Recession trickles down to repo man

EVAN WILLIAMS/ FLORIDA WEEKLY Repo man William Glover inspects a repossessed automobile at his lot in Fort Myers. Repossessions are down this year from a record in 2008. Repo men experienced their own bubble in 2008 — in some cases doubling the number of cars they took back for car lots, banks or large corporations that financed them — as more people failed to meet payment deadlines.

Now, that pace appears to be slowing to pre-recession days and for others coming to a dead halt. In Southwest Florida, where repo man William Glover has since 1997 slipped vehicles right out of debtors' driveways, in the rain, at night, from work-place parking lots or wherever he can track them down, business is off 80 percent from last year.

"It's gone down the toilet," he said.

In 2007, he was repossessing 50 cars per week on average; in 2008, 100 cars per week. He's down to about 20 per week this summer. But those numbers are difficult to confirm in an "industry that is largely unregulated," according

to a report last year in USA Today.

COURTESY PHOTO William Glover in his office by case files for reposession.

Repo men in Southwest Florida must be licensed by the Florida Department of Agriculture. But law enforcement agencies in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties say they don't keep complete lists of repossessions.

Financing companies also keep a lid on what they say about repossessions. Giants like GMAC financial services and Ford Motor Credit claim they used repo men's services about the same this year, last year, and for many years before that. According to their numbers, about 2.5 to 3.5 percent of the vehicles they finance are repossessed.

"Historically, we have not provided any information on local credit performance," was an e-mailed response from Fort Motor Credit.

And five repossession agencies last week in Southwest Florida were unwilling to discuss their business with a reporter. Some said it would compromise the expensive insurance policies they must hold in a high-risk business.

Mr. Glover, who has before allowed newspaper and television reporters to ride along with him, was the sole exception to that rule in spite of his own policy which insures the cars he repossesses and his lot for $3 million. He did decline to reveal the names of finance companies that hire him.

A 49-year-old ex-U.S. Army helicopter pilot with the looks of a bedraggled Santa Claus, it usually takes Mr. Glover and a helper a grand total of 10 seconds to hook a car up to an unmarked tow truck and be gone. In some cases, he can just get in and drive away. That's because Mr. Glove r's firm, the Richardson Detective Agency, owns a computerized key cutter available to licensed repo men or "recovery agents." It can produce keys for many models of cars if the financial company supplies him with the correct code. Using the machine is expensive and adds to his average fee of $300 per car he repossesses.

Experiencing hard times

Richardson Detective Agency is one of the oldest repossession businesses in the region, having been around for 35 years. The original owner did personal investigations, but Mr. Glover only does repossessions because it's more lucrative. He bought the business in 1997 with his brother and two sisters.

Last year he had 14 employees but is now down to six — all family members —because times are tight. They still maintain four tow trucks, which have cost him $28,095 so far this year in maintenance costs; because of the slowdown, that means he's on pace to spend less than last year's $90,000 maintaining the fleet.

Business has been so slow that Mr. Glover has had to put up his home, which is paid off, as collateral for loans.

"I've had to borrow money against my house," Mr. Glover said, with an entertaining profane flourish. He uses it with just as much relish when telling tales of his years as a New York City taxi driver in the 1980s. Once, he was shot in the thigh and in another episode cut with a butterfly knife and booted in the jaw by a woman in a drunken stupor. Mr. Glover says he's also written six novels. Some are about working for the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot and transporting small nuclear bombs. Although times are tough for his repo business, he's not about to give up Richardson Detective Agency. "I'll hawk my house," he said. "I'll run this to the end."

Where the cars go

The lot where they take the cars and run the business out of a beaten-up trailer surrounded by plenty of foliage — an intentional decision so as not to draw attention to the location — is in Lee County. But they will reposesses cars, trucks, heavy machinery, boats, and occasionally other items within a 75-mile radius.

Mr. Glover has mostly avoided the repo man's work hazard: confrontations with debtors who cannot or will not pay for the vehicles that Mr. Glover comes to take. In fact, he's legally obligated not to breach the peace and says he isn't allowed to carry a gun.

"I'm not paid to take that risk," he said. He'll put the matter directly in the hands of the court system if that happens rather than risk violence.

Still, staying safe in the repossession business takes some doing and, if he personally hasn't taken any lumps, the dents on the sides of his tow trucks (people trying to escape in their cars), the bashed-in gate at the entrance to his repo lot in Fort Myers, and the chunks missing off the side of the double-wide trailer home that houses his offices are proof that some people really don't like this guy. To counteract some of that ill will, Mr. Glover stays scruffy looking.

"I look like something the cat dragged in," he says. "Typically I look like somebody that doesn't care. And I know nothing of the personal situation. I'm here to pickup this truck, this motorcycle, this jet ski, this boat, this construction equipment. Anything with a loan against it. I've done palm trees; I've done coffee pots."

He also gets the cars mostly out of work parking lots during the day to avoid a scene. He's never been attacked, although some of his employees have — a few have even been shot at.

"One guy came out stark naked and busted the headlights and driver's side window (out of the car being repossessed) as the (repo man) was towing it away," he said. "We've had half a dozen people on the (tow) truck, with the vehicle already attached, attempt to drive the truck off the tow truck when it's already four feet in the air. We've had several individuals assaulted with bats."

In some ways, it's a life of looking over his shoulder. Mr. Glover doesn't like to go shopping at large department stores and doesn't enjoy meals out very often.

"When you're working for some ridiculous wage plus tips, who's got a likelihood of not paying their bills?" Mr. Glover asked. "People in the service industry."

His advice for people getting their vehicle towed: let it happen. But as soon as it does, do whatever you have to get current on the payments. Otherwise, it will likely be sold at auction for a fraction of what you still owe — and you'll be charged the difference.