Dealerships Can Disable Your Car for Being Late on Payments

Woman Gets Stranded After Dealership Remotely Disabled Her Car for Being Week Late on Payment

"If nothing else gets paid… it’s three things that definitely get paid no matter what is my car note, insurance and rent!!"

Apr. 18 2024, Published 1:29 p.m. ET

TikTokers have been surprised to be informed that some car dealerships and auto lenders are ready to remotely disable a customer's vehicle for non fee in accordance with a video posted by way of a stranded driver.

A consumer on the application who is going via Legacyyy (@legacy.jai) uploaded a viral clip where she complained in regards to the dealership remotely shutting off her car while it was once in the parking lot of the gym, preventing her from being ready to get home. She mentioned that she wasn't sure if she sought after a car from a lender that might disable it after she was once lower than a week at the back of on a payment.

"My car note isn't even a week late it is due on the fourth of April, today is the 9th, I told them I'm gonna pay it this Friday not even a week late," the TikToker says, speaking at once into the lens of her digital camera as she records her video.

"They cut my car off," she explains. "And I'm at the gym right now, I'm at Planet Fitness, they cut my car off. I had to call them and tell them I'm not home I'm stuck, they were like okay we'll...activate it so you can go home and then we're gonna cut your car off when you get back home."

She went on to state that she wasn't exactly delighted with the speculation of paying for a vehicle from a dealership that has the facility to remotely disable her car if she's no longer perfectly on time together with her payments, "I don't want to have a car that has the power to cut off my car and it's not even a week late so I'm just...I'm finna give this car back, honestly," she says on the finish of her video.

If this turns out like some sort of Dystopain nightmare, there are car dealerships that do certainly promote more recent models that can disable vehicles if payments aren't kept current on the cars.

According to Poe: "Yes, car dealerships have the ability to remotely disable a vehicle if payment is not made. This is done through the use of devices such as starter interrupters or GPS trackers [2]. These devices can be installed in the vehicle and controlled by the dealership or lender. If a payment is missed, the dealership can remotely shut off the car, making it inoperable until the payment is made."

The website online cited this CBS News piece discussing this exact same phenomenon, which also highlighted how dealerships may also give customers a warning / understand beforehand previous to shutting off the car.

This YouTube video also posted to CBS Mornings' channel highlights the specialised instrument this is put in on cars which can disable them remotely via auto lenders.

According to this Quora submit which delves into this actual form of phenomenom, this practice is frequently carried out by way of "Buy Here Pay Here" quite a bit, in keeping with a person who spoke back to a query about these types of modules being installed on cars.

"Oh yes. They can most certainly immobilize your vehicle and GPS track its location. Many 'Buy here Pay here' lots install these devices so that if you don't pay, they can shut you down and collect their vehicle." He went on to provide an explanation for that "many high-risk lenders also do this."

In this actual Quora users' instance, the broker they purchased their car cash from left the software on his car and he simplest came upon it was once put in in the vehicle upon noticing her had bother starting the car. It wasn't till he went rummaging through the insides of the car that he noticed there was once a contraption that wasn't exactly stock bolted onto his newly-purchased whip.

"I bought a GMC Envoy from a used car dealer a few years back. I paid cash, so no loan. About a week later, I was having trouble starting it. I saw a module screwed to the knee bolster on the bottom of the dashboard and followed the wiring under the dash where I found the remote kill/GPS tracking unit."

Numerous commenters who responded to Legacyyy's video did not seem to have much sympathy for her quandary. One individual simply penned that she must "Get better credit" so she don't have to purchase cars from lenders who have interaction in this sort of follow.

Another said that she shouldn't be shocked her car was became off within the first place because, even though it wasn't "even a week late" it used to be still no longer paid on time: "But it’s late…"

There used to be one TikToker who merely simply could not understand financing a vehicle the place a lender has the power to remotely disable it: "What kind of car y’all be having where they can cut it off" they contemplated.

Do you own or have ever owned a car that might allow a dealership to remotely disable it? Is that something you'll be checking your finance settlement moderately for sooner than signing on the dotted line for a brand new automobile? Would this kind of observe make you reluctant to buy a car from someplace?

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