The kind of repossession you're probably used to seeing involves the average truck, van or family sedan being towed away because the owner can't afford the payments.
But Ken Cage, of the International Recovery Group, goes after maxed out millionaires!
"This is a toy so we're dealing with egos more than lives," he said.
Banks and attorneys have hired Cage to repossess everything from a 120-foot yacht worth $8.5-million to a Gulfstream jet worth $20-million to even a racehorse!
On the day Action News went along for the ride, Cage was repossessing a single engine airplane. It's owned by a man based out of the Midwest who happened to fly it into the Brandywine airport for the weekend.
"Having done this for a long time so we've built up a huge collection of keys that will open up single engine airplanes," he said, basically stating that there are generic keys for these planes.
Now it's time to find the plane and see if its owner's anywhere in sight.
"I get nervous every time," he said. "You just never know what's going to happen. We've been chased with shovels; we've been attacked by football players, run over by cars, stuff like that. You just never know," said Cage.
Cage and his partner Scott find the plane but somebody is nearby. The pair quickly comes up with a strategy plan that involves Cage drawing the man away from the plane and Scott attempting to get inside it.
It turns out that the man is a maintenance worker getting the plane ready to take-off. He told Cage the owner is on his way.
Cage told the worker he's repossessing the plane all while Scott has hopped in the plane and turned on the ignition.
Mission accomplished.
Now after Cage repossesses luxury items he sells them to a new buyer.
"Most of our inventory comes and goes so fast, lot of overseas and South American buyers right now," he said.
Cage turns the proceeds over to the bank minus his fees and expenses. He said business is booming, up six-fold since 2007. And he said in the end his repos go a long way in helping the overall economy.
"One bank is probably going to take a $40 to $50-thousand hit on this," Cage said. "Everybody should care because this hurts everybody. There is that much less money that a bank will lend now."
