IL contract law, dispute with car dealer is buyer entitled to refund

Of course. You can sue for the refund. You can sue for conversion of the car. You can file a stolen car report and collect from your insurance company under the theft coverage. You can do all three. But lets talk about the best one. Conversion is the civil court equivalent of theft. If you sue for conversion and win, you should get a judgment for the fair market value of the car plus punitive damages. Think of punitive damages as being in the neighborhood of tripple the fair market value of the car. See a local personal injury litigation attorney before she changes her mind. Don't bother with suing for the refund and don't bother with the stolen car report and the insurance claim. Just sue for conversion.

This answer must not be relied on as legal advice for the reasons posted here: http://davidphipps.com/docs/Disclaimer.doc . And I am not your attorney.

David

I'm assuming that you fell behind in your payments, and that's why she confiscated the vehicle, right?

Considering that the vehicle is still registered in her name, she has the right to confiscate it, if you have violated the terms of the written or oral agreement. I'm assuming that you both had an agreement for scheduled payments, and that you failed to meet one or more of those payments? If so, then you broke the contract with her, and she has every right to take possession of the vehicle.

If you sue her in court, you will receive a refund for anything that you paid her, that would be in excess of fair market rental value for that particular make and model of vehicle, for the time period that you had it in possession.

Please let me know if this helps, and feel free to clarify your situation, or to ask further questions.