Car Repos During Stay at Home Orders

Many states and other jurisdictions have placed a moratorium on auto repossessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some courts have also announced they would not be issuing orders for foreclosures, evictions, and related actions. In other states, there are stay at home orders that require all businesses not considered essential to shut down. A snippet from Cleveland.com brings up an interesting questions as to if a repo is an essential business:

A resident whose car was repossessed late on April 14 called police to dispute whether the “repo” driver was performing an essential business under the guidelines of Ohio’s stay-at-home order in effect during the coronavirus pandemic.

The resident also did not think the repo man should be out and about conducting business at 11 p.m., and further claimed that the driver said he had a gun, which put the resident at risk.

In an earlier disturbance call related to the incident, the repo man complained that the resident was following his truck and at some point had attempted to flatten the tires on the car with a drill so it could not be towed.

Police later dropped off a statement form at the home.

Regardless of if the repo was or should be an essential business, the repo agent allegedly having a gun and the owner’s action is a bad situation that could have led to much worse.