How to Rent a Car During Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is designed to allow you the ability to pay off your creditors through a court-supervised repayment plan. The typical plan lasts between two to five years depending on the level of debt and the level of income of the debtor. If you are in the midst of working off a Chapter 13 plan, you may wonder whether it is possible to rent a car. Depending on the status of your case and payments, you may gain approval to rent a car during a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
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Instructions
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Write a letter to the bankruptcy court trustee explaining your need to rent a car. The bankruptcy court trustee is the court official designated to oversee and monitor your Chapter 13 plan. Ultimately, it is likely that the bankruptcy court trustee will be the one who will approve or disapprove your proposed car rental.
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Obtain specific information about the car you want to rent together with the proposed rental agreement.
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Provide the bankruptcy court trustee with the information you collected about the car and the rental agreement. The bankruptcy court trustee may grant approval to rent the car at this juncture. Alternatively, the bankruptcy court trustee may want to notify your creditors to see if any creditor has an objection to your proposal to rent the car.
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Provide individual creditors with any supplemental information about the car rental if the bankruptcy court trustee decides to give your creditors a chance to respond or object to the rental. Typically, the bankruptcy court trustee will send the creditors written notice of the proposed car rental and provide them with a set amount of time to lodge an objection. Absent any significant objection, the trustee will approve the car rental. If there is a meaningful, substantive objection from a creditor or creditors, the bankruptcy court trustee can schedule a special creditors' meeting to consider the matter.
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Tips & Warnings
Your odds of obtaining approval to rent a car during Chapter 13 bankruptcy improve markedly if you have no other ready means of transportation. Further, approval of a car rental is more likely to be forthcoming if you need to rent a car for work purposes.
Bankruptcy cases are complicated. Your interests likely are better served if you elect to retain the services of a qualified and experienced bankruptcy attorney to represent your rights and interests. You can access directories of attorneys from the state or local bar association.
