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Feature
Hanging Out With the Repo Man
He’s smart, he’s funny, and he “steals” cars legally. (He’s also the best friend you never knew you had.) Our July-August issue’s cover story.
(Page 2 of 6)
“I’m pretty sure they’re financial editors from Time or the New York Times,” my wife said. She had seen a sign in the lobby that said “Time Finance,” or “Times Finance,” plus one other word that seemed a little strange, which made her think they were editors.
Like the acerbic Holmes wheeling on credulous Watson, I hooted in derision. Clearly she had leapt to the wrong conclusion. First of all, it was nonsense to think that one of those publications could afford to fill half of a large and expensive seaside resort with a bunch of financial editors. Hell, they didn’t even have that many financial editors. “Have you looked at Time lately?” I said. “It’s so thin you can shine a light through it. And the New York Times is a dinosaur lumbering toward extinction.”
Secondly, the men that we had seen in the lobby (and they were mostly men) were about as far removed from the pussy footing, green-eyeshade types as it was possible to imagine. They didn’t look like professional football players, but they were big men who walked about with an unmistakable swagger. Some were decked out in alligator boots and cowboy hats, others in glitzy Italian suits and wraparound sunglasses (worn indoors). There was one man in his early 20s with spiky hair and a pair of horseshoe-shaped steel earrings. No one could imagine these people tsk-tsking and making little squiggle marks over other peoples’ copy.
On closer inspection, the sign in the lobby said “Time Finance Adjusters.” Adjusters, not editors. But this odd circumlocution only deepened the mystery. When my wife asked one of the conventioneers what it meant to be a “time finance adjuster,” he just laughed and said, “Pay no attention to that, ma’am. We’re repo men. You know, we steal cars legally.”
Aha: one of the ways a bank can “adjust” a car loan if you don’t make your payments on time is to send the repo man out to steal it back from you. (On its website, Time Finance Adjusters, or TFA, describes itself as “the official association for the nation’s repo agents,” with hundreds of members in cities and towns throughout the United States.)
How to do that with the latest technology became clearer to me as we left the hotel after lunch. Out in the parking lot, equipment vendors were showing off their wares, such as the “220 Snatcher,” a complex steel assembly with moveable arms and jaws that clamp and hoist. Designed to fit into the bed or undercarriage of an ordinary-looking pickup truck, the Snatcher combines the virtues of stealth and speed. It allows the repo agent to cruise around a neighborhood without arousing suspicion and then dart in and out of a driveway with a car in tow in less than a minute.
The agent doesn’t even have to get out of the truck. As the brochure said, “All the functions of folding, unfolding, extending, retracting, raising, lowering and operating the steel claws can be done inside your truck cab using the remote.” In other words, to a trained operator with a joystick, it’s as easy as changing the channels on a television set!
What little I had learned about the repo trade to this point had whetted my reportorial appetite. As I thought about it, it seemed possible that these people might have a better perspective on the economic craziness of our time than—say—a whole boatload of financial editors. Viva Repo Man and Repo Woman, I said to myself. Knowing that their gala dinner would commence at 6:30 p.m., I decided to return to the Shores and gate-crash the party.
What to Do If the Repo Man Comes to your House
Repo agents go to considerable expense to secure the lots where they store repossessed cars and trucks. They put up tall fences topped with barbed wire and invest in video surveillance and guard dogs.
Happily for me, none of those protective devices were in place when I joined the party on the hotel’s veranda as the lone uninvited guest. It is fair to say that my presence created a bit of a stir—adding to that of the stiff breeze blowing in from the Atlantic on a slightly chilly evening. I came out of curiosity and was myself an object of curiosity in this crowd of about 150 people. Without my having to say—“Take me to your leader”—people went out of their way to steer me to certain individuals that I “had” to talk to if I were going to write about their business. As I was not, at this point, on assignment for any publication, I found myself in the interesting position of being a free-booting reporter surrounded by pirates—well, not pirates, exactly, but people who “steal” legally, and for profit—with all kinds of stories to tell about the tricky business of separating people from some of their more prized possessions.
