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An estimated 1.73m vehicles were repossessed last year, the most since recession-wracked 2009, according to automotive-service business Cox Automotive. There are signs the surge continues. The catch? Volume is more crucial than ever. Middlemen, known as forwarders, are increasingly hired by lenders to oversee the repossession process, pushing the companies that actually find and recover cars farther down the food chain, shrinking their profit margins.
“By the time you put fuel in, insurance, wear and tear, there’s really not a lot of money left,” said Speed Kingz co-owner Randy Carnes, who has been in the industry since 1993 and helped launch the company last year. On the plus side, he has no shortage of work. He said his drivers are looking for more than 1,100 wanted cars across swaths of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
