How do repo guys work?

December 23, 2006 6:59 PM

This evening some repo guys and a Rentway truck showed up briefly asking for the people that lived here a year ago. This got me to wondering. Wikipedia only talks about the contract aspect. What I don't understand is (a) why don't repo guys take it to court, and if they did why isn't a peace officer or deputy involved in seizures; (b) what keeps them from asking for -my- ID to prove I live here; (c) and what happens if the people they're looking for say they can't enter? I just want to understand more about who showed up expecting to come in my house and how my own rights relate to them. I think they were after the plasma TV that we saw when touring the house last year.
posted by rolypolyman to law & government (9 comments total)

The actual, physical repo guys have no financial interest in what they're trying to pick up. They're just trying to get through the day without getting shot.

If you refuse them entry, they'll back off. If you don't want to show your ID, they'll back off. Anything else and they're asking for a world full of hurt, and they know that. Why should they risk their lives for minimum wage?
posted by SPrintF at 7:02 PM on December 23, 2006

It may or may not help, but I found this very insightful.
posted by ninjew at 7:09 PM on December 23, 2006

The legal concept is called "Secured Transactions" and is governed by Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).
posted by dcjd at 7:50 PM on December 23, 2006

People give it up, more often than you might think.

The main reason? Honesty. Debtor knows he's signed a contract to make payments, and knows he hasn't made the payments. While he's not about to return the furniture of their own accord, he's not going to look someone in the eye who's willing to do the work and tell them they don't have the right to do it.

A slightly more sophisticated group of people knows that what can come after denying the repo man is a judgment, which results in the sheriff coming into your house whether you like it or not. Lots of people don't want the sheriff wandering around their place, given that anything that the sheriff finds in plain sight is good, prosecutable evidence for anything else that the debtor might be up to.
posted by MattD at 8:01 PM on December 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

As soon as I saw this I thought about the same article ninjew alluded to. While written for comedic purposes and VERY long it gives a great insight into what these guys are supposed to do and how they get by such laws. Very insightful.
posted by datacenter refugee at 9:10 PM on December 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

the original debtor signed a contract enabling them to snatch the collateral. since the original debtor is long gone, they have no more rights versus you than any bum on the streetcorner has, so you can tell them to get lost, and if they don't start getting lost right away, you can point a short iron at them and tell them again. if they advance on you, they win a darwin award.
posted by bruce at 12:25 AM on December 24, 2006

I knew a guy who was behind on his van payments. He kept it in an area of the yard that was fenced in, with a lock on the gate. Though the repo guys could've easily gotten over the fence, they didn't because (so I was told) it was against the law.
posted by Clay201 at 4:10 AM on December 24, 2006

the original debtor signed a contract enabling them to snatch the collateral. since the original debtor is long gone, they have no more rights versus you than any bum on the streetcorner has, so you can tell them to get lost, and if they don't start getting lost right away, you can point a short iron at them and tell them again. if they advance on you, they win a darwin award.
posted by bruce at 4:25 PM ACST on December 24

Answer not yet valid in Texas (up for vote in 2007).
posted by Pollomacho at 5:32 PM on December 24, 2006

I once had some neighbors who had some rented stuff and just up and left. (from Rentway, actually). Those guys banged on their door every day for a few months.

Being your house, you can legally exclude anyone you like from it, unless they have a court order stating otherwise or they are emergency workers with exigent circumstances.

If you rent some stuff and never pay for it, you can generally be charged with theft, if you pay on it for awhile, then you're just like any other debtor.

In your case, you owe them nothing, so you can easily answer the door and tell them to go away, and if they continue to harass you, call the police.

Lastly, they don't go to court because that costs money, and will make the renter less likely to rent from them in the future. I've known people who rent things for a few months, fail to pay on it for a couple, get it taken back, then rent it again, and go through that cycle for years. The rent-to-own place doesn't care, since they're just giving you your (or someone else's) previously used crap, and if you don't pay, they'll rent it out again.

Personally, I've never seen the rent-to-own guys get anything like the ones in that alleged story, at least beyond parking outside for awhile if they think someone might be home and just not answering the door.
posted by wierdo at 8:36 PM on December 24, 2006