My cousin is filing for bankruptcy and she knows her van is on a repo list. What's sad is that she has two young children and works long hours. She may very well find herself stranded and unable to go anywhere as her van may get repo'd at any time.
Her issues of bankruptcy is not due to the economy, it is her poor money management skills or the lack therof altogether. She was so caught up in having the absolute best for her kids (read: name brand everything and several trips to Disney On Ice and Build-A-Bear Workshop) that she would literally put everything on a credit card including her vehicle payments. She's so upside down on everything that when she is done she will likely have ZERO credit, and will have to give her van back to the finance company and will be bumming rides from other people until she can come up with enough cash to pay for a vehicle outright. She's learning her lesson for sure. She's already cut up all of her credit cards and is going through all the legal steps necessary to file for bankruptcy. She will still have to pay her debtors back, but they will end up settling for what they can get and it still won't be the full amount owed. She'll get a small reduction in her debts if anything.
I'm just glad I have been absolutely meticulous about making my payments on time every month and to pay my bills as quickly as possible. Because of this, my credit is in good standing even though I don't have a lot of money. I have a feeling this will help in the long run.
As for this guy and his truck, he was likely in debt much further than he wanted to admit and it ended up costing him dearly. I don't know his situation so I can't judge him.