Dealer finds success in repo market

OSHKOSH - Call it a sign of the times, while work may be scarce in other industries, it is plentiful in repossession.

"Typical day is anywhere from two to ten, we've done up as many as 17 a day," M & R Recovery owner Matt Manchester said.

Manchester says his repossession services business is up 25 percent. When someone repeatedly fails to pay their bills, banks, credit unions and dealers often hire his crew to collect.

"Now, it's people who have lost their jobs and times are tough, but before it was just people living beyond their means," Manchester said.

Todd Riepe, general manager of boat dealer Skipper Bud's, says his company noticed the increase in repossession and saw a window of opportunity in a bad situation.

"When you go into a dealership that's been closed and seized and you're in there and there's no employees and you're taking product out, that's difficult," he said.

Riepe says the company bought out another dealer through bankruptcy earlier this year, leaving Skipper Bud's with with 150 boats in a tough market.

"We drastically reduced the price thinking okay, we're in Wisconsin, some of the greatest boating in the country, if we bring them down to a certain point will they sell? They sold and they sold very, very quickly," he said.

The company is now collecting boats from dealers who've gone under and selling on behalf of banks who've repossessed property. The inventory from across the county then ends up at the company's new Midwest Marine Repo Center.

Skipper Bud's has locations throughout the Midwest, as well as Florida and Mississippi, but the company decided Oshkosh was the right place for a centralized repo market.

"There's a lot of different areas, different types of boats to use in Oshkosh, we have the room, we have the exposure," Riepe said.

And now, they have the sales. The center recently picked up 17 boats, two and a half days later Riepe says they were gone.

"It's the price, I mean it really is the price," he said.

The company says customers will save between 10 and 35 percent on a repossessed boat, depending on age. Skipper Bud's says sales are up 60 percent this year because of the repossession market.