Free Republic

A new patent allows Ford to build cars that take action if the owner falls behind on payments by playing annoying sounds – or even driving themselves back to the seller.Ford has been granted a patent for a system that allows a car to repossess itself if its owner fails to keep up with payments. The firm envisions the car driving itself back to the showroom – or to a scrapyard if the value of the car is low. But a security expert warns that the proposed system could instead be used to steal cars remotely. The patent, which was...

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A perfect economic storm of inflation, soaring gas prices and the unintended consequences of the federal pandemic relief programs is closing in on many car owners. “We’re talking, on average, 15,000 repos a day nationwide,” said Mark Zane, owner of a repossession company and president of the Nevada Association of Licensed Repossessors. Zane says repossessions were all but non-existent during the pandemic because banks were working with car owners to defer payments or help them get caught up. Those days are ending, however, and banks are taking the necessary steps to start the repossession process on...

The Royal Bank of Canada accidentally seized a Subaru WRX STI from a Vancouver man, despite the fact he’d never interacted with the bank before. Tage Kendall had his 2006 Subaru Impreza repossessed even though the car was fully paid off and properly titled in his name, reports the CBC. He did not purchase the car with a loan from RBC, and hasn’t dealt with the bank before. That’s why he thought it odd that, in June of 2018, he received a Facebook message from a collection company saying his car was about to be repossessed. He replied that they...

Luisa Aleman says she made plenty of sacrifices to make every payment on time after financing a used 2007 Honda Accord. “I never missed one payment,” Aleman said. “I’ve never been late, always on time. Perfect record.” Unpaid medical bills can hurt your credit. A Broward County woman called NBC 6 Responds for a second time after she got billed again for a test she thought was already paid.(Published Friday, April 28, 2017) Aleman thought she made her last payment with Nicholas Financial, Inc. in August 2016. Aleman was expecting to get her title, instead months later, her car was...

FULL TITLE: Enraged female motorist 'bites' tow truck driver and smashes windows as her prized SUV is taken away for repossession A female motorist has been accused of savagely biting a recovery man after he arrived at her home to tow away her vehicle for repossession. Lakeisha Smith, 29, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, flew into a rage on Sunday evening when Scott Fowler came to pick up her prized Cadillac Escalade, with part of the event caught on camera. Cell phone-filmed footage shows her trying to drive the luxury SUV off the tow truck before manically smashing in all of...

<p>A Southern California woman has died after apparently trying to stop a tow truck driver from repossessing her vehicle. San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller says 42-year-old Lisa Via was pronounced dead early Tuesday after being struck.</p> <p>Driver Leo Song told detectives he backed up his truck to a 2002 Buick parked in the driveway of Via’s mobile home in Chino Hills. As Song lifted the car, Via came out and begged Song not to take her car. He told her he had to take it. He said he assumed Via had moved away when he began to pull the car, but the woman’s husband approached him and said his wife was trapped under the Buick. Miller says her death appears to be a tragic accident.</p>

Isabel Luevano was late with her car payment. On Tuesday night, the repo man came. Trouble was, when he snatched back her 2000 Honda Accord, her 2-year-old son, Cyrus Lopez, was repossessed, too. He was asleep in the back seat. Frantic, Luevano called 911. She thought the car — and her child — had been stolen right before her eyes as she stepped outside to pick up her 6-year-old daughter. Police swarmed to her rescue. A search helicopter circled in the air. And 31 minutes later, San Jose police found the boy after astutely figuring out they should call Alberto's...

Hamptons hit by recession The summer playground of New York's rich and famous is feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown, as the number of homes entering the early stages of repossession almost equals the number of homes being sold. By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent Last Updated: 9:42PM GMT 16 Mar 2009 Ditch Plains beach in the Hamptons town of Montauk. Hamptons hit by recession: An arts and crafts house in the historic Hamptons village of Sag Harbor, where John Steinbeck used to live. An arts and crafts house in the historic Hamptons village of Sag Harbor, where John...

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Michigan: So many people have so many things they can no longer afford. This is an excellent time to be a repo man. When a boater defaults on his loan, the bank hires Jeff Henderson to go seize, or repossess, its property. The former U.S. Army detective tracks the boat down in a backyard or a marina or a garage and hauls it back here, where he auctions it off. After nearly 20 years in the repossession business, Henderson has never been busier. "I used to take the weak ones," he said. "Now I'm taking the whole herd."...

NORFOLK -- The repo man may be getting the hook. An electronic device that attaches to a car's ignition system easily can take the place of a tow-truck repossession, and the units are finding their way onto high-risk car lots across the country. No pay, no start. It's worked wonders at Norfolk's Patriot Auto Sales, where nearly every car that is driven off the lot is outfitted with a PayTeck Smart Box, a system that hands over a five-digit code in exchange for each payment. Come due date, the car won't crank until the customer punches the code into a...

Just heard on our local NBC affiliate TV Channel, Chicago suburb that Bush will be attending the Dedication of Clintons Library in Little Rock, Arkansas November 18....Anyone else hear this>