NAFCU Services Blog

Aug 16, 2018
Categories: Risk Management

Quick Tips for Optimizing Vehicle Recoveries

By Anne Holtzman, SVP of Claims & Recovery & Sergio Moreira, Director of Risk

The financial industry is currently facing a tumultuous vehicle recovery environment spurred on by marketplace challenges that have come to the forefront over the past 24 months. In its simplest form, these marketplace challenges can be reduced down to two major factors:

  1.      Auto loan delinquencies continue to be an issue for auto lenders
  2.      Repo agencies are facing business threatening economic issues

But all is not lost!

Watch the Recorded Webinar: What CUs Need to Know About the Changing State of Auto Recovery

There are practices you can start applying right away to overcome these market challenges and enhance your recoveries and repossessions. These practices include:

  • Collaborate with a remarketing provider to build a custom program
  • Leverage recovery and location finding technologies, like license plate recognition and skip tracing technologies
  • Assign vehicles out to a repo agent as early as possible
  • Provide comprehensive information to repo agents
  • Leverage a forwarding agent’s volume and resources
  • Protect the sustainability of repo agents by offering compensation that equates to importance or complexity of jobs
  • Keep proof that vehicles were sold for a fair market price
  • Require photos at the time of connecting collateral to the truck
  • Document and respond to repossession complaints
  • Ensure you are remaining compliant every step of the process

We know these practices work because we have experienced the positive impact of adopting these practices. In fact, we saw the following improved results after enhancing our recovery practices (Results reported by Allied Solutions in 2018):

  • Recoveries per year increased from $3.2 million to $14 million
  • Less than 10 borrower issues reported in the last 5 years
  • Locate percentage jumped from less than 50% to about 90% in 120 days or less
  • Average locate and recovery times dropped significantly

Access additional educational resources to learn more about how you can address the current auto recovery environment to optimize repossessions & recoveries:

Watch the Recorded Webinar: What CUs Need to Know About the Changing State of Auto Recovery

Download the Risk Checklist: How to Reduce Recovery Risk & Optimize Repossessions

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Allied Solutions is the NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for Insurance- Bond, Creditor Placed (CPI), Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP), and Mechanical Breakdown Protection (MBP). More educational resources and partner contact information are available at www.nafcu.org/allied. 

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This checklist is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice.

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