Tag Archive: repossessor


Over the last couple of decades, I have seen auto repossession companies come and go. Both friends and competitors have closed their doors before my eyes for a variety of reasons. Some closed their doors due to money management and poor business practices. Others closed their doors as a result of illness or old age. I have often heard divorce and personal problems cited as reasons for throwing in the towel. Out of everything I have heard, I would say one of the most frequent reasons for closing an auto repossession business was just being plain tired and giving up. Time and time again, I have had repo company owners tell me they were burned out and closing their doors. They were tired of battling with staff, clients, debtors, and other headaches that come with owning an auto repossession. If you, as the owner, are burned out, your business will also become burned out. Your office staff and repossession agents will catch vibes you put off, and business will suffer. Never let your employees see you down. For your sake and your business’ sake, you need to always be on top side. Having a positive attitude will be contagious and will lead to your business running better. Of course, this will lead to higher profits and business growth. I have been in the offices of both types of companies – the “burned out” one and the “on top side” one. The two are farther apart than the East coast is from the West coast, and it is the “on top side” business that is raking in the cash. Not only is the business making money, but the staff and owner are having a blast doing what they love! In the “burned out” office, you can slice and dice the thick tension, see the pain in everyone’s face and loosely predict the date and time they will go bankrupt. Most of us got into this business with a great love for the auto repossession industry and the life that goes with it. If you get burned out, you will lose the love for this industry and, just like a marriage, the relationship will come to a painful end.

Feeling burnout coming on? Spend some time with your family or get involved in a charity!

Tips and more info on how to run an auto repossession business are found here and here

In an earlier post, we talked about learning to respond to the word “no” and how to be persistent in this business. Today’s tip was inspired by Bryan McCollister, owner of Faith Financial, Fort Worth, Texas. It also deals with the word “no”, but in a different way. You should not only learn how to overcome the obstacle word “no”, but you need to learn how to say “no” as well. Saying “no” could be used in response to a request for free storage or maybe for doing work on a contingent basis or possibly for a low fee for repossession work. Far too many auto repossession companies are taking any business they can get without weighing the costs. These “eager beavers”, jumping at any work that is thrown at them, are the reason why auto finance companies are expecting every agent to work for pennies and provide free services. These same lenders are in the business of making money, and yet expect you to work for free. They would not be providing auto loans to people if they were not making money, and you should not do work for them if you are not making money.

When I talk to people in the auto finance world, I often ask them a couple of questions that make them squirm. The first is, “Would you do your job if you were only going to get paid if the people paid up or the car gets recovered?” Another is, “Would you come in to work on Saturday and Sunday if you were not going to get paid for those hours?” None of them ever say that they would, and then I compare that to freebies that auto repossession company owners are often asked to do by clients.

About 10 years ago, I used to do work for a client that paid well. We got $325 a car, plus keys plus transport with a cure fee, if we got the debtor to pay up. We picked up about 100 or more voluntary repos a month that made it a guaranteed $30,000 a month account for us. We were very happy to do their auto repossession work because we were making a nice profit. I recently spoke with an auto repossession company owner in my old area that is currently doing the same company’s work. He is doing their invols for a whopping all-inclusive fee of $265 a car. He must make keys, transport the cars to auction, and does not get a cure fee for that price. I know he is not making money, he knows he is not making money, and you know it, too. He should have said “no” to that account from the start. The cost of business has gone up since I did auto repo work for them.

How is it possible that this lender’s fee has gone down and not risen to $450 per repo plus keys and transport with a cure? That question demands an answer, and the answer is that some poor soul needed work so badly, that he was afraid to say “no”. Lenders weigh the decision on whether or not to put you on their vendor list, and you need to do the same when thinking about doing work for a client. If you are not going to make money working for a client, then you need to just say “no”.

I am not talking about making a living, either! A person makes a living at a job, but business owners need to make money – not lose money. Weigh the costs before bringing on a new client, and if you are not going to make good money, then you need to turn them down with a confident “No”!!!

