Booming Business For Car Repo Men
CBS Evening News: Auto Loan Defaults Are On The Rise, Leaving Many Americans Car-less; But Some Companies Benefit
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Car repo man Richard Grosvenor drives his tow truck during the early morning hours. Car loan deafualts hit a 10-year high in the last quarter of 2008, meaning lots more buisness for repo companies and auctioneers. (CBS)
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The number of auto loans that have gone unpaid for 60 days hit a 10-year high in the last three months of 2008 - up 17 percent from the year before.
When those loans go into default, all those cars have to be repossessed. CBS news correspondent Hari Sreenivasan provides an inside look:
It's midnight and the repo man is just starting his shift. First stop; a gold Hummer.
According to the bank, the owner of the car had his home foreclosed. When he wakes up, he'll find out the hard way what happens after missing one too many payments on his luxury SUV.
"It's the American way," said Richard Grosvenor, of the repo firm Speedy Recovery. "We wanna live beyond our means. We wanna drive the luxury cars."
Grosvenor has been repossessing vehicles for 15 years. He earns paid roughly $400 per car, and when the economy slumps, business soars.
"When we see the paperwork come across our desk and the amount that these people were trying to afford in their payment, I guess nowadays with the crunch, to me it just seems impossible," he said.
Jackie Charles felt that crunch. Making less than $30,000 a year, she had to make a tough choice.
"I had to choose between paying the car note and paying my rent," she said.
She chose rent, fell two car payments behind, and her Honda was repossessed.
"I started screaming, to be honest," she said. "They took the car the very week I started a new job."
Charles is not alone. Banks repossessed than 1.6 million vehicles last year, the highest number ever, and 12 percent more than the year before.
There is a good chance those cars will end up at auto auctions - where volume is up and the cars seem to move through like cattle.
It's the American way. We wanna live beyond our means.
Richard Grosvenor, repo manThose 1,200 cars can spell savings to the dealers bidding on them. For example, a 2007 Toyota Corolla might sell for close to $10,000 at auction. A dealer can then resell it for $14,000.
And after those cars are back on the road, repo men like Richard Grosvenor hope the new owners did not buy more than they can afford.
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See all 63 CommentsPLAY IT!!!
Posted by sndkzyaa at 5:46 PM : Mar 22, 2009
Have you been smokin' some whacky tobacky?
Woman needs man, and man mus thave his mate,
That no one can deny...
Play it, Sam... PLAY IT!!!
Posted by sndkzyaa at 5:18 PM : Mar 22, 2009
No, I'm a very observant person.
So, maybe it isn't so much that a woman is blackmailing her man into getting what she wants, it's that he is bribing her. He's saying that he will get her this, if she will do that.....
Either way.....dumba**. : ) He shouldn't have to bribe. If he can't get her to do the things he wants (within reason) , because she wants to, then he needs to find someone else. No point in going into debt for someone that doesn't want to please her man.
PLAY IT!!!
Posted by erasmus111 at 10:05 AM : Mar 22, 2009
Maybe you don't see it because you just don't see what's there.
Woman needs man, and man mus thave his mate,
That no one can deny...
Play it, Sam... PLAY IT!!!
Posted by sndkzyaa at 7:03 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Really? You mean there are that many men that allow women to blackmail them? So then that means there are one heck of a lot of women abusing men to get what they want. That's bad.
Posted by erasmus111 at 9:56 PM : Mar 21, 2009
I figured out why it boggles my mind. It's because I don't see that happening here. It must be one of those AMERICAN things. : )
Posted by sndkzyaa at 7:03 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Really? You mean there are that many men that allow women to blackmail them? So then that means there are one heck of a lot of women abusing men to get what they want. That's bad.
Posted by erasmus111 at 6:10 PM : Mar 21, 2009
You realize, of course, that applies to 9 out of 10 men.
Or is THAT what you meant when you say the man gotta have what he needs when he needs it. Meaning man needs woman, woman needs car, soooooo.....
Posted by sndkzyaa at 3:35 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Yeah, that's it. Either way he's a dumba**. : )
I don't think it's a matter of a woman having enough sense to find a dumba**, as it is the man needs to wise up and not put up with a loser woman. If a man meets a woman and spoils her, gives her everything she wants, then she comes to expect it. (not all women) And it's the same the other way around.
The man shouldn't be letting the woman blackmail him into getting something he can't afford. Time to get rid of her.
Posted by erasmus111 at 2:29 PM : Mar 21, 2009
So what you're saying is, the woman has enough sense to find some dumba** to buy the "I gotta have it, you gotta pay for it or else" car.
Or is THAT what you meant when you say the man gotta have what he needs when he needs it. Meaning man needs woman, woman needs car, soooooo.....
The fundamental things apply, as time goes by....
Posted by sndkzyaa at 2:15 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Exactly. Meaning he's the dumbazz that bought it. : )
Posted by erasmus111 at 2:06 PM : Mar 21, 2009
LOL! You're not the one driving the tow truck.
And 9 times out of 10, the car the woman drives is in a man's name.
I've seen it all. Find one in every car. You'll see.
And is there some law that says the repo man can't take some satisfaction in doing a good job?
Posted by sndkzyaa at 1:55 PM : Mar 21, 2009
"Proud Mary"? "her"? I bet there is more men doing it than women. Women just have way more sense than to buy things they can't afford. Men just gotta have, what they want, when they want it. It's as simple as that.
And no, there is no law saying you can't get satisfaction from doing a good job. I bet you are really good at your job.
Have a nice day, repo man! : )
Posted by erasmus111 at 1:35 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Hey, the repo man is just doing his job. Just another cog in the big wheel.
Big wheel keep on turnin, Proud Mary keep on wakin' up wonderin' where her car got towed.
And is there some law that says the repo man can't take some satisfaction in doing a good job?
It ain't no crime.
Keeping something you didn't pay for, now that's a crime.
Posted by erasmus111 at 1:35 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Actually I guess that just depends on the company. I was just wondering what the average company does.
Posted by erasmus111 at 1:35 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Hey, that's between you and the bank.
All the repo man needs to know is, the bank said tow.
When the bank says tow, the repo man tows.
It's that simple.
If they try to hide the vehicle, just give it a few weeks until the deadbeat thinks the coast is clear and they get too lazy to keep hiding it. It goes right back in its usual parking space and BINGO. Another score for the repo man.
Who, me, devious?
Posted by sndkzyaa at 1:08 PM : Mar 21, 2009
Hahaha, yeah, I would say you were devious,....sneaky,......whatever.
That enthusiastic "BINGO", and the "heh, heh, heh", pretty much says it all. : )
If a person doesn't make the payment, then of course it needs to be taken away. So how many payments do they need to miss before it's taken away? Just one?
Posted by erasmus111 at 12:17 PM : Mar 21, 2009
The notice says only that your vehicle is subject to reposession.
It doesn't say WHEN.... heh, heh, heh.
If they try to hide the vehicle, just give it a few weeks until the deadbeat thinks the coast is clear and they get too lazy to keep hiding it. It goes right back in its usual parking space and BINGO. Another score for the repo man.
Who, me, devious?
I'm not the one who didn't make the car payment.
"How to become a Repo man." ehow.com
Now, I read somewhere else that you are supposed to "notify" the vehicle owner of a repossession. So how do you steal a car back without the consumer noticing? They already know that you are going to do it.
Posted by sndkzyaa at 11:26 AM : Mar 21, 2009
".....requires a certain amount of ingenuity and DEVIOUSNESS on the part of the repo man."
Maybe not, but you do kinda fit the description, don't ya think? : )
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