Thai Lease Car - Legal Query

Hi all,

I'm writing to try and get some advice for a Thai friend who is in a spot of trouble over a lease car.

She had a lease on a hire car whilst still together with her ex-boyfriend. The lease is in her name only. After they split up, she agreed to let him keep the car and continue using it as long as he would be the one making the payments on it.

The car lease has came to an end and now the rental company is pursuing her as he has not been making the repayments. Additionally, the car has not been returned to the rental company and she does not know where the car physically is now. The car has been rented to someone else by her ex-boyfriend, so now a third party is in possession of the car. She has obtained the details (name, address, telephone number) of the person who is now registered as having the car and scheduled a meeting with them to put the lease contract in their name, but they didn't show up to the meeting. The whereabouts of the ex-boyfriend are also unknown.

She has negotiated with the car rental company to reduce the amount of money owed, but they are still pursuing her for a large amount of money. She has approached the police and asked them to issue a summons on the person who is now in possession of the car, but nothing has happened so far and the whole saga is moving very slowly.

What more can she do in this situation? Should she involve a Thai lawyer? Or will this just be a bottomless pit of money that won't resolve the situation any quicker/at all?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.