Paul Bukur, a smooth-talking and sharply dressed repo agent from Tehachapi, California, was one of those I came to know. Like many others in the group, Bukur, now 49, grew up in the business—it being the family business. He repoed his first car at the age of 13 and received his first death threat a couple of years later—after repoing a limousine from a member of the mob. He told me: “My brother and I had FBI protection going back and forth to school that year…in the limo.” Coming after a slight pause, the last phrase was delivered with a wicked smile and perfect comic timing. Today Bukur specializes in the recovery of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks in his area of southern California (under contract with the automaker’s credit company) and all kinds of boats (under contract with National Liqui dators, the dominant force nationally in the recovery and auction of boats). His business—like Patrick Altes’s on the other side of the country—has more than doubled in the last year or so.
Though he favors the stealthy approach of driving what appears to be an ordinary pickup when pinching $80,000 cars from delinquent debtors (“You don’t believe it’s a tow truck until I’m actually gone”), Bukur is nothing if not open in talking about what you and I can do to keep him out of the driveway. In his words:
You don’t have to worry about me jumping over your fence or breaking into your garage. I won’t go into your driveway if you have put up “No Trespassing” or “Do Not Enter” signs. And if you catch me in your driveway and order me to get the hell out, I will get the hell out.
That night and over the next day and a half (I skipped the beach and hung out with the repo men through the rest of their conference and my brief vacation) I talked to a number of other repo agents who sounded a more bellicose note. One told me that he felt “a real adrenaline rush” with every confrontation in the driveway, and another—who plied his trade in the desolate stretches of western Penn sylvania, where “you drive a hundred miles between trees”—said that there was nothing about his job that he loved so much as “talking someone out of his car”—enjoying the experience like a cat playing with a mouse. As other repo men around the table (this was at lunch the next day) rolled their eyes and laughed in deeply knowing agreement, he went over his ripostes to a whole list of pleadings:
About the Author
Andrew B. Wilson, a frequent contributor to The American Spectator, writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (78) | Leave a comment
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Becky| 8.11.09 @ 9:07AM
I expect within a year, some of these clunker replacements will be on repo lots.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.11.09 @ 9:20AM
No one...No one... expected this kind of crash.
The first TARP bill, like it or not, was needed. Even Rush and Newt agree.
Bush, as always, trusted his helpers too much, and forgot that either a communist...or a broken warrior... was following him into the oval office.
Since the election, those communist America haters have been licking their chops, and feeding the pigs.
Nevertheless, we America lovers will win this war.
BET ON IT, T.E.A.M. !!!
Pingback| 8.11.09 @ 9:42AM
Not a good sign links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
PolishKnight| 8.11.09 @ 10:04AM
What a wonderful article!
Sean| 8.11.09 @ 10:44AM
Ken,
There were people that predicted this crash. They are also the ones that opposed TARP. The ones that couldn't predict the crash supported TARP. The ones that couldn't predict the crash also supported the stimulus bill. Those that predicted the crash opposed the stimulus bill. Unfortunately too many people are still listening to those that are clueless.
Dan| 8.11.09 @ 1:13PM
Becky, I suspect your right on the money.
Thats just what everyone needs more consumer debt.
Probably good times ahead for the repo-man.
Robert Pinkerton| 8.11.09 @ 1:25PM
Only by semantic laxity does one "borrow" money from strangers; rather, one rents a stranger's money, the rental charge being "interest." Unlike 99+% of my fellow Americans, I have always -- consistently -- thought that the renting of a stranger's money for personal consumption to be the height of folly. (Gambling with rented money leaves "stupid" far, far behind in the direction of suicidal perversity.) As such, I not only never ever obligated myself to pay even so little as a penny of "interest," but have silently cheered every time I have heard of someone garnisheed (i.e.: Wages attached, stopped and diverted to the creditor) or repo'd. I hoped against hope (Yes, I consider hope a vice. Make of that what you will.) that the humiliation might induce the victim to change his/her ways. Whether one actually borrows -- i.e.: Without charge, from family or friends -- or rents from a stranger, alongside of any material object that might be in pledge as security, one's honor is in pledge for security; mine is just too precious to me to risk in betting on the future. Too, simply I cannot justify spending the extra that is interest, when by waiting 'til I have saved enough, I can obtain what I want for simply its tagged price.
