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Bad economy means more business for repo men

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  • Bad economy means more business for repo men

    Bad economy means more business for repo men


    http://www.winknews.com/features/action/22874004.html

    COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. - The hood ornaments on the car may express a certain lifestyle. But from his driver's seat, Bill Glover sees something different. When owners don't pay, no matter if the car is a Mercedes, a Hummer or a Honda, Bill and his brother, Dave Glover, will come to collect.

    But the men, who run Richardson Detective Agency, say collecting rarely comes this easy.

    "That's the 8th address we've run for this particular account," Dave Glover told WINK NEWS after he and Bill located a white Ford Pickup Truck.

    Sometimes the car repossession business gets personal.

    Bill Glover told WINK, "They (the car owners) have run out of their financial lifelines. They've got nobody to turn to."

    Lately, more corporations and even people in gated communities, have hit hard times.

    At one address, they found they weren't the only people collecting.

    "Under the management of company listed...this would be a foreclosure," Bill Glover read off a sign on the door.

    Sometimes Bill and Dave strike out, and so the two men hunt without a tow truck to save gas and stay hidden.

    Dave told WINK, "It's less conspicuous in a car. They don't think anything about it. But you show up in a tow truck, they know you're gonna do something right away."

    The brothers located a Ford Explorer at the owners workplace. After pushing it out of the parking space, Dave notifies the sheriff's department and calls the owner for the keys.

    The tow truck quickly loads the explorer, but before the driver can pull away, the owner comes back and tries to get his things.

    That's when the owner's co-worker throws orange soda at our camera before giving us a friendly wave goodbye.

    "Those are the ones i don't want," Bill explained, "I want the 10 second no confrontation-- the first time I see them is in my rear view mirror."

    Most owners give up their cars without a fight. But another pitfall comes with this line of business, they can't help but feel for the people they're collecting cars from.

    Bill recalled one such instance, "A mother having a birthday party for her 3-year-old. All her friends are over. A single mother, back into her driveway pick up the car just as the kids start walking outside because they're going to beat on a pinata. Some days the job actually sucks."

    Still, Bill and his brother keep doing the job, thankful for the business. Even they have bills to pay.

    So far this year, the Richardson Detective Agency has recovered 2000 cars, trucks and RVs. For all of 2007 they collected just 1677 vehicles.





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