defrauding the car company and are therefore a felon.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#323

Post by wepple »

_fat_santa wrote: post #272
rootusrootus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem with an ignition interlock device today is that they're extremely unreliable. As implemented they are also very intrusive. Granted, they are currently implemented only as part of a punitive measure, so that behavior is partly intentional, but it would be unacceptable for universal adoption. Probably be better to just make cars do realtime verification of license status before letting someone drive…

> Probably be better to just make cars do realtime verification of license status before letting someone drive A couple in Florida was killed yesterday in the hurricane, though they tried to evacuate, the storm meant that license verification servers were down and their Ford would not start.

Have you got a source on that?

Edit: Just occurred to me this is probably a theoretic future state

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#324

Post by anigbrowl »

Regardless of the legal mechanics of leases and ownership, as soon as this capability exists it will become the target of ransomware, pranks, and law enforcement (who will 'ask' to activate the car's self-driving capability for just long enough to perform a search. Sure, there was no consent, but you didn't pick up the phone in time.)

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#326

Post by AlbertCory »

anigbrowl wrote: post #321
AlbertCory wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so. Aside from the shadiness of it: he called the car loan company and they owned up to repo'ing it. He did in fact pay too little on his monthly payment. So how would a scam work? (I don't know if he called the police or not, or what they would do in a case like this. Probably say, "Yep, sounds legit" and that would be the end of it.) see above comment. Not a scam.

How much was the underpayment (I know you said a dollar or two, but I presume this had gone on for a while?). It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.' I find the story wholly believable, a lot of people who work in payments seem to be stupid and/or stubborn, and it might be the industry selects for those traits.

Unfortunately, I'm not the person who was repo'ed and I already texted him once today.

"Stay away from GM Finance" is the lesson here.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#327

Post by chucksmash »

lmkg wrote: post #36

Well if this is how the new cars are gonna be, I guess I'll just go ahead and teach myself to be a Car Guy so that the one I have now will run forever. It's not that I'm afraid of missing a payment. At this point I would probably buy the car outright. But after the robo-signing debacle with BoA repossesssing houses that they were never party to, the mere capability renders the machine fundamentally untrustworthy.

Having trouble thinking what user-facing technology cars have gained recently that I actually need. Backup cameras are nice, my last two cars had them but my current one does not. Life goes on. Heard anecdotally that new cars in US require then now, so I guess next car will probably have one again. Blindspot indicators on side mirrors are nice too, but physically turning and looking is too engrained in me to stop doing.

It seems like there has to be a market for something other than what we are getting. I'd like something that benefits from improvements in emissions/gas mileage but doesn't bolt on infotainment or phone integrations or networked everything. Zero interest in lane-assist technology. Preemptively saying no to any O.T.A. updates. I basically want what in 2023 would be considered a work-truck level of utilitarianism but in a form I can use to get my family from A to B, since throwing young kids up front on a bench seat in a work-truck is a no-go. It would be nice if it weren't actively ugly as well, but on this point I am negotiable.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#328

Post by CommitSyn »

anigbrowl wrote: post #321
AlbertCory wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so. Aside from the shadiness of it: he called the car loan company and they owned up to repo'ing it. He did in fact pay too little on his monthly payment. So how would a scam work? (I don't know if he called the police or not, or what they would do in a case like this. Probably say, "Yep, sounds legit" and that would be the end of it.) see above comment. Not a scam.

How much was the underpayment (I know you said a dollar or two, but I presume this had gone on for a while?). It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.' I find the story wholly believable, a lot of people who work in payments seem to be stupid and/or stubborn, and it might be the industry selects for those traits.

> It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.'

I imagine there's a lot more money to be made making someone pay for the fees and costs of a repo, than a phone call asking them to pay a few dollars. Although his friend could also be lying about the few dollars part.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#329

Post by chadlavi »

Merad wrote: post #304
AlbertCory wrote: post #191

True story: my neighbor's lease payment was under, by a dollar or two, no more. An error in his banking practices, I guess. They came and repossessed it in the middle of the night. He offered to pay, and they wouldn't take a credit card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, or any other modern form of payment. No, he had to go to Western Union. Someone who's more up on this sort of stuff can explain that. A week late…

> He offered to pay, and they wouldn't take a credit card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, or any other modern form of payment. No, he had to go to Western Union. I'm guessing they told him to get a Western Union money order, as those can't be reversed after they're cashed (AFAIK). Most modern forms of payment offer some level of consumer protection, as in they can be canceled or reversed. TBH a repo business mi…

Isn't a cashier's check from your bank also not cancelable?

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#330

Post by chadlavi »

chucksmash wrote: post #327
lmkg wrote: post #36

Well if this is how the new cars are gonna be, I guess I'll just go ahead and teach myself to be a Car Guy so that the one I have now will run forever. It's not that I'm afraid of missing a payment. At this point I would probably buy the car outright. But after the robo-signing debacle with BoA repossesssing houses that they were never party to, the mere capability renders the machine fundamentally untrustworthy.

Having trouble thinking what user-facing technology cars have gained recently that I actually need. Backup cameras are nice, my last two cars had them but my current one does not. Life goes on. Heard anecdotally that new cars in US require then now, so I guess next car will probably have one again. Blindspot indicators on side mirrors are nice too, but physically turning and looking is too engrained in me to stop doi…

I think you probably want a 2017ish Subaru
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