Brian Turley pulled a tow truck into a Reno supermarket parking lot, leaped out of his cab, hooked a silver SUV to the tow arm and lifted its wheels off the asphalt.

For Turley and other area repo men, business is booming. In the wake of the subprime mortgage debacle, more people are defaulting on car payments and repossession firms report their business has doubled or tripled in the past three years.

Nationally, about 1.5 million vehicles were repossessed last year, a 15 percent increase from 2006, according to Manheim Consulting, which analyses car markets. This year, another 10 percent jump is expected.

Local “recovery service agents,” as repo men are officially called, said they are visiting more upscale neighborhoods and recovering newer and more expensive cars than a few years ago.

“We’re doing more business than ever; it’s at least doubled,” said Karen Regan, office manager for Pathfinder Technology, a Reno vehicle recovery firm. “About a year ago, before the foreclosure stories hit the news, we picked up a lot (of vehicles) in the Spanish Springs area. People were choosing between their homes or their cars.”

Not cowboys anymore

The job also has changed. The repo men (and women) have gone high-tech with computers and stealth tow trucks. They are bound by licenses and laws that restrict what they can do and how they can do it.

“It’s not a job for cowboys anymore,” said Justin Zane, co-owner of Zane Investigations of Reno and Turley’s boss. “We’re not grabbing cars and ripping off bumpers like in the old days. Twenty years ago, in some states, you could go out with a truck, a trailer and a winch and just snatch cars. Not now.”

The Nevada State Private Investigators Licensing Board regulates repossession firms. The businesses must be licensed, bonded and operate within the law. Recovery agents can go on private property to get a vehicle but not into a locked garage.

“That would be breaking and entering,” said Kristen Ithurduro, Zane’s sister and partner. “Even if we know the car is there, we can’t break in. That’s a felony. A car isn’t worth that. Our business isn’t worth that.”

Ithurduro said Zane Investigations might repossess 25 cars a day, up from seven or eight a day three years ago. She said they are seeing more newer models in more affluent areas.

“It’s sad how many we pick up,” Ithurduro said. “When we talk to people, a lot said their adjustable mortgage went up or they were hitting those balloon payments.

“Keep your house or your car, which do you pick?”

Two weeks ago, Zane recovered two 2007 Corvettes, she said. Cars trundle into the firm’s yard every day: Chevy Tahoes and Silverados, Honda Elements, tricked-out pickups and brand new Toyotas. Motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles also are recovered.

“That’s another choice, lose your toy or lose your car,” Ithurduro said. “But a lot of these folks, we get their motorcycle, and then three months later, we’re back for their car. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Local repossession firms said the subprime crisis is responsible for the upswing, but the usual causes of financial instability are still in play. Divorce, rising fuel prices, an inability to repair a car even when a consumer can make the payments and people buying more expensive vehicles than they can afford are at the root of many repossessions.

“People make bad choices,” Ithurduro said.

She said most repossessions go off smoothly.

“The industry gets a bad rap, but we try to work with people,” she said. “It’s a bad situation, and we want to handle it professionally. There’s no reason to make it worse for people.

“We didn’t make the loan or borrow the money, we’re just doing our jobs.”

As the hook grabs the bumper, a lot of folks say the car payment is in the mail, drivers said, but the car still is towed.

“I wouldn’t call a person a liar,” Turley said, “But all those checks can’t be in the mail.”

Sometimes trouble comes with the territory.

Ignorance and booze

Zane said he’s had guns pulled on him five times in eight years.

“Firearms are rare, but we have our share of shoving matches,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

He said one man drove through a corner of his own house to escape the tow truck. Some people try to climb in their cars after they are hooked to the truck. A debtor in Fallon chased Zane and his father, cut off their truck and assaulted them.

“The guy bit my dad,” Zane said. “Sometimes, the people just hand over the keys and sometimes, they attack you. Ignorance and booze makes this job more dangerous than any other factors.”

Zane Investigations has three tow trucks, including a “sneaker” truck that looks like a pickup but has a tow apparatus hidden under the truck bed. They also have a flatbed truck for heavier equipment and luxury cars. The flatbed has transported Porches, Corvettes and Aston Martins.

Drivers have laptops, cell phones and personal data organizers. The vehicles are referred to as “collateral,” not cars. They often can be found at the debtor’s address listed on the loan documents, but sometimes, detective work is required.

“It takes some investigation,” Zane said. “People can be sneaky, but that’s not in their best interest. The longer it takes, the more it costs, and we’ll eventually get the car.”

Many credit unions and banks add the repossession costs on top of the outstanding loan amounts. Debtors also are charged for cleaning out the vehicle and storing contents, skip-trace investigation costs, and making new keys. Some high-tech keys cost hundreds of dollars, an amount added to the consumer’s debt.

Zane said a man who owed $8,000 racked up a bill of $23,000 by the time his car was recovered.

“The smart thing to do is cut your losses,” he said. “Get your stuff out of the car and turn over the keys. And remember that repossessing the car isn’t the be-all, end-all. You have a right to recover that vehicle.”

If the consumer doesn’t make good on the debt, the vehicle is sold for wholesale price at a “dealers only” auction. The lender gets the money from the sale and then bills the consumer for the difference between the sales price and the vehicle’s unpaid loan amount plus any added recovery costs.

Zane said it’s his goal to make the business — traditionally known as a rough-and-tumble trade — a profession rather than an occupation.

“At Zane, we don’t use slings and we treat the vehicle well,” he said. “We have an obligation to the consumer and to the bank to take care of their collateral.”