When a car gets repo'ed...

[Jims5543]

I was repo'd back in 2000. It was a very frustrating experience and Ford Motor Credit were a bunch of A-holes.

I had no idea I was to be Repo'd I knew I was 2 months behind, but, I had been once before and that time not only did I give them 2 months but I paid the 3rd month in advance and put another $500 towards the principle. This was about 4 months earlier. I would say based on that, I was not a high risk but Ford Motor Credit had a different opinion.

I was 1 town south pickup up payroll at my accountants office when I got a panicked phoen call the work truck was being hooked up a the shop. At that moment it was being washed and waxed by an employee to keep him busy, because I wanted it clean for the repo. The crappy part was all my survey equipment was inside it.

I raced back to the shop while calling Ford Motor Credit and asking WTF was up. Meanwhile the repo man was lying to my worker telling him he was taking the car to an impound yard to the south when he was heading north.

Ford told me either pay off the loan or loose the truck. I told them off and told them to keep the truck, I also pointed out that yes, I was 2 months late and last time this happened I made it right. They did not care.

I was able to catch up to the tow truck and they pulled into a used car lot, through a fence, closed the fence and let the dogs out.

I had to pay $50 to get to my truck and get my stuff out of it.

I walked away, Ford Sold my Toyota (I have no idea why Toyota financed me with Ford) for 1/2 it actual value then billed me for the balance. Turned it to collections and would not let up liening my house. I offered a debt collector 50% since Ford seemed to like 50% sales.

He took my offer and after I paid liened the the last 50% against my home again. I had no ide the lien was there and only found out about it when I took a mortgage against my house after paying it off to buy my vacation home.

So, eventually, they go the money. Much to my disgust.

At one point a few years ago I bought a used Ford Mustang from a dealership and they began to finance it through Ford Motor Credit, I told them straight out, to either find alternative local financing or I walk. I only was financing 12 payment but it was satisfying to not give FMC my business and now Ford will never get it either.

Sometimes decent people are being repo'd on and their intentions are good but the finance company is making it impossible to work out, that was my case.

I was hitting some rough spots trying to get this small company off the ground right after buying it in July 2000 and all I needed was a little patience. Both Ford Motor Credit and Staples would not extend that patience (staples closed my CC account with them for no other reason other than they ran a credit check and saw the repo I made my payments to them on time) and I will no longer do business with them ever again and Staples has lost a LOT of money in my business. I am sure they do not care as well as Ford.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by dtw

100% good advice. Not to mention that an F550 or whatever uses a lot of fuel and makes a lot of noise. We did all our detective work in regular cars, and would leave the truck somewhere. Once we had a positive ID on the car we'd swoop in with the truck. On average, the truck was only on the scene for 30 seconds or less and the debtor never knew we were there until it was too late. We did our own truck driving, as your average roadside-assistance wrecker driver does not a good repo-driver make.

Tips? Nerves of steel. With the truck, you're dealing with an extremely expensive piece of equipment, not to mention the collateral you're grabbing. The bank wants it back in one piece with no new scratches/dents. You're often in the dark while trespassing on someone's property in a bad neighborhood. If you get shaky, game over. Or if you are confronted by someone, you have to remain calm and take control of the situation, or you're plucked. That's really the only skill - in my opinion - required to be a quality repo man. Cool nerves. The truck pretty much does the work itself these days, and the detective work is a breeze with current technology, especially if you have lenders with good documentation.

Stories? Tons of 'em. Was just remembering one yesterday where I was checking out a car in a very tight back alley behind an apartment complex. Had just slid in the slimjim when a light pops on above and there's a guy standing on his deck in his tighty-whiteys. He goes "HEY man what are you doing???" Those who know me know that I'm sorta matter-of-fact so I just paused a second and said "Well, I'm breaking into this car...is it yours?"

There's some Miami Vice type stuff, too. Friend of mine had his truck shot up with Uzis down in Ft. Lauderdale. He grabbed a drug dealer's Lexus, and it apparently had a trunk full of cocaine, which he was reluctant to let go quietly.

When i don't have keys i usually knock. Repo'ed a brother at 21st and Sigel last night(in a bad part of South philly) like that. I just talk matter of factly, and give them a carrot to go along with the stick.

"Sir your vehicle has been ordered repossessed- do you want to get your possessions out?"

Right away this puts them into a cooperative, "this guy aint so bad" mindset. It also establishes the fact that their vehicle is already repossessed.

