Most people who file Chapter 7 in Nevada keep their car. What decides it is not how nice the car is or what you paid for it, but how much equity you have in it and whether Nevada law protects that equity.
The number that matters is your equity, not your car's value
Equity is what the car is worth minus what you still owe on the loan. If your car would sell for $14,000 and you have $11,500 left on the note, your equity is $2,500. If you own a 2013 sedan free and clear worth $7,000, the whole $7,000 is equity, because no lender stands in front of you.
That distinction trips people up. A $38,000 truck with $36,000 still owed has almost no equity, while a fifteen-year-old paid-off car has all of its value sitting there exposed. The expensive vehicle is often the safer one in a Chapter 7, which is the opposite of what most people assume.
Nevada protects $15,000 of equity in one vehicle
Under NRS 21.090(1)(f), one vehicle is exempt if your equity in it does not exceed $15,000. In plain terms, if the car is worth less than you owe, or your slice of it is under that figure, the exemption covers it. These amounts are set by statute and the Legislature can change them, so any number you are quoted should trace back to the current text.
A separate provision is worth knowing: NRS 21.090(1)(p) covers a vehicle owned for use by you or your dependent that is equipped or modified to provide mobility for a person with a permanent disability, and it states no dollar cap at all.
What a trustee actually does when he sees your car on the schedules
Brian is one of only four Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustees in the District of Nevada, so he has spent years on the other side of the table reviewing petitions.
From that chair, a car is short arithmetic. What is it worth, what is owed, what is exempt. If there is nothing above the exemption, there is nothing for a trustee to administer and he moves to the next file.
A trustee is not hunting for your Corolla. He is looking for unprotected value that belongs to creditors, and most consumer cars have none.
What does make a trustee slow down is a paid-off vehicle with real resale value, a title that moved to a relative in the months before filing, a listed value that looks low next to what that model is bringing, or a second and third vehicle in a one-driver household. None of those is automatically a problem, but each gets a second look, and each is far better handled before filing than explained afterward.
Protecting the equity is not the same as keeping the car
The exemption shields your equity from the trustee. It does nothing about the lender. If there is a loan, the lien survives the bankruptcy, and if you stop paying, the lender can ask the court for permission to repossess.
Keeping a financed car therefore usually means continuing to pay for it, often through a reaffirmation agreement, which is a new written promise to stay on the loan. Whether that makes sense depends on the payment, the rate, and what the car is worth. It is not automatically the right move, and it is one of the few places in a Chapter 7 where you can take on a debt the case would otherwise have wiped out.
The deadlines on this come fast
Under 11 U.S.C. section 521(a)(2), a Chapter 7 debtor files a statement of intention saying whether the property will be kept or surrendered, within 30 days after the petition is filed or by the date of the creditors' meeting, whichever comes first, and must carry that intention out within 30 days after the first date set for the section 341(a) meeting. A court can allow more time for cause, but these are short windows, and letting them pass can cost the protection filing gave you on that vehicle.
Where the honest answer is "it depends"
Value is an estimate, not a fact. Two appraisers can look at the same car and land thousands apart, especially if it needs work, so when your equity sits close to the exemption figure that gap becomes the whole question. A lease is handled differently from a loan, and a co-signer, a co-owner on the title, or whether a married couple files jointly or alone each change the analysis.
If you are worried about your car, a conversation is free. The Law Office of Brian D. Shapiro works remotely, so consultations happen by phone or video call, and Chapter 7 cases start with $0 down, with no attorney fees until after the petition is filed. Call 702-386-8600 and we can look at your actual numbers.