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In a NutshellRepossession is the process of taking back a car after the owner defaults on their auto loan. Each state has different laws and regulations that dictate every step of the repossession process from start to finish. This page will provide an overview of Nevada's Repossession Laws and what you should know if you've fallen behind on car payments.
Written by Upsolve Team.
Updated August 27, 2024
When you buy a car using a loan, your lender can repossess the car if you don’t make your payments on time. Repossession is your lender’s right to take your car back because you broke your contract, mainly by missing your monthly payment. Most states have very similar repossession laws, but there are some important differences. This article discusses Nevada’s repossession laws.
Until you’ve paid off your car loan, your lender has a security interest in the vehicle. As a secured creditor, your lender has the right to repossess your car if you don’t pay the loan as agreed. This is what’s known as being in default. Your lender can’t repossess your car unless you’ve defaulted on your loan. Missing even one month’s payment can count as being in default.
How late your payment must be before you’re considered in default will depend partly on where you bought the car.
Lenders don’t have to give you any notice before repossessing your vehicle in Nevada. Your lender might provide you with a written or verbal warning if it chooses to, but it’s not required.
If you’re late on your car payment, you can prevent repossession by getting caught up on your car loan before your lender acts on your default. It might be helpful to call your lender about making up your missed payment. Remember that if you bought your car in Nevada, you have at least 30 days after your due date to get current with your payments. You may still owe a late fee depending on how late you are and your contract terms. For Nevada vehicle sales, the contract can only charge late fees for payments more than 10 days late.
You need to catch up on your loan before your lender sends out a repossessor or decides to accelerate your car loan. When a lender accelerates your loan, the entire balance of your loan becomes due. This can happen any time after you’ve defaulted on the loan. If you bought your vehicle in Nevada, you can’t be in default until your payment is more than 30 days late. Nevada car loan contracts include a waiver of a buyer’s right to get notice before acceleration. Many loan contracts for car sales in other states also waive that right. Once your lender has accelerated your loan, your lender may reject a late payment.
If you won’t be able to make your payment on time, contact your lender before the payment is due. Tell them what’s going on and ask if they can work with you. For example, maybe your lender will give you extra time to make your payment or allow you to defer the payment. The lender will be more willing to work with you if you haven’t been late before or in a long time.
In some circumstances, you might be able to stop your vehicle from being repossessed temporarily, or even for the long-term, if you file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
You can be charged with a criminal offense for hiding your car to keep it from being repossessed. So this isn’t a good way to stop the repossession.
A repo company can take your vehicle from any place that your vehicle is unprotected. Repossession can happen when your vehicle is parked on a public street, in a business’s parking lot, or in your driveway. If your garage door is open, a repo company can even go into the garage to take your car!
Vehicle repossession isn’t allowed when it results in a breach of the peace. Nevada courts consider a repossession to be in breach of the peace if it’s done either at an unreasonable time or in an unreasonable manner. Nevada law doesn’t clearly define what an unreasonable time is, but an unreasonable manner includes when a repossessor:
Having a law enforcement officer present during the repossession might be considered a breach of the peace, even if the officer is just observing.
If you or someone else objects to the repo when the repossessor attempts to take your car, the repossession has to stop. Otherwise, the repo is in breach of the peace. Telling the repossessor to get off your property or not to take your vehicle is enough. It’s even okay to obstruct the repo by standing in the way of your vehicle being taken or sitting in the vehicle so it can’t be taken. It’s not clear at what point during a repo it becomes too late to object.
Any objection must be peaceful. You can’t interfere physically with the person repossessing your car. You also can’t do anything to the tow truck or to the repossessor’s equipment. Otherwise, you could risk civil claims or criminal charges.
Objecting will only temporarily stop the repossession. The repossessor can try to take the vehicle later. Or the lender can file a lawsuit to get a court order allowing the lender to take the vehicle.
Repossession businesses must be licensed as repossessors by the State of Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board. Any employee of a repossession company must also be registered with the board and should have a work card showing their registration. On the board’s website, you can verify a repo company’s license or a repo employee’s registration.
Licensing and registering aren’t required if you financed your car from a buy-here, pay-here dealer and the repo is done by the dealer’s employee. This is because of an exemption in the Nevada Revised Statutes.
If your vehicle is on an American Indian tribe’s reservation or colony in Nevada, the lienholder must follow that tribe’s law to repossess your vehicle. For example, some tribes prohibit a lender/lienholder from repossessing a vehicle without first getting a tribal court order. But if you live on tribal land, Nevada repo law still applies whenever your vehicle is outside of the reservation.
If you’re a member of the military, you have some additional protection from auto repossession. Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, if you bought a vehicle before entering military service, the lienholder needs a court order to repossess it while you’re serving.
No one can repossess vehicles owned by federal, tribal, or state government workers, or by members of their households, during a government shutdown or for 30 days afterward. This applies not only to government employees but also to employees of government contractors.