A repo man or repossession agent is one of the most unpopular people in society today. However, he or she serves an essential function of insuring the protection of property. When someone cannot pay for a debt that they took on, debt collectors step in and try to recover the money owed. When debt collectors cannot acquire the amount due from the debtor, they may call upon the services of a repo company to ‘collect’ on this debt, by taking back the car, boat, or other property that debt is owed upon. Contrary to popular belief, no company or creditor wants to have to collect bad debts, as it is very costly to do so. A creditor would far rather work out a deal than have to search and seize property from a debtor.
If a lender finds itself in the situation of needing to repossess property while the borrower attempts to avoid paying the debt, the creditor may contract the work of repossession out to a repo company. Repo companies‘ employees are known as repossession agents, or repo men. Though most often, a repo man is employed by a repo company, many repossession agents work as independent contractors to lending institutions, credit-card companies, or other repo companies.
A “repossessor” is any person who engages in business or accepts employment to locate or recover personal property registered under the Vehicle Code or other personal property sold under a security agreement (from http://www.dca.ca.gov/complainthelp/).