Once i see they're being cooperative i tell them, "I can save you a lot of money on this repo by not towing it, if you want to surrender your keys you can get your car back for $150.00 less." If they're testy, i simply remind them, "Sir i understand your situation sucks right now, but i could have just taken it without telling you, all your stuff would be gone, and you'd be stranded with no way to work tomorrow. I saved you from standing around all morning waiting for the cops to not show up, to file a stolen vehicle report, only to have them tell you it got repoe'd."

95% of the time the customer surrender their keys without incident. 95% of those thank me for my kindess. These folks know they're wrong. It's their own fault. That has a lot to do with how a person reacts to situations.

In the end if they don't cooperate, i'm on the phone to a buddy who is a nutty ex -Israeli Paratrooper who drives a round the clock tow rig. I just add his fee to my bill. No hair off my back.

I almost never get threatened, attacked or have people even raise their voice at me. This job is all about people skills and your cool and calm quotient.

Stories? If you run into a sociopath who didn't take their meds, then all bets are off. This is doubly true for black chicks. I definitely have some stories that when i repeated them on other forums in the past all i got called was a liar.

Shrug.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

Meanwhile the repo man was lying to my worker telling him he was taking the car to an impound yard to the south when he was heading north.

I'm sure you can understand why the Repossessor would not tell you where he was taking the truck.

But you can see right away where he and i differ. If i was repo'ing you, you'd have gotten all your stuff on the spot with no hassle and no attitude.

All i care about is the car, i don't want anything inside of it. I prefer if they clean it out first- they can't then accuse me of stealing anything.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

Yes, i'm a freelance repossessor. The guys on TV are amateurs.

Sure they are. That's why they are on TV.

Originally Posted by m21sniper

What's up fellow repo man.


Tip #1, a tow truck is not neccesary in the repo business...you can hire a driver/partner for far less money and if something happens you have backup. In the case that you should need a tow(pretty rare), a trusted local tow guy will jump at the extra off the books work for $100 cash on the barrel.

The TV guys had no tow truck.

Originally Posted by m21sniper

Most young guys will take the job almost regardless of pay because of the "prestige" that comes along with being a big city repo man.

Boy, I'll bet!! Sign me up. I'm feeling a little low right now and need that prestige.

BTW, did I say repro? Must have been some sort of Freudian mistake.

[m21sniper]

The guys on TV are really bad milt. So bad that i have only been able to sit through maybe 2 episodes of that A&E show. They are petty, confrontational(REALLY bad trait in a repossessor) and poorly spoken.

And this may be hard for you to understand through your sarcasm/condescension, but yeah, repossessing is considered to be prestigious work among adventurous types, and pretty much all young guys in general. So is Private investigating, bouncing, subpoena servicing, soldiering, spear fishing, etc. It is a very "manly" job.

But hey, whatever.

[dtw]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

95% of the time the customer surrender their keys without incident. 95% of those thank me for my kindess. These folks know they're wrong. It's their own fault. That has a lot to do with how a person reacts to situations.

We had a lot of those, and they were great! Easy money. However, with the high-risk lenders we worked with, we also had a lot of the 'adversarial' repos. These were customers that generally had no intention of paying for the car and would squirrel the car away to make it impossible to find/repo. Many of them made the token down payment and/or first payment in advance, and never made another payment. All the 'weird' stuff happened with them. Hiding cars deep in the woods, obscured/swapped VINs, parking behind the house, painting the car a different color to throw off the repo man, etc...deadbeats, as it turns out, are quite creative.

My partner got a crazy lady one night, she went through Standard Tantrum #302 before she wore herself out and he could get away. He was an old pro and was completely unflappable - he could remain calm, collected, in-control, and friendly with the worst debtor. He pulled into the main drag of whatever little 'berg she lived in, and pulled into a grocery store lot to strap/secure the car before hitting the interstate. Next thing you know she comes flying into the parking lot in a pickup truck at about 45mph and broadsides the repo'd car. Totaled both cars and got herself a trip to jail by way of the hospital. It was a good thing that he'd stopped, otherwise she'd have tried something while he was driving, and could have really hurt/killed him and anyone else on the road. As it was he had to dive out of the way when she came for him.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

I'm sure you can understand why the Repossessor would not tell you where he was taking the truck.

But you can see right away where he and i differ. If i was repo'ing you, you'd have gotten all your stuff on the spot with no hassle and no attitude.

All i care about is the car, i don't want anything inside of it. I prefer if they clean it out first- they can't then accuse me of stealing anything.

At that point I did not care about the truck, as a matter of fact I went out the next morning and bought a used truck cash, so it was not a matter of not having the money at the moment, I have gotten paid on a big job that week and was catching up with everyone. If FMC would have been reasonable I would have been caught up + a month + $500 principle again. They would have been $1000+ closer to the end of the loan.