Some auto repossession company owners will never get a “yes” or a “no”. That is because they do not take the time to pick up the phone to call any potential lender clients. I know you are all busy repossessing cars, making keys, dealing with debtor’s property, talking on the phone with your current clients, and managing your employees. If you own an auto repossession business and just read the above “too busy to call potential clients” list, I am sure you can add a thousand more reasons! However, if you are not always building your lender client portfolio, then you will eventually lose ground. In the future, one or more lenders will stop using your repossession services. This will happen regardless of the wonderful service you are providing them. I have talked to countless auto repo company owners that have lost clients for whom they did work for many years. These clients loved them and they had long relationships with them. They lost them as clients due to mergers, a collection manager retiring, the lender making the decision to go the forwarder route, etc.

I know of one owner that saw his best client vanish when a bank president’s son decided to go into the collateral recovery industry.  When I had my repo company, I received calls every week from lenders looking to give me business. I was making a lot of money and had more than enough work, and could have sat back and taken the new work when I got the calls. Luckily, I knew that a business that was not growing was dying. I made it a point to sign on new lenders every month, even if it was just one. How did I do that? I decided to call a certain number of potential lender clients every day. Some of the calls I made were first-time calls and others were follow-up calls to the lenders that were not looking for new agents. Set yourself a goal to call and TALK to five possible clients every day. I capitalized TALK, because leaving five voicemails does not count. Dial clients until you have spoken with five and are able to get them your company packet either by email, fax or snail mail. If a lender declines your services, tell them you would like to check back with them in a month or another time that they agree to. Also get their name, direct line (if they have one), an email address and a fax number. Anyone that has been in this business for any length of time will tell you about a time they spoke with a collection manager that seemed interested in using them and were never able to get them back on the phone again. Your services will be declined by many, and you need to contact them again in the future with a follow-up call.

As your “no” list grows, keep making your five, fresh calls a day and add one to three follow-up calls to your daily sales routine. I keep hearing owners telling me that they do not have time to make sales calls. If you are thinking this as you are reading this, then you need to make a commitment to make time to grow your business. I have been in the business and, besides working hard, I spent a fair amount of time horseplaying with my agents and staff, drinking coffee, taking long, long lunches, visiting with friends, and even watching TV in my office. I had a lot of good times running my company, but I had to prioritize my time. We can always find time for the things we enjoy doing. I enjoyed being successful and making money, so I made time to make that happen. Do not get discouraged when you are making your sales calls. Remember, each “no” is one step closer to your goal!

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How can the word “no” motivate you to build a successful auto repossession business? If you are going to be an entrepreneur, you are going to hear the dreaded “no” word a lot. The first “no” you are going to hear is when you ask the people you know if they think it is a good idea to get into the auto repo business. I remember when I was thinking of buying the repossession company I was working for, I asked some people in my life if they thought it was a good idea. 99% of the people I asked told me “no”. Listen, if you are going to succeed as a repossessor, you need to take the word “no” as a personal challenge. When I was told, “No, it is a bad business move”, I thought to myself “Really? Watch me!” and I bought the company. From day one, you need to get into the mindset that a “no” can NOT stop you. Once you decide to get into the repo business, be prepared to hear the word “no” a few more times and plan your reaction. You will hear “no” when you seek business financing. You will hear “no” when you apply for a loan for a wrecker. You might hear “no” a few times when you try and secure auto repossession insurance. You will hear “no” a hundred times or more when you try to sign up clients. Experiencing “no” so many times is going to be some great training for you! Debtors are going to tell you “no” day in and day out when you try to get them to turn their collateral over! You have to be able to conquer the word “no”! You need to resolve this issue in your mind if you want to be the owner of a successful auto repossession business. When you hear the word “no”, you have a decision about how to interpret it. If you are told, “You can’t do that”, you can take that in and believe it and say to yourself, “You’re right, I can’t”. In every conversation, there is a buyer and a seller. If you are “selling” me that I can’t do it and I “buy” it, then I can’t do it. On the other hand, for me, I would take you telling me I can’t do it, and turn that doubt into racing fuel. Hearing that “no” fuels me and challenges me to conquer the “no”. Hearing that “no” is actually a positive motivation for me and, as a business owner, you need to have that spirit as part of your makeup. You need to make a change within yourself if that is not one of your attributes. One way to do that is to look at the people that are telling you “No, it is not a good idea”. How successful are they? Is their life the kind of life you would be delighted to have? Do not take advice from someone who has not done it and done it successfully. If you talk to some of the auto repossession industry “greats” that are truly successful, they will rarely tell you that you can’t do it. It is always the failures in life that will tell you that you cannot do it. I talk to auto repossession company owners every day. There is one thing very different from the successful ones and the ones that are barely making it. It is not cash flow, underfunding, not having enough trucks, employee problems, a lack of clients, or the evil forwarders I continually hear about. It is simply the word “no” and how each owner reacts to that word. Learn to positively react to the word “no” and turn it into fuel that will drive you to reach your goals. If you do, NOTHING can stop you from having a successful auto repossession business.

