Another facet of the recession, not reported in the press

[DainBramaged]

A few of you realize I something to do with the auto industry. GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) has been the largest financing and leasing arm for GM and the industry as a whole for decades. They send out inspectors to check the condition of lease vehicles returned to the dealers to make sure they aren't damaged and are re-salable at auction.

I spoke at length today to one of their senior inspectors. We were discussing what is going to happen to her job in a couple of years now that GMAC has effectively ended leasing in the US and Canada.

What she said caught me completely off guard. She said "we're doing far more repossession now than we are lease returns, more than we've ever done." When I pressed her further, she said "people can't afford the payments. They are barely making their mortgages, so the lease or car payment goes and they are down to one car. Or in many cases, none." And she said that many many people, out of frustration and anger, are demolishing the cars before they get picked up, making them unfit for resale.

A sad legacy for the Bush/McCain misAdministration, a sad legacy.

[grannie4peace]

1. thank you

the more information , the stronger our protest will be

[Uben]

2. Not surprising.....

.....as people are doing the same thing to their homes, and that has been reported on by the media. What makes these people think trashing homes and cars because they are losing them is a good idea? It's stupid, because now they will be facing legal bills as well!

[DainBramaged]

3. Do you think these people care? Honestly?

GMAC usually CAN'T pursue many of them because by the time they get around to it (usually more than 6 months to a year AFTER they pick up the car) the people are gone, moved, lost their homes, no forwarding address. We talked at length about that too.

When you've reached the bottom of the barrel, do you really think worrying about legal bills is a consideration?

[Uben]

6. They can take your house and car.............

.....but only you can give away your dignity.

[Warpy]

5. Sometimes, it's not the foreclosed family that trashes

the house. The family takes what they can fit into a cramped apartment and leaves the rest behind. Then the thieves move in, and thieves are rarely gentle with property. They're the ones stripping copper wiring and plumbing out of the places, rendering them uninhabitable.

The result is a trashed house, full of left behind furniture and old toys and sometimes old food in the fridge, with plumbing fixtures smashed and walls bashed in to get at the copper.

Back in the Depression, banks finally realized it was advantageous to keep families in their foreclosed houses until those houses could be sold. If the family could pay rent, that was gravy. If not, they still discouraged vagrants, vandals and vermin and kept the property intact and fit for habitation.

Eventually mortgage servicing companies are going to answer the clue phone again, but until then, trashed houses from multiple sources will be the norm. Many will have to be torn down.

[thunder rising]

4. I gave my plane back to the bank. they withheld repair money from an insurance settlement

Without the repairs the plane couldn't fly and the loan was upside-down. So, I walked into a Bank of America branch, laid the keys and a monthly payment statement on the counter, and told them "This is in regards to plane XXXXX, It's yours now!" The look on the guys face was PRICELESS!!!!