Tim Koskovics and Skip Blowers are just waiting to steal your car. Whether you know it or not, you have given them permission.
Many people don’t read the fine print on their loan contracts when they are buying a new car. If they were to look a little closer, they would see that the standard contract says the bank can repossess the property wherever they find it, without giving the person advance notice, making any demand or having any court hearing.
This is when repossession agents like Koskovics and Blowers get involved. It’s simple: When you stop making payments on your car, repo men make money by repossessing it.
While repo men may be perceived as evil thugs who lurk in the night, preying on innocent car owners, there is more going on behind the scenes in the repossession field than people think.
Repossession profession
Blowers and Koskovics both own repossession agencies in Ohio and belong to Time Finance Adjusters, an association of repossession agents.
Skip Blowers takes a phone call while walking through one of several garages on his main office campus. The main office contains several facilities for repair, office space and an auction block.
Blowers started out as a part-time repossession agent in 1978, and he now owns Source One Adjusters and Skipco Auto Auction in Canal Fulton.
“Semi-trucks, cars, boats, planes — if the bank has a loan on it, we take it,” Blowers says, wearing a collared golf shirt with the Ohio-shaped Skipco logo on it. While one might imagine a repo man to be an intimidating hulk, Blowers doesn’t necessarily fit that description. He has an average build with graying hair and a warm smile. Also, one doesn’t picture the typical repo man cutting loose on the golf course, but Blowers is an avid golfer and has golf decorations throughout his office.
When Koskovics worked for Bank One 20 years ago, he saw a need for a repossession agency in the Ohio area. Koskovics secured start-up loans, and his business, USA Meridian International Corp., took off in Youngstown.
Koskovics looks the part of a repo man, with broad shoulders and a sturdy build. It’s not surprising that he has taken street fighting classes for three years, and he is studying for the high blue belt in karate. Although Koskovics keeps a stern face while working in the office, his glasses soften his appearance.
In the bathroom at USA Meridian International Corp., a toothbrush and toothpaste sit in a cup by the sink. Koskovics says he keeps them there because he never knows when he’ll need them; he works anywhere from 80 to 100 hours a week. He sometimes catches a quick nap on his burgundy leather sofa when the hours get to be too long. But Koskovics doesn’t mind the hours because his pay-off is a “comfortable six digit income,” he says with tired eyes peering through his glasses.
Koskovics says the repossession agent job is stressful because banks can be overly demanding. Before banks begin to contact repossession agencies, they usually give owners about three months to make up the overdue payments. The banks try to work with people, but some of the people respond to the bank by “swearing at them or telling them they are going to burn the car,” Blowers says. “Everything goes stupid.”
The college-age group tends to be less responsible when it comes to payments, Koskovics says. He blames it on parents not teaching personal responsibility to their kids.
Gust Gianakif, a collection manager and staff officer at Huntington Bank, says college students “sometimes get in over their heads when it’s their first time away from home.”
The keys of repossessed cars and RVs fill a peg board in a workshop on the Skipco lot.
Although repossession agents work around the clock, the majority of cars are repossessed during the late afternoon when people are coming home from work, Koskovics says.
In Koskovics’ business there is no threatening, just negotiating. Koskovics says he disagrees with the portrayal of repo men on television shows, such as TLC’s Repo Men: Stealing for a Living. “We don’t come across as thugs — we are professional repossessors,” he says.
Koskovics is not looking for a fight. “We look for a win-win,” he says. “We give them options, and we are going to tell them exactly what’s up.”
Repossession agents usually stake out the areas where the car should be located. The agents also talk to the neighbors to find out more information, Koskovics says.
The last resort for a repossession agent is to pay someone money for a tip on the whereabouts of the vehicle in question, and Blowers says he has done it hundreds of times.
The Burr is produced by students at Kent State University twice per academic year.No part of The Burr may be reprinted without permission.