What killed me was all my equipment was in there and my ability to perform my job was at stake. If we had not followed this guy I do not know if I would still be in business as I would not have my gear to go out the next day and work.

You may be a good guy but after my experience with that repo man I think most are dishonest jerks and masochists.

I have had the last laugh because I now only buy vehicles cash, no more financing no more banks.

The last loan I had was a small one on my FJ, I decided to keep my money in the bank and make small loan payments. The loan company was Countrywide Financing IIRC and by the second month I could see we were not going to get along, I paid off the truck right away so as not to be at war with them. They were obviously WANTING problems rather than solutions.

[Jims5543]

Question,

Have any of you ever let the repossessed go call the debtor and see if a deal can be worked out.

In my case I had no idea I was being repo'd, I had fallen 2 months behind once before and as far as I know there was no repo order, maybe there was and it was called off.

I was on the phone with FMC and once they realized they had the car all deals were off except payment in full on the loan, which was not going to happen.

They never offered that I catch back up pay a fee and get my truck back. Is this a Florida thing?

[dtw]

Jim,
The majority of your beef is with the finance company, not the repo man. Once the repo order gets faxed, the repo man just gets the car. He has nothing to do with credit decisions and in the vast majority of cases, is not an employee of the finance company. A case of don't shoot the messenger.

As far as deciding all repo men are jerks and masochists (I think you mean sadists) based on your one encounter, that seems sorta knee-jerk. My demeanor at the majority of my encounters was 100% dictated by the debtor. Going to scream and yell? Nope, you can't get your stuff out, you can come get it at the lot. Where's the lot? Ask your bank. Going to yell, "I'll f'ing kill you motherf'er!!"and then run inside your house where I assume you're going for a loaded gun? Then I'm real sorry about your rose bushes and grass but I picked the shortest line back to the public road from your side yard where you were hiding the bank's property. Want to be reasonable? Then I'll help you box up your stuff out of your trunk and will give you tips on how to get your car back with a minimum of hassle, and I'll give you business cards with phone numbers direct to people who can make things happen without having to spend 2 hours on the phone dealing with the 'system'.

Sorry that guy was a massive dong, but there's one in every crowd.

[SpartanToJo]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

If FMC would have been reasonable I would have been caught up + a month + $500 principle again. They would have been $1000+ closer to the end of the loan.

I was hitting some rough spots trying to get this small company off the ground right after buying it in July 2000 and all I needed was a little patience. Both Ford Motor Credit and Staples would not extend that patience (staples closed my CC account with them for no other reason other than they ran a credit check and saw the repo I made my payments to them on time) and I will no longer do business with them ever again and Staples has lost a LOT of money in my business. I am sure they do not care as well as Ford.

Jim,

Help me understand. When you were two month in arrears for the second time in seven months, did you contact Ford Motor Credit to let them know your situation and your plans to resolve it? What was their response?

Kind regards,

SpartanToJo

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

Question,

Have any of you ever let the repossessed go call the debtor and see if a deal can be worked out.

That would cost me lots of money, why on earth would i do that? I get $250 and up to repossess a car. If i arranged a payment i'd get maybe $50.00 for my troubles...if that.

It's just not good business sense to do what is the finance company's job for them.

Originally Posted by Jims5543

In my case I had no idea I was being repo'd, I had fallen 2 months behind once before and as far as I know there was no repo order, maybe there was and it was called off.

It is Pa state law that you be mailed written notice of impending repossession. No idea about your state.

Originally Posted by Jims5543

They never offered that I catch back up pay a fee and get my truck back. Is this a Florida thing?

That is entirely up to the discretion of the financier. They can charge you $1, or they can demand payment in full with outlandish repossession and restocking fees to boot.

It's entirely up to them.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by dtw

My partner got a crazy lady one night, she went through Standard Tantrum #302 before she wore herself out and he could get away. He was an old pro and was completely unflappable - he could remain calm, collected, in-control, and friendly with the worst debtor. He pulled into the main drag of whatever little 'berg she lived in, and pulled into a grocery store lot to strap/secure the car before hitting the interstate. Next thing you know she comes flying into the parking lot in a pickup truck at about 45mph and broadsides the repo'd car. Totaled both cars and got herself a trip to jail by way of the hospital. It was a good thing that he'd stopped, otherwise she'd have tried something while he was driving, and could have really hurt/killed him and anyone else on the road. As it was he had to dive out of the way when she came for him.

I had a black chick run me down and take me hood surfing on her Nissan Maxima for 3 miles at speeds upwards of 60mph once. She also got a free trip to jail for her troubles.

Black chicks are definitely the most dangerous people to repossess in my experience.

