Published January 31, 2025
Carvana, DriveTime, Bridgecrest: Repossessing Subprime Vehicles
inpractise.com/articles/carvana-drivetime-bridgecrest-repossessing-subprime-vehicles
Executive Bio
Former Executive at Bridgecrest
Interview Transcript
Disclaimer: This interview is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. In Practise is an independent publisher and all opinions expressed by guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of In Practise.
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What is the main difference between the two portfolios for repossession?
A significant difference is that DriveTime installs GPS on all units, while Carvana does not. This affects the repo process from the vendor's perspective and our ability to recover a high percentage of vehicles quickly.
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Out of 100 repossessed cars, how many would need more than one vendor, and how many would reach the skip vendor level?
That depends on the portfolio. For the GPS-enabled DriveTime portfolio, you can imagine how easy it is to repossess a vehicle with real-time location. For DriveTime, about 90% were repossessed by the first vendor. On the Carvana side, it was a slower start with a consistent rise throughout the process. We were usually a little under 50% in the first assignment. Those are the easy ones, just cars parked outside the address the customer provided. Then you see a consistent lift until it almost equalizes with the GPS-enabled DriveTime portfolio. It's only a few percentage points short, but it takes a long time to get there. For Carvana, we still see a low double-digit percentage actually get repossessed six months or more after the initial assignment window.
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