A consumer who is aggrieved by a  finance company who has improperly or wrongfully repossessed an automobile has various avenues for recovery against a finance company or repossession company. Obviously, the Uniform Commercial Code permits recovery of all actual losses or consequential losses associated with a wrongful repossession. This means that if the consumer loses an actual amount of money, is caused to incur medical bills or have a specific out-of-pocket expense, this would be a permissible claim under either the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act or the Uniform Commercial Code. As an example, if a repossession company damaged the plaintiff’s vehicle which needed repairs, breached the peace, caused the plaintiff to miss a certain amount of work or damaged the plaintiff’s property, this would be a specific consequential loss for which the Uniform Commercial Code would permit recovery. In addition, this could potentially be a violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and an ascertainable loss for which recovery would be permitted.

The Uniform Commercial Code also contemplates certain statutory, automatic, damages to permit a consumer to recover if a repossession is inappropriate or deemed a wrongful repossession. The most serious of these damages would be the amount of the finance charges plus a 10% penalty assessed against the finance company. These types of statutory damages are available under certain violations of the Uniform Commercial Code. In addition, there are also certain statutory penalties in the amount of $500 under the Uniform Commercial Code for the finance company’s violation or improper repossession. This is in addition to the amounts previously set forth or actual and consequential damages associated with an inappropriate or wrongful repossession.