My brother (20 years old) cosigned a car loan for his ex-fiancé (19 years old) and she literally “changed her mind” about the purchase a month later because she thought it was too expensive. As you know someone can’t just purchase a car and then return it, which is what the place she bought it from told her! So she dropped the car off in their car lot after hours and threw the keys in through the service door! She didn’t talk to anyone or anything. Just dropped it off and left. Then she changed her phone number so they couldn’t contact her. Then a few weeks go by and the company calls my brother to let him know that he’s going to be sued (along with her) because the car was in a “repossessed status.” They were going to sell it at auction in a few days and then sue them for the remaining balance.
(Please note that not only was he was manipulated into cosigning but he also didn’t fully understand what he was doing or what cosigning meant. She manipulated him into believing that her personal vehicle was his responsibility because “she’s the birth mother of their son.” They had only been broken up a month, after being together for over four years, and having a child together (she left him because she was angry that having a child at 17 “robbed her of her teenage years” and she blamed my brother. So he was manipulated easily because it he was still so devastated over the break up. In addition to that he didn’t fully understand what cosigning meant. He thought that he was just helping her to be able to get herself a car – her car, in her name only, she’s responsible for all of the payments and stuff, etc. He was not aware that he would also be legally responsible for the car. He wasn’t aware that he would have anything else to do with the matter he only thought that he was just helping her to get her own car.)
So, they were going to be sued for the balance. Our dad stepped in and got the car out of repossession to keep them from being sued but now my brother is stuck with the car! He now has a monthly car payment and insurance totaling to $560 a month that he didn’t have before. My brother lost the job that he had because he took too many sick days because of the breakup. He lost his apartment. It took him almost three months to find another job, which doesn’t pay as much and doesn’t offer as many hours, and he had to move back in with my parents. And my parents have been paying for the car’s expenses since my brother was out of work (which they don’t really have the money to do.) And now because of the $560 extra a month my brother is now responsible for he can’t afford to get his own place or anything.
So is there a way that either my brother or my dad can sue her for ANY money for the car? Even half of it? Or more than half? My brother made a huge mistake and tried to do something nice but for the wrong person and now his and my parents’ finances and lives are going to be greatly impacted for the next 5 years. They are facing the consequences to something that is mostly her fault and she has NO consequences whatsoever. She just walks away free and clear. That’s just wrong! Please tell me there’s something they can do? Clearly since she “returned” the car it belongs to my bother 100% but it would be great if she had to pay for at least half of the car instead of just getting off scot-free.