{"id":40483,"date":"2015-08-20T10:36:48","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T15:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=40483"},"modified":"2015-08-21T10:14:53","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T15:14:53","slug":"in-the-land-of-the-oil-bust-the-repo-business-booms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2015\/08\/20\/in-the-land-of-the-oil-bust-the-repo-business-booms\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Land of the Oil Bust, the Repo Business Booms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_40487\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-40487\" alt=\"Ryan Peck has been repossessing many more trucks since the downturn in the oilfields.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/Peck-II-620x372.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/Peck-II-620x372.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/Peck-II-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ryan Peck has been repossessing many more trucks since the downturn in the oilfields.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Oil\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/oil-futures-fall-wti-crude-hovers-near-40-a-barrel-1440049282\">closed at its lowest price<\/a>\u00a0in more than six years Wednesday. Some project the price<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/likelihood-of-u-s-oil-sliding-to-30-a-barrel-is-increasing-1439997047?mod=trending_now_2\">\u00a0to drop even further<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In some parts of Texas that&#8217;s bad news for almost everyone. The economic ripple effect of low prices leads to layoffs and slams the breaks on local economies. \u00a0But there\u2019s one business that\u2019s going through a boom in oil patch right now: the repo business.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Peck says when you\u2019re a repo man some jobs are harder than others.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/220097699&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" height=\"166\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->\u201cYou do run into some good people. The hardest part for me is if there [are] kids involved,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just tough because you know the kids are doing without. So, I just get the job done; try to be as nice and polite as possible. But, yeah, sometimes it is tough.<\/p>\n<p>Lately, he\u2019s been busy at his impound lot on the south side of Corpus Christi. He just picked up a couple of brand-new pickup trucks and a few work trucks, all of which are headed to auction.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_40493\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-40493\" alt=\"Some of the trucks Peck picks up still have carries oilfield tools and equipment. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_6305-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_6305-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_6305-620x413.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the trucks Peck picks up still have carries oilfield tools and equipment.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s a lot of trucks, and that\u2019s caught Peck\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn our business there [are] trucks that we normally don\u2019t pick up, three-quarter ton diesel trucks, one ton trucks,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re pickup trucks tricked out with suspension lifts, good stereos, rims. Work trucks that are also status symbols for the, well, mostly guys that drive them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[T]hey\u2019re gonna pay those bills before they\u2019re gonna pay anything else,\u201d Peck says. \u201cWe\u2019re now seeing that those trucks are getting picked up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, where are they coming from? Peck stops at a battered black dodge pickup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cActually, this truck right here, if you want to look in the back of it, it\u2019s got tons of oilfield equipment,\u201d he says. \u201cTools and wrenches and stuff like that that was used in the oilfield.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_40497\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-40497\" alt=\"Pump jacks line the road into Alice, Texas. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/derricks-300x180.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/derricks-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/derricks-620x372.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/derricks.jpg 1840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\"> <\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pump jacks line the road into Alice, Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He says during the drilling boom, oil workers bought a lot of expensive trucks. Now the booms over and they can\u2019t make payments. So he\u2019s doing a lot of repossessions in the nearby oil town of Alice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of these trucks that we have here are coming out of that town,\u201d he says. Alice would be probably my first stop to find out what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are streets in Alice that remind you what the town\u2019s all about. They have names like Energy Avenue and Industrial Boulevard. These are where big oilfield service companies like Halliburton brought jobs during the boom. When the bust came to Alice, the ones hit the hardest were the oilfield workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBasically, they tell you, \u2018There\u2019s no work right now. We\u2019re gonna take the rig to the yard and we\u2019ll call you when we need you,\u2019\u201d says Javier Gamez outside a food pantry.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been three months since Gamez heard those words. He says he used to make up to $6,000 a month as a derrick man. Now he\u2019s lucky to pull in $600 doing construction work.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_40499\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-40499\" alt=\"Downtown Alice, Texas.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_7773-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_7773-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_7773-620x413.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alice, Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cSo, thats how it goes,\u201d Gamez says. \u201cAnd, like I said, you\u2019re accustomed to getting pretty good money, and you have a nice truck, and you have a nice home and you have to start downgrading letting things go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He bought a truck, but he says he doesn\u2019t have it anymore. A lot of his buddies lost their trucks, as well. They ignored the warnings of old timers who lived through booms and busts before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019d tell us, \u2018You need to prepare you need to save, you need to save!\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cAnd us, being young, we\u2019re like \u2018Ah, heck, I\u2019m buying a new truck I can afford it.\u2019 They\u2019re like \u2018Don\u2019t do it. Keep your truck. It might be a 2005 but it\u2019s a nice truck.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need the 2015.\u2019 And us being not dumb, but unprepared, we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It might sound shortsighted, but a lot of people thought the good times would last. Even a lot of local governments are grappling with a big drop in tax revenue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat snowball effect happens, where we don\u2019t have any money because we\u2019re not working so we don\u2019t spend at the restaurant,\u201d Gamez says. \u201cSo, now the poor lady at the restaurant loses hours, and it just goes down the line and before you know it\u2019s a recession the way we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_40501\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-40501\" alt=\"Jacob Lopez sells cars in Alice. He says business is down and customers are interested in smaller more fuel efficient vehicles.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_7788-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_7788-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/08\/IMG_7788-620x413.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jacob Lopez sells cars in Alice. He says business is down and customers are interested in smaller more fuel efficient vehicles.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sitting at his desk beneath a rumbling AC window unit, Jacob Lopez, owner of Coyote Auto Sales in Alice, remembers when the trucks used to fly off the lot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeventy percent of my business was heavy duty trucks, lifted diesel four-by-four, and now I just don\u2019t have that demand anymore,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In other parts of the country, low gas prices are encouraging people to buy bigger vehicles. Not here, Lopez says, he sells more affordable, fuel efficient cars. But, really, most people aren\u2019t buying any cars at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw the business drop off after the spring when you started seeing the rigs being shut down,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Peck, says if the downturn keeps up, car loans will be harder to get. Fewer people will buy cars and, so fewer people will default on their loans. That means eventually his business will take a hit. Not even the repo man can outrun the oil bust\u2019s snowball effect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf nobody\u2019s paying for cars nobody\u2019s buying cars as well,\u201d he says. \u201c[I]t comes back to get everybody. Nobody\u2019s safe from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, Peck says, he\u2019s saving his money, just in case the repo bubble becomes a repo bust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oil\u00a0closed at its lowest price\u00a0in more than six years Wednesday. Some project the price\u00a0to drop even further. In some parts of Texas that&#8217;s bad news for almost everyone. The economic ripple effect of low prices leads to layoffs and slams the breaks on local economies. \u00a0But there\u2019s one business that\u2019s going through a boom in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[59],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40483"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40504,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40483\/revisions\/40504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}