This is such horrid advice. She will have to declare bankruptcy to discharge the auto loan and 18k debt may not be sufficient to guarantee she can. Worse, that

This is such horrid advice. She will have to declare bankruptcy to discharge the auto loan and 18k debt may not be sufficient to guarantee she can. Worse, that 18k will now have fees added to it for the repossession and late payments. The chance of getting the car back through auction are near nil for many reasons, from that auctions do not necessarily take place in the same locale to it can be months before the car gets to that point as the paper work has to work through the system, a system sufficiently hampered by the CV19 Now we don't know the full extent of the original poster's loan issues but the best bet is to try to arrange payment changes with the lien holder. Never ever advise anyone to walk away, that is the worst thing you can ever do.