High-Tech RepoMan

PlayfullyClever writes "A new gizmo is upping the odds that even the most hard-knock customer will come up with the car payment. Hooked into the ignition system, the gadget comes in a handful of versions with one common conclusion: No pay, no start. It's worked wonders at Norfolk's Patriot Auto Sales, where nearly every car that drives off the lot is outfitted with a PayTeck Smart Box, a system that hands over a five-digit code in exchange for each payment. Come due date, the car won't crank until the customer punches the code into a palm-size keypad wired into the dash. I would think this "Smart Box" would get hacked way too easily, leaving car companies without their money."

Comments

Buy Here, Pay Here places suck.

[RoadWarriorX]

I think these guys are the biggest crooks. I almost brought a junker from one of these places way back in 1990, when I did not have a lot of money. They charge 15+% interest! They take advantage of the poorest, underpriviledged people who need cars, but have bad or no credit (I had no credit). No wonder no one wants to pay. I'll never recommend them and try to convince people to use public transportation whenever possible. At least in the long run, they would be able to save a little money and build credit. That's what I did.