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Repo Agents Hate To Door Knock

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  • Repo Agents Hate To Door Knock

    01 repoagentshatetodoorknock01.jpg
    The Repo Man Is At the Door

    Nobody wants to door knock, they just want to steal the car. Repo agents always want more time to do a drive by and hope that the vehicle will eventual turn up. They do not want to scare the debtor into running or hiding the vehicle by tipping him off that he is up for repossession.

    There are several problems with that way of thinking. The first is that the vehicle is not showing anyhow and the second is that the debtor probably already knows that he is up for repo. I am not saying to hit the door the first time you run the account, but you have to develop a sixth sense to know when you are beating a dead horse. With the gas prices as high as they are these days, no company wants to spend a lot of fuel and time on a dead-end account.

    A door knock can bring about a variety of resolutions to the account. By hitting the door, you may determine that the car is in the garage and ready to be picked up. Maybe the car was wrecked and is in police impound or broke down at a repair shop. Sometimes a door knock will reveal that the debtor has moved, been arrested, been out of town or is in the hospital. The outcomes to a door knock are endless.

    The door knock can result in the vehicle being turned over without incident. Other times the debtor may pay up, which will result in you being paid for a force pay or in the case of a contingency contract, the account being canceled. Either way, you will get some resolution to the account. If the debtor is still living at the given address, the door knock will put pressure on him to either give up the collateral or pay up. Once in a while, it causes the debtor to go on the run and hide the vehicle, but not as often as you would think. At that point, you have not been successful at finding the vehicle anyhow, and you are not any worse off by door knocking. If anything, the lender knows that you are doing your job, and this will benefit you in the future with more work for your company.

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    Information About the Car You Want To Repo Is Behind That Door

    Do not just stop at hitting the door at the given address. Knock on the neighbor’s doors on both sides of the given address and a few of the houses across the street. Also hit the door on a few of the houses that are behind the debtor’s house. Chances are that someone will have some information about the whereabouts of the debtor or the collateral that you are looking for. You can usually find a neighbor that either hates the debtor or one that just wants to be nosy and part of the excitement. Either of these two types of neighbors can be a wealth of information that will lead you to a successful recovery. Be advised, with today’s collections laws, you have to be careful as to what information that you share with a third party. For the most part, if they see a wrecker and you are inquiring about their neighbor and his vehicle, then they will automatically know that your are the repoman.

    If you are not having any results in the debtor’s neighborhood, then your next step is his place of employment. Again, you can usually find someone at the debtor’s job to be more than willing to help you find him, If not, you can at least determine if he is still employed there. Maybe someone there will tell you where he is currently working.

    Even if none of this door knocking leads you to the debtor or the collateral, it will certainly put pressure on him. It will embarrass him and it will make him want you to go away. The only two way for that to happen is for him to pay up or turn over the vehicle.

    If you are not finding the vehicle, then the worse result of a door knock is that will still not be able to find the vehicle. However, more often than not, it will be the only thing that will lead you to the vehicle.

    Please fell free to start a thread in the forum if you have any further information on this topic that you would like to share. link to forum
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