How Much Money Does a Repo Man Make?

Wondering how much you can make on a repo man salary? Repossession – the act of taking property back from an individual who has not fulfilled a negotiated contract – is a legal act, if the repossession agent doesn't breach the peace (breach the peace is a general phrase used to cover threats of force and violence). Rules on repossession vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but in most cases, property can be repossessed the moment the borrower defaults on a payment.

Repossession – colloquially known as repo – describes an act where a lender or owner takes back a property given to someone on loan. Repossession occurs without any court proceedings in the United States and, depending on the jurisdiction, can technically take place as soon as a single payment is missed. While repo can happen to any items on loan – including boats, vehicles and homes – repossession usually involves cars.

A repossession agent's job seems simple: locate an article whose payments are overdue, take possession of the article and then return it to the lender or owner. With vehicles, this can include the additional work of locating the vehicle in question and arranging for it to be towed from one place to another. The repo man cannot cause harm to the vehicle when towing and cannot cross legal boundaries like enclosed garages on private property. Repossession agents also often must deal with angry, potentially violent borrowers who can become enraged when things are taken; they need to be able to deal with these issues without escalating and breaching the peace.

There are no strict education requirements for becoming a repossession agent, although having a high school diploma or GED will help you better understand the legalities involved with the profession. A repo man will need a good amount of training; if working with cars, you'll need to know how to tow vehicles safely, and may want to consider a commercial driver's license (CDL) if you want to drive your own tow truck. You'll also need to have the physical strength required to hook up and use towing equipment, and you'll probably need to be familiar with the physical methods necessary to repossess other articles in your line of work.

In addition to these, you'll also need to understand methods of skip tracing, which is an art used to track down borrowers who may have changed their schedules or location once they realized their vehicle was in danger of repossession. This sort of information hunt can be a big portion of the repo job, and you'll need to know what resources to hit to find your target. Finally, in some jurisdictions, you'll need to have a license or certification to act as a repossession agent.

According to Glassdoor.com, an average repo driver salary in the United States is around ​$36,000​ annually. Salary.com's median is around ​$47,000​, while ZipRecruiter lists a repo man's salary to be around ​$43,600​. At the lower end of the scale sit repossession agents who make money per job, while the higher end includes more experienced repo men who likely own their own equipment for repossession.

Unfortunately for some, according to Car and Driver, the need for repossession agents is only expected to rise as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to leave individuals out of work and unable to make payments. If you're behind on payments, it's best to talk to your lender before trouble strikes.