AI Set to Tackle Inefficiencies in the Repossession Process?

The vehicle repossession industry is plagued by outdated software, manual processes, and a patchwork of disconnected data

Imagine an AI driven program that cuts recovery times from seven days to just hours. Imagine an AI technology that closes the loop between lenders and repossession networks. Well, that’s what the investors at Automotive Ventures are hoping that LoanBridge.ai can do.

In the course of my usual reading of industry materials, I was in CBT News when I stumbled across an episode of their “The Future of Automotive” broadcast that focused on the repossession process. Interested piqued; of course I watched. AI Set to Tackle Inefficiencies in the Repossession Process?

The focus of their story was a company they had just invested in, LoanBridge. While there seems to be no repossession experience in this group, they are partnered with AutoSquared.ai, a company founded by former MBSi Director Bahador Ramini and MBSi founder and former President John Rhodes, which offers a greater degree of credibility.

Below is the video and transcript.

Automotive Ventures backs LoanBridge.ai to modernize the repossession process

Welcome back to the latest episode of “The Future of Automotive” on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.

I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us this week.

This week, I’m excited to announce the newest investment out of our new fund, LoanBridge.ai.

AI Set to Tackle Inefficiencies in the Repossession Process? — Alex Wilhelm of LoanBridge

At Automotive Ventures, we’re always looking to back founders who are reimagining broken, inefficient systems in the automotive ecosystem.

With LoanBridge, we found a team that’s not only tackling one of the most overlooked and operationally painful parts of auto finance—vehicle tracking and recovery—but doing so with a smart, scalable, and deeply integrated solution.

The vehicle repossession industry is plagued by outdated software, manual processes, and a patchwork of disconnected data. As loan delinquencies rise and recovery timelines stretch longer, lenders are bearing the cost—both financially and operationally—of this dysfunction.

Traditional repossession methods can take upwards of seven days to locate and retrieve a vehicle. Lenders often rely on license plate recognition or rudimentary VIN tracking systems that only offer periodic snapshots of a vehicle’s location. These tools fail to deliver the real-time insight needed to act quickly and efficiently.

LoanBridge has built an AI-powered platform that tracks vehicles in near real-time—without the need for GPS hardware or aftermarket installation. By leveraging VIN-only tracking and aggregating data from impounds, law enforcement, and private tow records, LoanBridge gives lenders a clearer view of their asset portfolios than ever before.

More importantly, LoanBridge closes the loop between lenders and repossession networks. The platform integrates directly into leading repo assignment systems, turning insights into action and reducing recovery times from seven days to just a few hours in many cases.

For lenders, the ROI is immediate and compelling: higher recovery rates, faster repossessions, and reduced fees from storage and impound delays.

At Automotive Ventures, we invest in the future of auto commerce—particularly in companies that are modernizing legacy infrastructure with data, automation, and software. LoanBridge checks all those boxes.

Their traction in the subprime and mid-prime lending markets is just the beginning. With a compelling GTM strategy and a strong pipeline of enterprise customers, LoanBridge is poised to become a foundational piece of the auto finance stack.

We’re excited to partner with Alex and the team as they reshape how vehicles are tracked, recovered, and ultimately financed. If you’re a lender, fleet operator, or technology partner interested in learning more, we encourage you to check out LoanBridge.ai.

Thoughts

Sounds promising and, as previously mentioned, this is not the first time I’ve heard of LoanBridge. Last summer I published a number of articles from AutoSquared.ai, a company founded by former MBSi Director Bahador Ramini and MBSi founder and former President John Rhodes. In press releases from AutoSquared.ai, they had announced their partnership with LoanBridge.

Their venture is applaudable and needed, but faces sturdy headwinds from reluctant lenders who simply do not seem to want to share data and that is what is required to build a data pool capable of capturing the volume of intel needed to develop any level of repo industry AI.

It is my opinion that the biggest hurdles to improving repossession efficiency lie mostly in the issue of cooperation from lenders. Capturing all of this data and pull them together via an API into a “hub” application that feeds into the assignment platforms and leveraging actionable intelligence is probably the easiest part of this.

It’s just a matter of time until someone does make it happen, the only question is, is this the company that does it?

Below is a great interview from five months ago with Alex Wilhelm of LoanBridge & Bahador Rahimi of Autosquared.AI where they discuss the broken repossession processes and the issues that caused them.