In many ways, it seems that the auto repossession industry hasn’t changed much since it began. You start your repo business, get a few tow trucks, and hit the road. Scanning technology has made the business a bit easier, but many auto repossession companies are functioning much the same today as they did 10 years ago. If you’re hoping to set your auto repossession company apart, and increase your efficiency to repo more vehicles in less time, here are three auto repossession technologies that can help you out:
License Plate Recognition (LPR) and Camera Cars
License plate recognition has long been a tool used by auto repossession companies, but today’s LPR systems go above and beyond old-school scanning technology. Today’s LPR systems can scan hundreds of license plates, automatically populating data on the vehicle that not only tells repossessors whether they can pick up the vehicle but also where they might be able to find it.
For example, a vehicle scanned at three or four o’clock in the morning at an apartment building is likely to be there again. This enables an auto repossessor to pin down exactly where they need to go to repossess a vehicle, helping them pick up more vehicles in less time.
Camera cars are another addition to the LPR technology that helps your auto repossession company maximize your time. Camera cars equipped with scanners can not only identify vehicles for repossession but can take images of the vehicle whenever it’s parked in a location it’s likely to be recovered at a later date. Vehicles parked at an apartment complex, office building, or shopping mall have a high likelihood of being parked at that same location later on. Camera cars can capture these images and store that data, again helping you to better plan your fleet’s night for more successful pickups.
Faster, More Discreet Wheel Lifts
Stealth is the repo man’s greatest tool. The faster, more quietly, and more discreetly you can pick up and tow a vehicle, the better you can avoid tense situations. That means a better night for you, with more hassle-free, fast, pickups.
Large, loud wreckers are great for towing heavy vehicles, but they aren’t always a practical option for auto repossession. You need a tow truck that can easily fit into tight spaces, and pull vehicles from just about any location. A slide-in wheel lift is a great solution for many repo companies. Not only are they quiet and quick, but they can be moved with in-cab controls.
Towing a vehicle is as easy as sliding the wheel lift’s C-hooks under the wheels of the vehicle, securing the wheel with tow straps, and going. Since a slide-in wheel lift is a much smaller and quieter piece of equipment than a large wrecker, you’re able to tow and go with minimal hassle.
Property Repossession Software
Repossession software is another key technology that’s working to make auto repossession easier and more efficient. In the past, repo companies had to keep track of their vehicles on their own, taking notes on skip tracing and different addresses by hand.
A quality business software can improve your repo company’s efficiency by leaps and bounds. Some options even connect lenders to repo companies, storing data about each vehicle over time, and making reporting from repo companies to lenders easy.
For example, say you had a camera car go out during the day. The driver made notes about a few different vehicles — their addresses, whether they were easily accessible, and more. Instead of relying on that driver to tell that night’s tower everything they found, they can enter all of that information into your repo software. Their notes are stored, and your tow truck driver can see each of the indicated addresses and plan their route for the night.
This eliminates a lot of the guesswork for your tow truck drivers and also helps provide communication between you and banks and lenders. Instead of having to send them updates every few days, your activity on each vehicle is automatically logged, and they can see the progress you’ve made.
Quality software like this is new and improving every day. Providers like RepoRoute, SmartRepoSystems, and Tracers are creating updates and systems that streamline the auto repossession process, enabling you to pick up more vehicles, in less time.
There are several technologies and system improvements on the market working to make auto repossession more efficient. If you’re looking to tow more cars in less time, the Minute Man wheel lift might be right for you. Give our team a call at 877-593-6959 or contact us online today for more information.
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