Repo Man
'Cat and mouse' business on the riseBy CHRISTOPHER BOBBY Tribune Chronicle
Article Photos
CHAMPION - Armed with his gift of gab and a Garmin GPS mounted on the dash of his tow truck, John Ramsey last week was off for another 10- to 12-hour work day.
And despite the faltering economy, business for Ramsey has been good.
He is vice president of operations for Buckeye Recovery Solutions. In short, he is a ''repo man'' targeting defaulting buyers. He has the right to legally ''steal'' back vehicles and other items on behalf of his customers - banks, credit unions, finance companies and car dealerships.
On the prowl for another car on the repossession list, John Ramsey tries not to be too obvious.
But it's tough for the stocky jack-of-all trades to hide in the shiny red tow truck that carries the tools that any repo man needs.
He's got a little inflatable pillow that can be squeezed between a door and a car frame, then pumped up just enough to get a lock opening wire into the vehicle's compartment.
He's got a camera and his clipboard with all the official paperwork.
He's checked out all the leads for now and he's got a reputation to defend. After all, Ramsey once snagged six cars in a day.
Ramsey's repossessed trucks, SUVs, campers, boats and four-wheelers. He even nailed a copier and a fish tank.
Ramsey wrestles with the roller coaster cycles of his business that flows with the economy and the time of year.
''You seem to get business falling off when the income tax refunds go out, and this year when the incentive checks arrived. For some reason, there's a lull around Christmas too,'' he said.
''Before I started out on my own, it seems like we were looking for the same people over and over again. They would buy a car knowing they weren't going to pay, and then play a cat and mouse game with us,'' he said.
But as the economy has gone south, he says things have changed.
''I'm mostly running into good people who are truly down on their luck. It's the economy. And if I'm coming out, it usually means somebody lost their job, or there's a divorce, foreclosure or bankruptcy,'' he said.
And eventually, Ramsey takes care of business. After all, he has bills to pay, too.
''I always tell them to contact the company and try to see if they'll let you catch up (on payments). I tell them that things are going to get better,'' Ramsey said.
Last week the repo man spoke as he steered his big tow truck around the block. He was in Niles prowling for a 2002 Chevy Malibu on South Cleveland Avenue.
He had stopped by a couple places before he hit paydirt. At one location it looked like the debtor had moved out.
''The grass is really high and it looks unkept. I run into that a lot,'' he said.
But Ramsey's observations quickly turn into action when he spots the Malibu in a driveway.
It took what seemed like only a second until the hook on the truck was attached to the car and Ramsey was hauling it out of the driveway from the rear, the front wheels dragging across the pavement.
Ramsey re-positioned the hook on the front end in the street just as a dejected debtor was walking out of his house, mouthing the words: ''Dude, that's my car!''
As in most cases, the guy about to lose his car made several excuses before admitting he was behind on his payments.
Ramsey, whose conscience might have him appear more mature than his 30 years, wrestles not only with the roller coaster of his business but also with the one in his mind that sometimes has him questioning whether he's doing the right thing.
''You have to remember, I'm meeting these people on one of the worst days of their lives. I try to put myself in their shoes. I've seen the crying and heard every story you can think of, along with every excuse in the book. But that really lasts so long. What can you say if you owe the money?'' he said.
Ramsey offered the debtor the usual trade - the keys in exchange for retrieving anything he needed inside the vehicle.
If Ramsey doesn't get the keys, the repo process takes much longer while he waits for a locksmith to cut new keys for the vehicle.
This repo man has operated his own business for almost three years, and during that time he says he has seen the number of repossessions double to about 20 to 30 cars per month.
Nationwide, repo agents say it's not just cars or boats, but that banks and lenders have been asking them to reclaim all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, small planes, snowmobiles and semi-trucks. Vehicle repossessions were up 10 percent in 2007 over the previous year, said Tom Webb, an analyst for Atlanta-based Manheim, the largest car auction company in the nation.
Ramsey has high-speed Internet fired up on his desk in a bare-bones, steamy office that lacks air conditioning. It's in a nondescript industrial park that includes a storage area where he keeps his four-wheeled prey. He has four or five steady customers giving him leads that used to come over a fax machine and now come over the Blackberry in his pocket.
