Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


0

Think Repo Men Like Recession? Think Again

Victims 'hide' cars, 'fight over them'

Share

(Newser) – Repossession agents must thrive on recession, right? Wrong, reports the Wall Street Journal. “People are doing everything they can now to hold onto what they’ve got,” says the owner of an auto-recovery business, whose revenue plunged 23% in 2008. “Do you think they’re going to wait (around) to give up their cars? They hide them. They fight over them.”

Repo orders surged to 1.67 million in 2008 from 1.49 million in ‘07, thanks to defaults on cars bought with easy credit; but vehicle financing has fallen 32% from a year ago—bad news for repo men. On a recent night, two such men went to work in South Carolina; 10½ hours and 350 miles later, they’d found three of nine cars they had pursued.

Buyers view a car to be auctioned at the Bryan Buchanan Auto Auction in Montvale, Va.; the outfit runs through about 100 car title loan repossessions each month.
Buyers view a car to be auctioned at the Bryan Buchanan Auto Auction in Montvale, Va.; the outfit runs through about 100 car title loan repossessions each month.   (AP Photo)
The owner of Bryan Buchanan Auto Auction flags a bidder during a auction of repossessed cars at the auction in Montvale, Va., Feb. 21, 2008.
The owner of Bryan Buchanan Auto Auction flags a bidder during a auction of repossessed cars at the auction in Montvale, Va., Feb. 21, 2008.   (AP Photo)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

There's a lot of liability in it, and a lot of stigma in it. But it was a good business. - Tony Cooper, repo man

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
0 comments
VIEWING:
 
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

413 Stories

THOMAS FRANK

Give Thanks We're Not Thanking Wall St.

Be grateful for new skepticism on financial industry

Nov 25, 09 8:04 AM CST
(Newser) - There won't be a lot of people thanking the financial industry this Thanksgiving, and that in and of itself may be cause to be thankful, writes Thomas Frank. There's been a shift in thinking and newly skeptical Americans no longer believe that the market is omniscient or that colossal Wall... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • stock market • recession • bank regulation • financial crisis • George W. Bush Policy Institute

paul krugman

 It's About the Jobs, Stupid 

The US needs to create work for Americans

Nov 13, 09 8:20 AM CST
(Newser) - The US has to shake up conventional thinking and create jobs for out-of-work Americans, writes Paul Krugman . Our current misguided thinking—as evidenced by unemployment north of 10%—isn't so much a jobs policy as GDP policy. "If you grow it, they will come," goes the philosophy. Get... More »

MORE ABOUT:
recession • unemployment • economy • unemployment rate

 Buffett: 
 'Financial 
 Panic Is 
 Behind Us' 

He sounds optimistic note at Columbia University forum

Nov 12, 09 9:14 PM CST
(Newser) - Warren Buffett says the worst is over. "The financial panic is behind us," he declared at Columbia University. The Berkshire Hathaway chief acknowledged that the US economy "still is sputtering some," but he sounded a bullish note on investment opportunities around the globe. While he gave... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Warren Buffett • recession • Berkshire Hathaway • panic • financial crisis

413 Stories


Violence up between repo men, car owners
Associated Press


Business  •  US 
TwitterFollow @NewserBusiness on Twitter

 
recession • repossessions • economy • cars • financial crisis

from our news partners

PopEater.com