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from the scorn-the-poor-man-as-a-thief-in-country-and-in-towne dept.
Auto loans to borrowers considered subprime, those with credit scores at or below 640, have spiked in the last five years with roughly 25 percent of all new auto loans made last year subprime, a volume of $145 billion in the first three months of this year. Now the NYT reports that before they can drive off the lot, many subprime borrowers must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device, which allows lenders to remotely disable the ignition. By simply clicking a mouse or tapping a smartphone, lenders retain the ultimate control. Borrowers must stay current with their payments, or lose access to their vehicle and a leading device maker, PassTime of Littleton, Colo., says its technology has reduced late payments to roughly 7 percent from nearly 29 percent. “The devices are reshaping the dynamics of auto lending by making timely payments as vital to driving a car as gasoline.”
Mary Bolender, who lives in Las Vegas, needed to get her daughter to an emergency room, but her 2005 Chrysler van would not start. Bolender was three days behind on her monthly car payment. Her lender remotely activated a device in her car’s dashboard that prevented her car from starting. Before she could get back on the road, she had to pay more than $389, money she did not have that morning in March. “I felt absolutely helpless,” said Bolender, a single mother who stopped working to care for her daughter. Some borrowers say their cars were disabled when they were only a few days behind on their payments, leaving them stranded in dangerous neighborhoods. Others said their cars were shut down while idling at stoplights. Some described how they could not take their children to school or to doctor’s appointments. One woman in Nevada said her car was shut down while she was driving on the freeway. Attorney Robert Swearingen says there's an old common law principle that a lender can’t “breach the peace” in a repossession. That means they can’t put a person in harm’s way. To Swearingen, that would mean “turning off a car in a bad neighborhood, or for a single female at night.”
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Friday September 26 2014, @03:29PM
I saw this on the other site and it set my BS detector off a bit. To be fair, I have done absolutely no research on any of this but there are logical inconsistencies within the very summary.
many subprime borrowers must have their car outfitted with a so-called starter interrupt device, which allows lenders to remotely disable the ignition.
Ok, sounds legit I guess.
Others said their cars were shut down while idling at stoplights.
I'm no mechanic but isn't a starter used to start a car. And if it is idling, isn't it already atarted?
One woman in Nevada said her car was shut down while she was driving on the freeway.
Again, pretty sure the starter is not in use while you are actually driving.
Bolender was three days behind on her monthly car payment. Her lender remotely activated a device in her car’s dashboard that prevented her car from starting.
Pretty sure credit cards even have a 3 day grace period and they are about as aggressive as you can get. My car loan has a 15 day grace period.
(Score: 2) by dublet on Friday September 26 2014, @03:56PM
Others said their cars were shut down while idling at stoplights.
I'm no mechanic but isn't a starter used to start a car. And if it is idling, isn't it already atarted?
Newer cars have a stop/start function [wikipedia.org] that will stop the engine after idling a few seconds to save fuel. They will start the engine again if you press the throttle.
Whatever the merits of the system, I can imagine this happening after they triggered the "bill not paid" event and shut down the car, resulting in a vehicle stuck at a set of lights/in a parking bay/where ever.
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome. [dublet.org]"
(Score: 1) by Arik on Friday September 26 2014, @04:13PM
In theory it makes some sense to say that you can turn off the starter without disabling the car, but in practice engines do need to be restarted from time to time. Never had your engine stall out on a crowded freeway? Consider yourself lucky (and likely in a different socioeconomic bracket from the people victimized with these devices, whose cars may tend to be less reliable than your own.)
Going after the loan-sharks under common-law for breach of the peace is a fairly old and standard tactic at this point, in both the US and UK at least, I am not sure about other common law jurisdictions. Whether or not remotely disabling someones car is a breach of the peace is the question before the court, and I find myself wondering if any of the judges that will hear the case have had their own car stall out on the freeway, or in a bad neighborhood.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26 2014, @05:08PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26 2014, @06:45PM
...is every bit as questionable.
Try something besides Courier. Monofonto [google.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by paulej72 on Friday September 26 2014, @07:25PM
Team Leader for SN Development
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26 2014, @08:28PM
I think it is easier to read. Enough said.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 27 2014, @12:20AM
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Friday September 26 2014, @10:05PM
Tell the client to quit skipping payments. Case dismissed, next case.
(Score: 2) by Blackmoore on Friday September 26 2014, @04:33PM
I have an Ex who's car had one of these damn things. and she was always dealing with the damn thing being deactivated and dead in the driveway. (usually 3 days after payment was missed)
what gets me is she was three states away from the original dealer. What's the range on these things?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26 2014, @05:29PM
I would assume they depend on cell towers, so basically no range limit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26 2014, @07:03PM
I also wonder, if the unit's antenna was disconnected, would it then fail to get an occasional OK and would go into Disable mode.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Friday September 26 2014, @10:02PM
Or she could, you know, pay her fucking bill instead.
They are cellualr, so the range is anywhere a cell phone works.
(Score: 2) by Blackmoore on Friday September 26 2014, @11:31PM
or the check would get there late; or it would not get processed after received. (how is that for service?!) or lost in mail..
didnt matter she always had more month than money. Eventually that car died anyway. it's expensive to be poor.
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Monday September 29 2014, @01:13PM
Then you take the bus and don't buy a car.
And before you even try- bullshit. unless you live in podunk, SD- yes, the godddamn bus goes to your work. And even then they tend to fill the gaps with shuttle busses for the working poor. I have been down this road many many times with people online. They eventually name a place they "live" (actually naming the most remote backwoods they can think of) and I show them a fucking bus schedule in town and between neighboring towns.
This has failed once, in a West Texas town that had a population of 2 and a cat.
(Score: 2) by Blackmoore on Monday September 29 2014, @02:39PM
Sir, i said she was poor, not bright. she had moved from a city - where bus would have been practical, out to aint no transit here podunk. so she could drive out to suburbia to work minimum wage.. as a manager.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday September 26 2014, @05:23PM
What they actually said is that the old beater stalled while idling at the light and wouldn't re-start.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Saturday September 27 2014, @04:16AM
Many modern cars have a feature where if you come to a stop and shift into neutral they turn the engine off to save fuel. When you go back into gear they start up again, unless someone disabled the starter motor.
Could have been standstill traffic on the freeway.
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