| Unfortunately, the Repossession business is booming. It | | | | very helpful as the Repo agent can easily find the |
| is a billion dollar industry that is used by banks, car loan | | | | location of the vehicle. |
| companies, used car lots, new car dealerships, car | | | | However, in many cases, when people get behind in |
| rental agencies and occasionally private citizens. How | | | | the payments, they move the car around and try to |
| do these firms go about locating the people who have | | | | hide it. This is where it becomes very interesting. The |
| defaulted on their loans? | | | | search begins and is called "skip tracing". |
| With a staggering 10% increase in both new and used | | | | Technology has somewhat come to the rescue for |
| car repossessions, there are now some 5000 firms in | | | | those that can afford it. New License Plate |
| the United States. A total of about 1.51 million vehicles in | | | | Identification hardware and software systems have |
| 2007 were repossessed according to one consulting | | | | been introduced to quickly ID a vehicles history. The |
| firm and the industry average is about 2.37% of all | | | | ALPR (automatic license plate recognition) is |
| vehicle with payments due. | | | | expensive and is difficult to deploy successfully unless |
| To retrieve a car, the bank or car dealer employs a | | | | there is some clue as to where the vehicle is generally |
| Repossession agency and can provide the Repo man | | | | located. It is mostly used by law enforcement agencies |
| with information from the credit application such as | | | | who can afford the price and manpower needed to |
| SS#, address, phone numbers and other data. This is | | | | implement it. |