Repo Blood – Now Available

A Century of Auto Repossession History

The idea for this book started about two years ago as the pandemic locked down the repossession industry. The industries future was up in the air as lenders and cities imposed moratoriums on practically all repossession activity. “You should write a book about the history of the industry” Corey and Bryanna Cox of Asset Resolutions in Houston texted me. And down the rabbit hole I went.

The repo industry is a small and very unique American industry that few on the outside really understand. It is also an industry with a knack for forgetting the past. A past that I maaged to drag out of a good number of people and further managed to piece together much on my own.

Let’s start with what Repo Blood is. It is a history book of auto repossessions, just like the subtitle says. But it is also an accounting of many of the early industry pioneers and the generations after them that carry on in the family business. It is also an accounting of the many people who fell into this business and love it or hate it, just can’t seem to get it out of their blood.

Is there a lot of death and violence? Of course. And while that shouldn’t surprise anyone, what might surprise you is just how much nobody remembers. Tragedy has been the unfortunate fate of many “adjusters” since the beginning, a term that most misunderstand the origin of.

Aside from the obvious conflict and danger that naturally plague this industry, there is also much good in here. Families, that for generations have grown side by side and generation to generation in this business. Business owners and employees that have done much for others as well as each other. As rough and competitive as this industry is, when it all comes down to it, are only human, flesh and blood.

Is every death and incident in here? No, that would be nearly impossible, most of these stories were only found by digging through scanned newspapers and they only account of a small percentage of all of the newspapers in the nation over the past century. Many of these stories were buried in the back pages and with no follow up stories. I imagine that more will come to light in the future, but I had to stop somewhere. And many are too fresh, so out f respect to the friends and families of the fallen, I left out many of the more recent ones.

Repo Blood is a chronology of the events leading to the current state of the repossession industry. A state that has been long in the making, or undoing depending upon your point of view.