Fifty years ago, when I was fifteen, I heard a favorite aunt complaining about the paperwork she had to do every time one of the laborers in the scrapyard (where she worked as office "manager" -- two other office girls) got garnisheed -- which was frequently. I could not understand how any adult could bear such humiliation without suicide. Needless to say, I learnt more as my field of social observation broadened and deepened.
In my last two years of college, my side job -- part-time -- was as a bill collector for a finance company. (I had one of the debtors, a hard-core deadbeat, tell me he would rather deal with a demon out of hell than with me. I never raised my voice, nor used profanity, nor got really or feigned angry; nothing personal, just business.) Forget your anti-Sicilian ethnic slurs about the Cosa Nostra collector and his baseball bat: The law of the State of Ohio gave the creative creditor everything he might need at take a delinquent debtor apart. And, yes. I had asked my boss to give me only people from whom the company did not want repeat business. I finished my BA with NO overhanging indebtedness in 1970, and quit the collection business.
However, while I applied for work after college, I was told by several prospective employers that, while I otherwise looked very good to them, the deal-breaker in my personal history was the fact that I had no indebtedness whatsoever! Make of that what you will; however, intervening decades of observation have led me to put a thoroughly malign construal thereon. The person without indebtedness but with savings, if he gets fired, is well able to pick himself up, dust himself off, and straightaway commence searching for other work, not needing to take simply any port in a storm; perhaps his pride is slightly hurt, but that is all. Likewise, the person with no debts but also no savings, though loss of employment might cause him more pain and diminish his choices of subsequent employment through need for immediacy. However, the poor soul who is base over apex in debt with no savings, is the one who will be seriously hurt by loss of employment regardless of the reason for this; this is the one who is meat for the employer bent on doing unlawful -- or lawful but unconscionable -- things, for this poor soul wears a collar with leash attached, which leash can be jerked. I have seen this last situation happen to others.
I acknowledge without shame nor guilt that I hate the very institution of consumer credit, and that I love that hatred as a stimulus to virtue. I believe myself vindicated in that attitude by the current crisis. Such economic growth as the United States should pursue is closer to hardwood tree-ring growth than the fashion of bubble "growth," for it is in the nature of bubbles that they burst. Consumer credit is the noxious gas (Flatus of the body politic?) with which our recent bubbles bave been filled.
Assuming the United States survives this current crisis, if the crisis teaches a large minority of our population unconditionally to loathe and shun consumer credit at all costs, perhaps some value might be extracted from the aftermath. Unfortunately, however, at least I believe that we Americans are seing the beginning of the end for this country as a unified political entity.
Dan| 8.11.09 @ 1:48PM
Robert, your so right. The public has been brainwashed to expect easy credit.
Even the theme song for one of the credit card companies sings loud and clear, "I want it and I want it now".
PolishKnight| 8.11.09 @ 2:14PM
Dan, my wife and I loved that commercial (with the song "I want it now")
It was actually a credit card advertising a feature for consumers to check their credit limit and stay in it, rather than buy something they couldn't afford and/or go over it.
In the commercial, the man gets all excited over buying a 60 inch flat panel TV and when he checks his limit, he returns home with a more modest 32 inch. His wife says helpfully to him: "This is nice." I thought it was wonderful that the ad was showing respect for a man living within his credit limit (which isn't perfect, but a start anyway.)
Dan| 8.11.09 @ 2:22PM
Remember it well.