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Greed can get the best of all of us. Do not get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with making money with your auto repossession business. As a matter of fact, we at http://repoindustry.com/ do not want you just to make a living owning a repossession business, we want you to get rich! If you are only going to make a living, then why own an auto repossession business? You can go work for someone else and just make a living, and let them deal with the headaches of being a business owner.

On the other hand, you should be sure you share the windfall with the hardworking repo agents you have working for you. If you have a big agency or want to get big, you need to realize you can’t do it without their help.

This is just one of the things the doomed company we are discussing in this series failed to realize. They were a big company, they had a great reputation, and they were making a lot of money. The owner’s sons began comparing our agent’s pay per car with other agents working for their competitors. There is nothing wrong with that if you are comparing quality along with the comparison on pay. Our repossession agents were the cherry on the milkshake! They were the best of the best! They were the biggest reason the company was great! The other companies they were comparing us to were unsuccessful. When you start comparing yourself or your business, you should never compare down, always compare up. You can never improve yourself by looking at the failures of others.

The other agents in the area were getting around $100 for every involuntary repossession they did, and our company paid us $140 per invol. Now, keep in mind this is when the lenders were willing to pay big money for repossessions. This bothered the “boys” to no end, and they constantly threw it in our faces. They were determined to keep our pay in line with the other repo companies. They finally got the owner – dad – to change the rates the repo agents were paid to $100 per repo. Talk about change! This change did not just upset things a little, but it was like a tsunami with the agents. They were furious, and even plotted to stop working so hard. It is very difficult to accept having something you are used to getting taken away from you. Greed and Change were just two things that were the beginning of the death of this once great auto repossession company.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! If you get a great system going with your auto repossession business, then do not change a thing. Of course, if recurring problems come up that affect your business, you will have to make minor or major adjustments – depending on the problem. But, by all means, if things are flying right, then do not change your course of direction. If a small problem does come up and a change needs to be implemented, then tweak things “mildly” – no major changes. Making a change can affect the entire operation of your auto repossession company, and, if things are pretty much running smoothly, you do not want to do that. Do not change your office staff unless you absolutely have to.

One of the things that was the ruin of the repo company in this series was that out of nowhere they decided to make changes for no reason at all. They fired one of the best skip tracers they had because of a personality conflict. He was doing an awesome job, but he could not get along with one of the owner’s sons. The son decided to go on a campaign to get rid of him and was successful at getting him tossed. The skip tracer went to work for one of the company’s competitors and, slowly but surely, began to pull business away to his new place of employment.

You also do not want to have a high turnover rate of the repomen you have working for you. Making changes in your field agents can negatively affect your business, as well. Not only should you not change the repossession agents you have working for you, you should also try to not change their routine.

The next unnecessary change that they made at the company discussed in this series was to “shake up” the repo agents by shuffling the areas in which they worked. For the most part, the recovery rates of all the agents were really good, but they thought they were getting too comfortable working the same areas. They also were trying to punish a couple of the guys – once again over personality conflicts. They had drivers that normally worked in areas close to their homes driving 50 or more miles to work an area another agent used to cover. Then, they had the agent from that area going the same difference to the other guy’s area. Pure insanity! These repomen had developed contacts, knew the streets, knew the hiding places and had decent relationships with the police departments in the areas they had worked in. Now, they had to start from zero, and it showed in their recovery rates. The lenders began to notice that it was not business as usual, and that something had changed. I can be a bit outspoken, and I voiced my concerns to the owner. He appreciated the input, but his kids did not. They began to target me and accused me of getting in the middle of the family business.

