Ever wonder how the world of reposession and impound towing work? Here's the inside scoop of the (oft seedy) business:
Dan worked as a part-time driver for five years and gave us some insight into how the repossession business works. The first step is simply getting the address of the car. It doesn't matter how they find out where the person lives, they just need to have that address.
Dan said that some finance companies give them an address, but if it's the wrong one, "They might have someone call the guy and tell him something stupid like he's won tickets to something and they want to know where to send them -- anything sneaky so they get the guy's address," he said. "Some people are so dumb that that they give their address and their car is just sitting there."
He said some people know it's a possibility their car will be repossessed so they park the car a few houses down thinking that the tow truck drivers won't be able to find it ... that doesn't work. We asked Dan what the best time to take a car was and he said, "Take them whenever! Whenever they least expect it."
Towing companies have strategies for everything, including illegally parked cars in a parking lot:
Normally, these drivers won't grab all the cars from a lot because they don't want people to think there's a strict policy. "It's kind of like fishing, you want to keep some bait out there," Dan said. "But when the money's tight, people take every car they can."
Needless to say, I have extreme hate for ALL towers.
Yeah, you can appeal, but by then they already have your car, and they're charging you for every day your appeal process takes, and threatening to sell it if you don't pick it up in a month.
Once they have you over a barrel like that, you basically have to pay.
By law, the towing companies are supposed to wait 45 days before they apply for the title at the DMV. "But you know, it varies," Dan said.
Nice! The amount of corruption in every aspect of daily life is staggering.
I'm reporting that to the Plain English Campaign!!!