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When buying a car does the co-signer need to be present to sign papers?
Anonymous3 views2 answers
When I first moved up to California for college, my parents wanted me to look for a car. I went to the honda dealer next to my apartment and they helped me find a car. I don't know anything about buying a car and they did a pretty good job with helping me do that. The only problem was that I couldn't get a loan by myself so they needed a co-signer.
But my parents lived in another state. Was it legal for them to work around the system and get me approved? My co-signer of course had to fax his information to them but we got approved for a $450 monthly payment on a basic honda civic.
My question is, was it legal for them to do that?
Sure, anyone from any state can sign a contract that's governed by laws of another state. It probably means that your parents have agreed that they could get sued (with you) here in CA if the lender wants to sue, but it's perfectly legal.
Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.
The details for your question are not complete, so you may want to meet with an experienced consumer fraud attorney to discuss the dealership's paperwork and what may be violations of law or car fraud. Below is a link to consumer attorneys, which you can search by state and area of expertise. Be sure to pursue this diligently, because of the statute of limitations and you don't want to lose a court case because you failed to timely file it in court.