This will be be the first post in a series called “How Not to Run An Auto Repossession Business”. Years ago, I personally worked for a truly great auto repossession business. Not only was the repo business great, but the owner was not only an awesome boss and but he was a great repoman. He had what it took to start, build and maintain an auto repossession company that had a fleet of wreckers, rollbacks and transport trucks, several offices, a skip tracing department, a locksmith department and a huge staff of office workers and repossession agents. His company performed  repossession work for nearly every major lender in the United States, as well as almost every local bank and credit union. The company executed over a thousand involuntary repossession orders a month. He was known as the guy that could get any piece of collateral recovered and if he could not get the unit picked up then no one could. His recovery agents were the best paid, had the nicest and newest equipment and were known for professionally getting the job done. The repo agents that worked for this company were the envy of every repoman for miles and miles around. If you worked for this particular repossession company and you were also a great repoman , there was no doubt that you were going to make over $100,000 a year. I worked for this company as a repoman at first and later managed an office and several repossession agents. The owner of the company always had a pocket full of cash and I did too. I had decided that I was never going to leave this company – ever. Although, in the past, I had dreamed of owning my own auto repossession business, I had put that thought far in the back of my mind. Why would I own my own? I was making an ungodly amount of money without the headaches of owning my own company. My boss treated me better than I expected to be treated and never hassled me. He always trusted me and never questioned my words or actions. I always had a new wrecker to drive, made my own schedule and did not have a complaint in the world. So what happened to this company? This is what this series is about – How Not to Run An Auto Repossession Business.

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We all want to be a good role model for our kids. Let’s face it, our children learn from us more than anyone else in their life. Most sons want to grow up to be just like dad and, oftentimes, daughters do as well. So my question for you is, do you want your son or daughter to grow up and step into your shoes by working as a repoman? Many recovery agents and auto repossession company owners I speak with on this subject are 100% against it. I often hear things like, “Nope, I want them to grow up and do something with their life.” Oftentimes, the previous sentence is mixed with a lot of cursing to get the point across that they want their little ones to go to college and have a respectable job someday. My thought is that being a repossession agent is a respectable profession. I want to stress that word – profession. We are professionals doing a job that 99.9% of Americans could not do.  Sure, we want our kids to be successful in life, but being a business owner in the community is something great, right? Whether you want your kids to follow in your footsteps or not, be sure that you are someone from which they learn some good things. Let them see a parent that does the right thing and lives a life of decency and honor. Let them see a person that treats others with respect and conducts themselves in a professional manner. Be an individual that decides what is right to do and how to react, regardless of the circumstances with which they are confronted. Do you understand what I mean? An example would be of deciding not to steal when you are not in need, and following through with that decision when you are desperately in need. Do not make an excuse for not doing what is right when it suits you. A great parent will support their child’s career decision, even if it means growing up to be the grim reaper – the repoman! For those of you, like myself, that wanted my auto repossession business to be a family business that I could pass down to my son one day – being a good role model also means supporting our children when they decide not to be like dad and choose another profession. So, here is a shout out to my awesome son who chose a different road than his dad did – I love you, I am proud of you, and I support you in your career choice. Please vote in the poll about this post here

See more articles on a repoman career here and if you are a repoman or an auto repossession company owner and are not a member, please join our forum here

Here are some traits that a person needs to possess in order to be a great repoman.

  • Trustworthiness – A lender needs to know that you are going to do what you said you would do. Do not make promises you can’t possibly keep.
  • Honesty – Your effectiveness as a repoman cannot afford to be caught in a lie, even one time. If you did not do something, that’s okay, but if you did, then own up to the lender.
  • Leadership – You have to be able to make tough decisions, solve problems, and work through difficult decisions. Everything rises and falls on leadership.
  • Confidentiality – Lenders want agents that do not disclose information about their debtors. Your clients do not want to get hauled into court because you have loose lips.
  • Work ethic – Being a repoman is a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week job. The repossession industry is not well suited for a lazy repoman.
  • Generous – Be sure you give back to your community. You should not only give monetarily, but also give of yourself. There is nothing more rewarding than giving your time to a good cause. Click here to read more on charity.

Please feel free to comment on what you feel are essential qualities every repoman should have, or discuss it on our forum here