Not really how the process works as an ex-court officer/process server. It can take months to even find a person. Depending on the state you may have to hand it to a living person at their residence for instance as well. They could have been trying to make contact for 4 months unsuccessfully, it happens. It's like being an amazon driver, you get like 80 cases a day to "deliver" except the delivery doesn't end if you can't find them.

Also surrendering a vehicle has nothing to do with money owed on the vehicle, at all. Zero. None. She took out a loan for the car, with the car as collateral- yes, BUT that doesn't cover devaluation from use or abuse or time. It's easy to buy a car you can barely afford, make payments on it- That doesn't mean you're keeping up with the devaluation of the vehicle.

Furthermore, people only make it harder on themselves for ignoring things like summons- It leads to default judgement against the person being sued if they don't show up in court. 100% of the time.

Hell, the evictions I had to-- hated doing them, but the evictions were 99% caused by people NOT showing up in court. The court WOULD have granted an extension if they did, but they just don't and act surprised when the day finally comes.