Can You Get Your Car Back After It’s Been Repossessed?

If your car has been repossessed and you want it back, you are probably being told it is too late. Lenders and their agents routinely tell borrowers that once a repossession has been “initiated” it cannot be stopped, retracted or reversed. People are told this on the phone, on the day the car is taken, at the exact moment they are offering to pay.

That is not the law. Under the National Credit Code you generally keep the right to get the vehicle back until the moment it is sold — and if you pay before it is physically taken, the lender is prohibited from taking it at all.

The short answer

You can get your car back by reinstating the credit contract — paying the arrears plus the lender’s reasonable enforcement expenses. That right survives the repossession itself and remains available right up until the vehicle is sold. A repossession is not final at the moment the car is taken; it is final when the car is sold.

So the question that actually matters is not “can I get it back”, it is “how long do I have before it is sold”.

How long do you have before the car is sold?

Within 14 days of taking the vehicle, the lender must give you a written notice. That notice has to state the date the goods were taken, their estimated value, the enforcement expenses incurred and still accruing, your rights, and that the goods cannot be sold for 21 days after the notice.

That notice is the clock. It tells you the reinstatement figure you are working towards and the date after which the car can be sold. If you have not received it, ask for it in writing immediately — and note the date you asked, because a lender that repossesses and then goes quiet is obstructing the very right the notice exists to protect.

Before the car is taken: the lender must not take it

If you pay all overdue amounts and all reasonable enforcement expenses before the credit provider has physically taken the vehicle, the credit provider must not take possession. This is an absolute prohibition — it admits no exceptions, no processing delays and no administrative windows.

Separately, before enforcing at all, a credit provider must generally serve a default notice giving you at least 30 days to remedy the default. If you remedy it within that period, the repossession must not proceed.

What it costs to get the car back

Reinstatement means paying the arrears — the payments you missed, not the whole loan — plus the lender’s reasonable enforcement expenses. “Reasonable” is doing real work in that sentence: towing and storage charges that are inflated or unexplained are challengeable, particularly where the contract fixes the repossession fee.

You are entitled to ask for a written statement of the amount currently owing under the contract, at any time, including during enforcement. Ask for the reinstatement figure in writing and keep the reply.

Why “it cannot be stopped” matters legally

A false statement about your legal rights, made by a financial services provider in the course of dealing with you, can amount to misleading or deceptive conduct under the Australian Consumer Law (s.18) and the equivalent financial-services provisions of the ASIC Act (s.12BB).

If you were told the repossession could not be stopped — and you can identify when and roughly what was said — record those details now. The lender’s own call recordings are required to exist, and you can request them under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). A misstatement like this is a serious matter in an AFCA complaint, particularly if it appears to be a scripted or standard response.

Steps to get your car back

1. Ask the lender in writing, today, for the amount required to reinstate the contract — the arrears plus enforcement expenses — and for the post-repossession notice if you have not received it.
2. Write down what you were told and when, especially if you were told the repossession could not be stopped or reversed.
3. Check the notice for the date after which the vehicle can be sold. That is your deadline.
4. If you can pay the reinstatement figure, pay it and confirm in writing that you are exercising your right to reinstate the contract.
5. If you cannot pay it in full, raise hardship with the lender in writing straight away — hardship is assessed separately and can change what happens to the debt.
6. Request the call recordings and account notes under the Privacy Act. The lender has 30 days to respond.
7. If the lender withholds the figure, stalls past the sale date, or refuses to reinstate, lodge a free AFCA complaint. Include the delay itself as part of the complaint.

If the lender stalls

Withholding the reinstatement figure is not a neutral act. If you cannot find out what you owe, you cannot exercise the right — and a lender that runs the clock down to the sale date has obstructed a statutory right, not merely provided slow service. Record every request and every non-answer with dates. That record is often the strongest part of an AFCA complaint.

Check your position with FairClaim

FairClaim walks you through exactly what happened, works out which legal arguments your facts genuinely support — reinstatement, obstruction, misleading conduct, hardship — and produces a structured AFCA complaint. Free to start, no legal knowledge needed.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• My Car Was Repossessed — What To Do Right Now (Australia)
• How to Avoid Car Repossession in Australia
• How to Lodge an AFCA Complaint About a Vehicle Repossession
• Phone or Internet Problem Your Telco Won’t Fix? How to Complain (TIO)