yodaflaps
Returning Member

Can I keep my car if I file a 1099 C?

*If this is in the wrong location pls let me know*

 

I'll save the full story for the last part, but to cut to the chase: I missed 4 car payments and told Bridgecrest to come get the car as I could not drop it off, nor did they give me an address I could turn the car into. They said they would come get the car, so I always parked it outside of the garage for three full months and no one ever came to get it. Here we are in 2023 and they still won't come get the car. It's listed on my credit as a charge-off, not repossession. It's been charged off but I never received a 1099 C for it, but I'm hearing they are required to file a 1099 C for the discharge of debt and I'm required to file a charge off this big as income on my taxes regardless of whether or not I receive a 1099 C from the creditor. So if I file the 1099 C, I'm claiming the car as income and paying taxes on that income, does that mean I get to keep the car? I live in Georgia if that helps. I'm just trying to understand the laws. Bridgecrest doesn't seem to care and I don't think it would be wise for me to claim it as income on my taxes if I don't literally get to keep the car. It's not income for me if they take it back, right?

 

**Longer story**

I was out of work for a few months in 2021 due to an injury. I was a fairly new owner operator (truck driver) and therefore an independent contractor, so no I did not qualify for unemployment OR workers compensation. I had to tough it out for roughly 4 months until I was medically cleared to reenter the truck. I got an at-home job in the meantime but it wasn't paying anywhere NEAR the money I was making driving trucks so I had to make decisions about what bills were absolutely non-negotiable and what had to wait. Well, I have kids, therefore more important responsibilities and my car payment was set to the side along with the car insurance and some other stuff, but I kept it in the garage most of the time and ordered what I needed to be delievered to the house. I did drive it if I absolutely needed to of course, but usually never more than a couple miles away from the house as everything I need is close by and my leg was busted up anyway so driving wasn't a comfortable thing for me to do. Yell at me later. I bought it from Carvana and had it delivered since the closest Carvana location is 3 hours away. Even then, it's financed through Bridgecrest and as a driver, I'm not dropping the car off in some random lot just because I think that's where it goes. Calls to Bridgecrest leave me with no address to bring the car, it's always "someone will come get it". It'll be two years in April. The registration and insurance and everything has been kept up to date by me and I haven't moved. I called them in October of 2022 to see if we could restart payments, but I was obviously told "no" and that I would need to pay the balance off 100%. I can't do that right now. I still owed a little more than 20K when I fell off but they bumped the amount I owed up to $28K (is that 8K of interest?). The amount owed (20K) and amount listed as being "charged off"(28K) on my consumer report is different so... yea, idk. I'm really just looking for some guidance on what to do, what to expect and how to protect myself.

 

P.S.:

Dropping the car off almost anywhere is an inconvenience for me at this point because I drive all over the country, I'm gone for months at a time and I wouldn't know where to take it anyway.