Last month my car was (correctly) repossessed on 3/11/09. I was able to borrow some money and get it back the same day. Then this past Sunday, 4/19/09 I got a knock on my door at around 8pm. When I answered, it was the same repossession company that had taken my car the month before, and the guy at the door told me he was here for my car again. I was very confused, as my payment in the middle of March had been made in full and up to date, and my payment in April had been made a day early. I showed the guys (there were two, which is one of the reasons I didn’t come downstairs legally armed) my copy of the payment from March, and although I didn’t have a paper copy of my April payment, I was able to get the one guy to listen to the automated recording w/ the loan company stating that I had no payments due, thus showing that I was paid up. I said there was no possible way they were there to take my car. They then showed me their work order, which was originally generated on 3/31/09. This gave me further confusion, as even if there was some kind of problem with my April payment, there work order was generated before that payment was due. I again stated they weren’t taking my car, but they told me that there was nothing they could do, they had their orders. Rather than risk any serious altercation, I opted to hand over my spare keys and allow them to take the car. I have terrible luck, and I decided something must have gone wrong and I was indeed at fault.

After calling off work (I am almost forbidden to take off work on Mondays as my job duties have to deal w/ preparing for new music, movie, and book new releases that come out every Tuesday, and since I don’t have an understudy or anything, I’m the only guy in the store who can do it, but I was able to plead to the right boss and instead just had to bust my ass even harder on Tuesday before the store opened), I tried to get some sleep. The next morning, when I called the loan company, I eventually was told that it was a mistake, and that my car was indeed not scheduled to be repossessed. The loan company informed me it was a paperwork error with the recovery company, and that I could contact them myself and arrange to get my car back. I called the recovery company, and was given the number to one of their drivers and told to call him. When I called, he informed me he needed to get the release faxed to him, and that he’d call me back. An hour and a half later, I had not received a phone call, so I called the recovery company and they told me they’d call their driver and make sure he got the fax. About 15 minutes later I finally got a call from the driver. He asked me when I could come pick up the car. I was pretty pissed off at that point, that they had towed my car an hour away and now expected me to pick it up, but I was more worried about getting my car back before some other paper work error caused them to mistakenly auction it off or something worse.

I eventually got my car back. Some of the things I was most upset about is that not a single person apologized to me. The loan company didn’t go to any steps to get my car back for me, and instead left me to deal with the repossession company. The guys there made me wait around and then expected me to pick up my own car.

What kind of legal options do I have? I’ve seen a few sites stating this is grand theft auto, but I’m not sure if this applies in Pennsylvania, and if it does, what the statute of limitations would be. I’m not really that interested in spending my own money to sue anyone, but I wonder if maybe I can get something from one or both of these companies in compensation. I’m thinking maybe a month forgiveness on my loan and a full tank of gas maybe? Anyone have any advice?