The National Consumer Law Center, based in Boston, has called for tougher standards for used car repossessions, including court orders or minimal due process before a vehicle could be taken by a lender. The NCLC bills itself as “the nation’s consumer law expert, helping consumers, their advocates, and public policy makers use powerful and complex consumer laws on behalf of low-income and vulnerable Americans seeking economic justice.”

It’s a tough call that could end up making used cars less accessible for the impoverished (that the NCLC is trying to protect) so count me against court orders (but always in favor of minimal due process). As NCLC points out, people with low incomes and bad credit turn to “buy here, pay here” used car dealers. These dealers have to charge more in terms of higher interest because of greater risks from people not being able to make payments (i.e. higher loan default rates).

What the court order proposal does is tack on more expenses to the used car business that will be passed onto the consumer or make it even more difficult for people with bad credit to get used car loans. Plus, this proposal will make it even more difficult for somebody who’s car has been repossessed to get it back because now the court costs will be added.

There’s another reason to be against this proposal. Can you imagine our already strapped court systems needing to add repossession court orders to the dockets?

As always, feel free to comment below. Let me know what you think about this issue.