Most of us saw the motion picture “Repo Man” where the two intrepid screw ups in the auto repossession trade repossessed a car that had an alien or other worldly creature in its trunk. We have all seen other films where the repo man sneaks up to the car of an unsuspecting deadbeat and steals the car with the former owner either ranting in the street or, worse, shooting at the repo man.
Now it is no joke. Now it is really happening. Being a Repo Man is a tough job. According to a recent article on Google.com violence between repo men and the car owners is on the rapid increase. Owners have been shot and killed as well as repo men. The article reports that with the downturn in the economy total annual repossessions are supposed to increase by at least five percent. the article also reports that a lot of repo men are put on the street with little or know training. They have little understanding of the law. I would dare say some companies in the repossession business do not include background checks as part of their hiring procedures.
However California, Florida, and Louisiana actually do license and monitor Recovery Agents, as repo men are known in the more formal terminology. They report less incidences of violence in their states. Stands to reason. In most states, while federal law declares recovery agents cannot “breach the peace” while recovering a vehicle, it is up to federal courts to establish that define what that means.
With the economy getting worse and more people losing their jobs and being unable to make their car payments, repo men should be much in demand, if not a growth industry. Which is hardly a good thing, considering the overall ramifications.
Check them out before you hire.
