[ad_1]
Unfortunately, the Repossession business is booming. It is a billion dollar industry that is used by banks, car loan companies, used car lots, new car dealerships, car rental agencies and occasionally private citizens. How do these firms go about locating the people who have defaulted on their loans?
With a staggering 10% increase in both new and used car repossessions, there are now some 5000 firms in the United States. A total of about 1.51 million vehicles in 2007 were repossessed according to one consulting firm and the industry average is about 2.37% of all vehicle with payments due.
To retrieve a car, the bank or car dealer employs a Repossession agency and can provide the Repo man with information from the credit application such as SS#, address, phone numbers and other data. This is very helpful as the Repo agent can easily find the location of the vehicle.
However, in many cases, when people get behind in the payments, they move the car around and try to hide it. This is where it becomes very interesting. The search begins and is called “skip tracing”.
Technology has somewhat come to the rescue for those that can afford it. New License Plate Identification hardware and software systems have been introduced to quickly ID a vehicles history. The ALPR (automatic license plate recognition) is expensive and is difficult to deploy successfully unless there is some clue as to where the vehicle is generally located. It is mostly used by law enforcement agencies who can afford the price and manpower needed to implement it.
The Repo Agent usually relies on “tricks of the trade” and these are usually kept secret. One of the the many ways that a hiding car owner can be located is by using the many different online government and public records databases on the Internet. Information kept in these databases includes last known address, business associates, relative and neighbors. Reverse cell phone and email lookups sometimes also provide clues to the whereabouts of missing people. Online databases can be of great help in determining the proximity of the car owner and give the Repo Man an valuable tool in performing their assigned task. Sometimes it just comes down to old time “sleuthing” to find the delinquent debtor.
[ad_2]
