Another Repo Story

In this case, to appreciate the entire story, you must understand the circumstances.

Setting: late March or early April, we got a call from a local body shop to pick up a customer. I was happy, because I had worked hard to set up that account and persuade that body shop to give us a try. We rented the car to the man, who would be reimbursed by his insurance company (most insurance companies get the bill directly from the car rental agency). No big problem, so his credit card was run for about 10 days worth of charges, as that is how long the repair estimate was.

Ten days later, the body shop was contacted and they advised the repair would take much longer. To make a long story short, it took almost a month for this renter's personal car to be repaired. His card kept authorizing for the amount, so it was no big deal.

Then one day in early May, I got a call from the repair shop. The renter had no money to get his car out of the shop. Seems the shop was not billing the insurance company either and the renter would be paying them directly as well.

Immediately, I knew to flag this rental.

I was right. The renter's card - which was, I found out, a check card as opposed to a true credit card - started declining. This guy had NO money.

I advised my boss in an email of the situation prior to the rental going past due. I was told to wait until the renter owed money, as per company rules. I did, and sure enough, as I had predicted, the rental went past-due.

Of course, I tried all of the usual stuff - calling his home and work numbers (no answer), driving by his house to speak with him (never there), etc. My co-worker, Fred, reminded me that when this guy rented the car, he asked about mileage limitations as he was planning a trip to PA. We figured he had gone there.

On a hunch, I ran the card on the 5th of the month (when government checks arrive). Bingo - it ran for $100. At this point (June) the rental was past due almost $1000 - so I kept hitting the card for $100 increments. It maxed out at $800. Good news was, he was now only behind by $200. I advised management.

June played out the same way, and I was able to run his card again for $800 in July. By this point, he was only behind by $300.

I went back to the branch and brainstormed with co-workers. One went to the shop and used her feminine charm to obtain some information. I called the cell phone company and simply asked if there were any other numbers on his account. The cell company gave them to me!

It turned out that my co-worker found a number for the renter's mother, whom he had lived with. This so happened to be the same number I found form the cell company. I called it and spoke to the renter's mom. She tried to elude giving me any info. Some of the folks in the office were of the opinion that we had hit a dead end.

I, however, knew we had hit the jackpot.

Notice I stated the mother tried to elude giving me information - had she not known, she would have simply stated as much. I knew he was at her house with some frequency.

Friday morning, I got a call on the cell phone. It was Fred. He had planned on coming in an hour early and leaving an hour early that day. He said when he got there, the rented white Toyota Corolla that had not been back at our branch in over three months was sitting in the parking lot, cleaned up, and the keys were in the keybox.

I had found the vehicle the night before at the mother's house and "ganked that sukka." - Rental speak for having taken possession of the rented vehicle. Naturally, I prepared it for rental and put the keys away - all way after hours (about 10 pm).

Co-workers were astonished, to say the least.