[Jims5543]

FYI - My Repo experience was totally my fault. It was a loose loose situation and FMC was not willing to work it out. They were very snotty when I did talk to them and all they cared about was when the next payment would arrive. There was a point where communication broke down mostly because I was sick of giving them the same answer every single day sometimes 2-3 times a day.

I was in a really tough situation spending everything I had in the world to buy out a deceased competitors wife. I was going to back out and in hindsight wish I had but what was done was done, I was in a hole and it was compounded by an attorney that ordered a huge job, wanted it in a hurry (3 weeks) I got excited and never got anything in writing, (huge mistake) and he screwed me out of 22K. That could have paid my truck off 3 times over, the loan was only for about 8K. I was in a huge hole and a terrible spot and to be honest, in hindsight, I could have communicated better, but at the time, in the middle of it the stress level was the worst I have ever felt in my life and I was not thinking 100% clearly.

FMC was relentless they did not like my answer that there was no money to give, that I have to use what I had for electric and phone bills to keep my business open and when there was money they would get it. They wanted promises I could not make and deadlines I did not have.

I got sick of discussing this every day with them and stopped taking their calls, that was my mistake. The sad part is I was going to get payroll that day and head back to the office to see how much I would have left over to pay them. Truth.

The timing of the events could not have been worse, in 24 hours I was about to be caught up.


Its funny because that was a turning point for me financially, almost like it was meant to be, from that day on I began to get on my feet.

3 years later I walked into a MINI dealership and bought a 03 JCW Cooper S cash with money from my Mustang sale and cash in my savings account.

In my business account? From 2003-2005 I purchased 4 brand new work trucks cash, I still own 2 of them.

You live and learn but I will tell you I do everything I can not to finance cars and will not for as long as I live. While FMC won that round I win in not paying interest on car loans ever again.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I can handle making a house payment, even a student loan payment. But nothing burned me more than making a car payment every month. Paid that one off early, and never again. My cars might not be new or impress the neighbors, but they're mine.

[dtw]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

I had a black chick run me down and take me hood surfing on her Nissan Maxima for 3 miles at speeds upwards of 60mph once. She also got a free trip to jail for her troubles.

Black chicks are definitely the most dangerous people to repossess in my experience.

You should come down south sometime. Our experience was sorta the opposite. I remember cruising down the block - through backyards - on foot with my partner in downtown Durham one night - and having very little concern. I think the locals were too mystified by a couple of white guys jogging through their neighborhood at midnight to react fast enough. On the other hand, all the wildest stuff seemed to happen out in the country. Partner was out one night and watched the asphalt give way to dirt. He was looking for Mr. XYZ or whatever, and started to notice that ALL the mailboxes were 'XYZ'. That's when the spidey-sense starting tingling. He found the address and walked up the driveway, found the car, verified the VIN, walked back. Right when he closed the door of the truck, the muzzle of the shotgun touched his temple and all he hears is "Evening son, what're you looking for?" He says "I'm looking for Bob XYZ" and she says, "I'm Missus. XYZ, what can I do for you, son?" He says, "nothing at all ma'am, thanks for your time", and gets the hell out of dodge. He always said, I can repo cars in metro Durham or South Raleigh (our tiny little version of gangland) all day long, but nothing scares me more than a drunk old redneck with a gun. When you're out in a trailer park that's a mile or two down a dirt road from a main road that's ten miles from nowhere, help is a LOOONG way away.

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

Black chicks are definitely the most dangerous people to repossess in my experience.

In my experience it is the Moms and big sisters that give all the trouble. But then again, they are usually black too!

[Gogar]

I watched 3 episodes of this trash the other night! Good entertainment. Bad acting.

[RWebb]

"trespassing on someone's property"

- Are you legally allowed to go onto private property to repo a car? I realize the car is not owned by the property owner, but the real estate is.

Knocking at the door sounds smart to me. A lot of people here have commented that they point guns when they hear weird noises at night on their property - some I'm sure is bluster, but a lot of people will at least be armed. I sure might be. I might not point too exactly before I know what's up, but no body likes to say hello over a gun barrel.

[m21sniper]

Unless i have keys i almost always knock. Sometimes they won't come out because they think we're BSing them and we're actually cops there to arrest them.

Inner city Philadelphia is more wild west than the wild west ever was, and some of these people have developed some very unusual phobias as a result.

Like a fear of white people at their door at 2am.


We also wear these. They're excellent bullet repellent. (dimensions of this photo got skewed when i uploaded it, makes me look like a fat boy, haha)


This is even better bullet repellent. Class IIIA Vest with Class IV trauma plates.