Car Repos in Massachusetts: Police Involvement

Car repossession is a private act and cannot be aided by the police. You have the right to demand that a repossession agent leave your property and not take your car. In turn, they have the right to go to court and get a judge's order compelling you to turnover the car if you are behind in payments. If they have such an order (which is very, very rare), a sheriff or constable, and not the police, will come to your residence to take your car. At this point, because of the judge's order, you do not have the right to object. However, it is very rare that a car lender will have one of these so-called "replevin" orders.

If you decide to order a repossession agent off your property and they refuse to go, you should call the police. But be ready for trouble. Often the police are inadequately trained to deal with repossessions. They will sometimes try to judge the dispute and may even order you to hand over your car keys. This is illegal. Contact us if this happens to you. The job of the police if they come to your residence is to remove the trespasser from your property, not act as a judge in a driveway court.

*Note: If your car has been repossessed in Massachusetts, we might be able to help. However, due to high call volume after I posted information here about Massachusetts car repossession, we must first receive the completed form found here: http://www.mass-legal.com/repo_quest.asp. We will review your matter confidentially and free of charge.