It's all about saving time and steps in order to save on fuel for the expensive tow truck that gets only about 8 mpg. His GPS helps with the routine.
Ramsey, a former midnight turn grocery store manager who grew up in Bristol and who met his wife on the job there, said he has had a gun pulled on him a couple times in his newer line of work. He would much rather talk his way out of any confrontation and has developed his own set of rules:
- Never lie to a customer or debtor;
- Don't break the law or confront anyone;
- Once the car is on the ''hook'' it belongs to him.
''I'll always try to get the keys if they're there. If they give me the keys, they can take whatever they want out of the vehicle. Sometimes there might be expensive golf clubs in there,'' he said.
Even though Ramsey might get two or three ''finds'' a day, he says most don't realize there normally is considerable time spent tracing the vehicle and the debtor.
There is hefty paperwork in the form of reports with the customers and documentation when a vehicle is snagged. ''Sometimes I have to take photos if there's a ding in the fender. It all leads toward getting things prepared to take it to the auction for the customer,'' he said.
Other times after checking Web sites, Ramsey is making advance calls to co-signers who have been known to give up the keys and make the job easier.
''Co-signers and ex-spouses make great informants in this line of work,'' he said.
There might be calls to ''spotters'' he uses to try and locate hard-to-find vehicles.
He's used stakeouts, too, like the time he sent his business partner to watch for a target to pull out of his garage.
''My buddy followed him to Sears. When he went in to shop, we hauled it out of the Eastwood Mall parking lot,'' said Ramsey
''I've got a real good guy in Austintown who spots for me. I take care of him. We sponsored his kid's Little League team,'' Ramsey said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Handala
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08-12-08 10:34 AM
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Pretty complicated stuff there,eh shweck! That is 3 things...Hmm?
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GolDigga
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08-11-08 8:42 PM
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2 Things: 1. The man is just doing his job. Learn some responsibilities people. 2. The man looks darn good doing it.
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Handala
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08-11-08 11:54 AM
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Driving a tow truck reqires talent and avoiding a sucking chest wound is good common sense!? Your right again schweck.Hmm?
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Billdog
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08-11-08 10:37 AM
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Young people don't seem to understand that you can't have early in life what people worked all their lives to get. If you make $14 an hour you can't afford a $100,000 house and $25,000 car, a pool, hot tub, boat, and motorcycle that requires payments on them all. Living beyond ones means seems to be the norm for most these days. Hasty purchases make for short term ownership.
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oldgreenb
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08-11-08 9:37 AM
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he takes your car and I take your house. It's real simple people, pay for what you purchase or give it up. I personally LOVE to schedule evictions right around the holidays!!
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AngusMY
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08-10-08 10:31 AM
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Have you ever heard the song "Somebody's gotta do it"? Well, somebody has to do this job and the job is his. It isn't his fault that people default on loans. As for the comments about it being hard to make a $300 car payment on $14/hr and don't live beyond your means, I guess it depends on how you spend the REST of your money. A car is a necessity to go to work. I've been looking for a new car myself and it seems $300 is the normal now. You have to really evaluate your financial situation before committing to a vehicle purchase or lease. You can't be impulsive on any large purchase ESPECIALLY today. This article even said this gentleman isn't just running into his usual cast of characters. He is now running into people who didn't expect this to happen to them. Unexpected things happen to good people. Loss of a job, divorce, death, illness. It can happen in a blink of an eye. And somebody has to do his job.
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Handala
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08-10-08 8:44 AM
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A dangerous business for those with an abundance of nerve an shortage of talent.Hmm?
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goat13
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08-10-08 8:38 AM
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Simple.Don't have a $300 payment with a $14 an hour pay.DON'T live beyond your means.Simple math.
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OldManGrump2
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08-10-08 7:30 AM
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John Ramsey the "Repo Man". Great article. Just another story showing how the Mahoning Valley is in such sad shape. It's hard to make a $300 car payment on $14 an hour pay.
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