Question

Many people need a car to get to work, take care of their families, live their lives. But obtaining an auto loan can be difficult for those with a bad credit rating. Some finance companies are now willing extend credit to people who are poor risks. On one condition: the company can install on the car tracking software that has the ability to disable the ignition if the debtor misses a payment. This procedure has left drivers stranded oh highways and in dangerous neighborhoods. Is this practice unfair? Do the benefits of obtaining a loan outweigh the harm caused by this violation of privacy and loss of control?

Answer 1

Yes, this practice is entirely unfair. This is because finance companies, by installing car tracking software and disabling the ignition on a payment instalment default, are invading privacy of the debtors. Users and debtors use their vehicles for various different purposes, including emergency situations that may come like going to hospital or going for an emergency meeting etc. By disabling the ignition the finance companies are denying the debtors their ability to move from one place to another. This practice is hence unfair and finance companies should rather restore to legal methods to pressurize debtors to make the defaulted payments.

No, the benefits of obtaining a loan do not outweigh the harm caused by this violation of privacy and loss of control. This is because the degree of violation of privacy and loss of control is severe in such instances and the negative consequences of this is much more than the utility that an individual derive from owning a vehicle and using it to commute from one place to another. The high degree and quantum of the negative consequences of loss of control and voilation of privacy can put a debtor in difficult situations and circumstances and the difficulty of such situations will exceed the utility and benefit of having a vehicle and using it.