Pingback| 8.11.09 @ 10:51PM
The American Spectator : Hanging Out With the Repo Man | Moving Trucks links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 8.11.09 @ 10:51PM
The American Spectator : Hanging Out With the Repo Man | Moving Trucks links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
GG | 8.12.09 @ 2:51AM
The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed the 29-year-old is back in hospital for further treatment but is due to be released on Wednesday.
Pietersen was operated on after his movement became increasingly restricted through the first two Ashes Tests.
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The surgery already meant he would miss the final three matches of the series.
"Pietersen will be discharged from hospital tomorrow after experiencing a complication of the wound made during surgery on his injured right Achilles two and a half weeks ago," the ECB said in a statement on Tuesday.
"He was seen by a wound care specialist and will receive a course of antibiotics in order to exclude infection.
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"Medical advice is that a complication can occur post surgery and in this case resulted despite Kevin closely following specialist advice on management of the wound."
The injury first surfaced on England's tour of West Indies in March.
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However, Pietersen's recovery was slowed when he strained the tendon again while playing for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League in April.
The Hampshire right-hander then missed the one-day series when West Indies made a return visit in May.
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Despite clearly struggling at the crease, he averaged 38.25 from four innings at Cardiff and Lord's in the current Ashes series.
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The ECB originally estimated Pietersen would be absent for six weeks and he has been named in England's initial 30-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, which begins in South Africa on 22 September.
Pingback| 8.26.09 @ 4:45PM
Hanging Out With the Repo Man « Depravity links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Elyse| 9.16.09 @ 10:25AM
Repo Men and The "Big Truck Syndrome":
Run a background check on these "Repo Men" and what you will find are “the usual con men, travelers, and deadbeats” that you have unfairly applied as a label directed at those whom these creeps target for repossession.
It is interesting that you have chosen to interview company owners or the rare exception of a former CIA agent for this article. Could this possibly be due to the fact that the vast majority of Repo men are incapable of intelligent conversation, have lengthy criminal records and constantly violate the laws created to protect consumers within their States?
I am in favor of paying one's bills, but to send people with histories of violent crimes (sex offenders included) onto the private property of families with children, allowing access to their keys (which they could copy and pass along to their criminal buddies), for any reason is nothing short of dangerous and irresponsible.
Besides this, after meeting many, I must now digress:
Come on! You must have figured out at your little "Repo Party" that Repo Men are poorly educated criminals who make up for what is lacking below by trying to intimidate people. They brag and boast yet most make less than $30,000 a year and sneak around at night trying to intimidate people-Mostly Women and their children. Not the job of a tough guy, but the perfect job for a guy who is too ill equipped and embarrassed to ever get laid. Their job actually sucks, but NOBODY else would ever hire them!!!
How do I know all of this? I am a headhunter who has searched in vain for reputable Repo companies who don't hire ex-cons or people who lack judgement and common sense for several of my National accounts. After weeding through hundreds of failed background checks and interviewing people who made my skin crawl, I had to move on to a more pleasant clientele. There is nothing admirable about Repo Men.
Ray Crocker | 8.26.10 @ 10:42AM
I have been in the recovery business for 25 years. Like the true professional in our industry I have a private investigators license. In order to have that license I have to have a clean criminal record just as all of my employees do. I agree there are many undesirable people in the business. The problem is licensing and only two state require training and licensing of recovery agents.
The true professional recovery agent is aware of all laws that impact their business. They will see that all of their employees take an independent training course to make sure they understand the laws. The problem is the finance companies and banks look for the cheap repossession and hire the cheapest company available. These financial institutions who farm out 8 to 10,000 repossession a month latterly look for the cheap repoman. If they can save $50 or $75 dollars a recovery that save their company as much as $750,000.00 a month.
When a repossession goes bad the financial institution is $100% responsible for the actions of the recovery agent. Some of these financial demand a $5 million dollar insurance policy that will defend the recovery agent and the financial institution in lawsuits for wrongful repossession. Those insurance policy premiums are based on the number of repossession the company will average a year. The premiums can exceed over 100K per year.
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