What happens to a person who returns their car to the dealership?

No. It will only make you finances worse. What they will do is sell the car at an auction for about a third of it's true value. Then you will be billed for the difference. Giving the car back will not get you out of paying for it. Your better off trying to sell it.The finance company could care less about your health problems. What you should have done is chosen the disability insurance that would have covered your situation.

It's the bak's car not the dealer so they are the one you'll have to deal with. If you just let the car get repo'd they will try to come after you for what you owe but they can only do so much. In fact they will just send lot's of letters and call often. If you know you will have to let the car go then I would call your bank and do what is called a voluntary reposession. You may be able to work out a payment plan on wat you owe and the mark on your credit will be a little less than them coming and taking the car.

The question you *should* be asking is... how much $$$ would I be out of in each case? You're assuming the dealer will take your car back. However, there's no way he'll take it back "as is" and let you off free. He may buy it back from you, but who'll pay for the difference between his "trade-in price" and the amount that you actually owe, which is obviously higher? The answer is simple: you. However, doing nothing is worse, MUCH worse. If you have not been keeping up with payments your car will be repossessed, and that will be MUCH MUCH WORSE on your credit history, not to mention costing you much $$$ in fees and whatnot. Your best bet is sell your "equity" in the vehicle, if you HAVE any (usually, the first few year payments are 99% interest, leaving you with VERY little equity in the car) to a private owner, who'll basically take over your loan. However, you need permission from your bank or whoever lent you the money for the loan (NOT THE DEALER! They're just middleman!) and the other party must be acceptable to the lender as well. Let's make up an example. As it is 2008, if you got the loan in 2006, I'll assume that you have at least $3000 paid off on the car with 12000 to go. (You can figure it out with an amortization table if you want to, I'm just making up the figures). So your equity in the car is $3000. Assuming you found someone who'll take over the loan, and he's acceptable to the bank, you "sell" your equity for as high as you can neogtiate. Keep in mind though, that cars do depreciate, and while your equity was $3000, you have to depreciate that as well, and the other guy have to get what he thought was worthwhile. It'll be very hard to figure out how much should you even ask. In some cases, you may have to pay the other party $$$ just so you can get away from the monthly payments. If you let it go back to the dealer, the dealer will simply let you pay the difference between the trade-in price (based on condition of your car) and whatever you still owe on the car. And you may STILL have to pay a penalty on early payoff of the loan (since you "are" breaking a loan contract early). I'd pay a financial adviser $50-100 (or try to find a free one) and have him work out the numbers with you to see which is less stressful yet more beneficial to you.

Get on to your finance company right now they will help you Ron