Hard times make lots of business for repo men

Tag : boat trailer part
The same is true for those repo (short for repossession) men - anda few women - who spend their days and nights hunting and snatchingluxury cars and SUVs from distressed owners.

"Before the house, everything else goes," said Clarke, a formernavy engineer who's never seen more boats in five years on the job.He has taken small motorboats, sailboats and multimillion-dollaryachts. For the 63-footer he takes on this day, its loan hasn'tbeen paid for months, with $200,000 overdue.

Clarke is soft-spoken and seems utterly unlike the stereotype of arough-and-tumble, ethically challenged repo man. He's 5-foot-10,215 pounds and wears navy shorts and a blue, company shirt - tuckedin - with sunglasses and white cap. On the water, he weaves throughmarinas and private docks in daylight and is rarely confronted byowners.

While snatching boats may be easy, the inspection on board usuallyreveals problems.

"Something is always dismantled or missing," Clarke said. Thisyacht's engines and electricity generators wouldn't start once itwas towed far enough to run on its own. Inside, a seat was missing,wires were scrambled and a bathroom was trashed, its two bedroomsdusty and unused.

"Sometimes people sabotage the boat if they know you're coming toget it. They take fuel, they take parts," he said. Maybe that wasthe case here, or maybe the boat was just in the middle ofservicing.

Along with nine other agents, the company recovers up to five boatsdaily throughout Florida. Each is listed online for auction withina week; most are bought by foreigners.

"I remember years ago when we used to pick up a boat a day," saidcompany President Bob Toney. Right now he has 650 boats for sale orready for sale across the country. In addition to Florida, he hasteams working in Los Angeles and Cleveland. "People that havegotten into boating more recently are not as experienced and maynot have realized the costs involved. Fuel is a big part of it.Marinas are charging $5 to $6 a gallon, and you've got a300-to-400-gallon tank."

The day before taking the 63-foot yacht, Clarke had called theowner's phone number, even knocked on his door. Nothing. He is surethe missing boat won't be a surprise. When people don't pay, theyknow the repo man is bound to come, he said.

Back on land, many of South Florida's auto repo agents - there aremore than 250 in Miami-Dade and Broward - are less than halfwaythrough their day as Clarke finishes his.

At American Lenders Service in Kendall, owner Ed Wolmers has beenawake since sunrise, taking calls from banks and shuffling throughpaperwork. He spends his days tracking down people, and his nights- when owners are most likely to be home - taking their cars.

"We do the dirty, ugly jobs that everybody hates," said Wolmers,who's been in the business, off and on, for a decade. "But if Idon't take your car, someone else will."

He has taken tractor-trailers and riding lawn mowers, shiny newBMWs and beat-up Saturns. His unwilling targets: doctors, realestate agents, drug dealers, even a police officer.

He's 6 feet, 250 pounds, with a buzzed head and goatee. He wears abulletproof vest - he's been shot at, but never hit - and he'sready for a fight. He has already had a few. He was oncepistol-whipped on the back of the head and needed stitches. Wolmersdoesn't carry a gun, but he has his own ammo: to start the night, amedium coffee from Dunkin' Donuts; to keep him on track, a talkingGPS unit on the dashboard; and a heavy-duty flashlight to find hisway through dark neighborhoods.

Nights start at 10 p.m., as Wolmers takes off from his small officenear Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport for about a dozen potentialjobs through early morning.

A recent tour begins in Tamarac, where he combs the neighborhoodfor a green '98 Chevy Blazer. A few neighbors emerge from the crowdof single-story homes as he slowly drives from house to house,beaming his flashlight on cars. No luck. A man on the street cornersaid the owner moved months ago.

From there, it's on to Miramar, Miami Gardens, Opa-locka, SunnyIsles. Hours have passed. He circles parking lots, peers into acondo garage, checks mailbox labels. He drives by a bus companywhere the driver of a Ford Expedition works. He swings by her mom'shouse. Nothing.

By 4 a.m., he's fuming. He hasn't slept in more than 20 hours. Forthe last six, he has zigzagged across South Florida onnear-deserted highways, dreaming of his next catch.

"This is nuts," he said, gliding south on Interstate 95, hoping tospot a gray Infiniti G20 as he exits toward Northwest 86th Street.The car's loan hasn't been paid in more than three months. Itsowner seems to have disappeared. When he arrives, the house isbare. There's an SUV in the driveway but no Infiniti. Particleboard is nailed over the windows of a nearby home.

"People are more transient during the recession," Wolmers said. Ahouse is foreclosed. People rent and jump from neighborhood toneighborhood, city to city. They move in with parents and friends.The calls and faxes from banks keep increasing, but it's alsogetting harder to find the people, he said.

He stops to fill his diesel tank for the second time in a day,setting him back $175 between both trips. And he has his own loanto pay, $1,000 a month for his truck. Still, business is betterthan ever. He's hiring for the first time in years, adding to hisroster of three.

Wolmers won't say how much he charges, but most banks pay $400 forsimple jobs and more than $1,000 for complicated ones, where it cantake weeks or months to track down a vehicle. As more peopledefault, more are voluntarily giving up those cars, too, he said.He's on his way to Kendall, dashing through Overtown and CoralGables for a last-chance catch. Nope.

By 6:30 a.m., he's home sleeping. Clarke, the boat repo agent, isstarting his day. He'll be in the office by 8 and on Little Towagain, cruising the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale, hiseye out for a 43-foot yacht, $250,000 overdue.

Within a few hours, Wolmers gets a call to do a voluntary pickup:mini-excavators, tractor-trailers, dirt diggers and pickup trucks -tools of a failed construction company. It's an easy few thousanddollars from the bank, if not more.