Regular Repo

Setting:
Renter with a car in the shop could not afford her $500 deductible. I found this out from the bodyshop manager after she spoke with him and worked out a payment arrangement.

I knew immediately to flag this rental.

Sure enough, the arrangement changed, and she was going to go "week-to-week" until she had paid $500 to the shop. Problem: the car was fixed and the insurance company would not pay over three days past the completion date. Renter had no cash on file and my attempts to authorize additional payment on her card failed.

I called the renter and explained the situation. Naturally, she felt overwhelmed with a second major bill in her life now. However, the initial $150 that was authorized on her card would keep her a little over a week. I advised her if she wanted to keep the rental, to make a deposit by Friday and I told her the amount.

The reason Friday was so important was because although she still had some equity as of Friday, by Monday she would wind up owing. I knew from experience not to let this happen.

I advised my manager - just in case. He was level-headed and said to give her a day or two to prove she either intended to pay, or not. He told me Monday I could get the car.

Friday came and went. Monday came and went. I attempted to contact the renter several times on both days. No response. That is never a good sign.

That Monday, I showed Louis, a trainee getting ready for promotion, my preparation routine for a repo: Get keys, know where renter works and where renter lives. Know when renter is at work. This renter worked as a professor at a local University, if memory serves me correctly. Finding where the car would be would be a problem. But I did know her last class ended at 3:30 - putting her home around 4pm.

4:00 pm came and she pulled in like clockwork. We knocked on her door, in an attempt to retrieve the keys and give her the chance to retrieve any possessions. She saw we were from the rental car agency and then asked us to go away.

I complied with her wishes.

However - I took the car with me when I went. In Louis' words, it was anti-climactic. Yep, that's repo'ing rental cars. She did come in a few weeks later, paid the balance, then asked if she could have her belongings back. In Tennessee, rental companies are not allowed to hold personal possessions in lieu of rental fees. However, since she suggested...

She had a very boring list. I've seen some lists of possessions that... well, are not fit for print on a family website.