A private attorney or your local legal aid society can give you guidance about how your state courts have dealt with these matters. Once your car has been repossessed, your creditor may decide to keep the car as compensation for your debt or to resell it in either a public or private sale. In any case, generally your creditor must notify you about what will happen to the car. Under most state laws, your creditor must tell you if it wants to keep the car because you have the right to demand that the car be sold instead. You may want to exercise this right if the car is worth more than what you owe on it.
Most creditors prefer to sell the car, however, rather than keep it.
If your creditor chooses to resell the car at public auction, state law usually requires you to be notified of the date so that, if you wish, you can attend and participate in the bidding. If the vehicle is to be sold privately, you are usually entitled to a notice of the date after which it will be sold. This means that you can reclaim your car by paying the amount you are behind on your loan together with your creditor's repossession expenses. Check with your state consumer protection office to learn what the laws are in your state. A resale price that is below fair market value, however, may indicate that the sale was not commercially reasonable.