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Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

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361–370 of 568 posts

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#361

The problem with this isn't the idea of a car repossessing itself per se, because repossession is already a legitimate thing; it's the idea that your car can be remotely controlled by anyone other than you. There are already so many things that can go wrong. I don't want to buy a car that can be remotely disabled because I drove near a protest, or because there was a "clerical error" at Ford, or because my payment di…

Brace yourself then, because the future of automotive is highly connected, and in many ways it already is. Every car since the early 2000s has computerized components that control everything from power steering to infotainment systems, and your car probably already communicates with some servers using a built in cellular sim.

Hackers have been able to compromise cars for at least a couple of decades, and while car manufacturers are getting better at securing their products, they are all pushing hard for further connectivity. This means apps and subscriptions for your car, new protocols that lets cars exchange information, and a huge reliance on cloud.

Source: first hand sources working in well known automotive corporations.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#362
Just read up on the "Robo-signing Scandal" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_foreclosure...) and you quickly see why this is a really bad idea.

TLDR: bank has systems issues, thinks you are in default due to bugs, systems "robosign" legal documents saying you are in default, repo home, kick you out, swear to courts it is true, and basically get away with a slap on the wrist

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw someone's RV getting repossessed over $50 in 2019. They were clearly living in it. I walked over and handed the repo guy $60. He wouldn't take it. This was in a cul de sac. I parked my truck across the way so that it would not be possible to enter or leave the cul de sac. Someone called the cops. The cops showed up after a few minutes, good response time. The lady living in the RV was told that she could not pa…

[flagged]

Lmao. It’s possible it did happen, but now it makes me realize that the comment is 1 “lesson learned about empathy” away from a cringey linkedin post.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#364

Just read up on the "Robo-signing Scandal" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_foreclosure... ) and you quickly see why this is a really bad idea. TLDR: bank has systems issues, thinks you are in default due to bugs, systems "robosign" legal documents saying you are in default, repo home, kick you out, swear to courts it is true, and basically get away with a slap on the wrist

Also similar, “Robodebt” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robodebt_scheme

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#365

I work in security and anti-fraud is the use case of last resort for terrible ideas. When you finance a car, the vehicle becomes collateral for a loan, but it belongs to you. A technology like this means that the vehicle still belongs to Ford, which means if something goes wrong with it, or if you get sciatica from their shitty seats, you can class action sue them into oblivion. The reason we have laws is so that peo…

The problem with your line of thinking is thinking that people truly have recourse. With a large enough player, you basically get to make the rules (see: Robosigning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_foreclosure...)

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#366
post #304

True story: my neighbor's lease payment was under, by a dollar or two, no more. An error in his banking practices, I guess. They came and repossessed it in the middle of the night. He offered to pay, and they wouldn't take a credit card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, or any other modern form of payment. No, he had to go to Western Union. Someone who's more up on this sort of stuff can explain that. A week late…

> He offered to pay, and they wouldn't take a credit card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, or any other modern form of payment. No, he had to go to Western Union. I'm guessing they told him to get a Western Union money order, as those can't be reversed after they're cashed (AFAIK). Most modern forms of payment offer some level of consumer protection, as in they can be canceled or reversed. TBH a repo business mi…

> I'm guessing they told him to get a Western Union money order, as those can't be reversed

Ha, out of nowhere a use case for Bitcoin appears.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#367

The problem with this isn't the idea of a car repossessing itself per se, because repossession is already a legitimate thing; it's the idea that your car can be remotely controlled by anyone other than you. There are already so many things that can go wrong. I don't want to buy a car that can be remotely disabled because I drove near a protest, or because there was a "clerical error" at Ford, or because my payment di…

Brace yourself then, because the future of automotive is highly connected, and in many ways it already is. Every car since the early 2000s has computerized components that control everything from power steering to infotainment systems, and your car probably already communicates with some servers using a built in cellular sim. Hackers have been able to compromise cars for at least a couple of decades, and while car ma…

Every new Ford on sale today in the US, from the cheapest Maverick to the most expensive F150 configuration, now has remote monitoring and access via 5G as standard - it's needed if nothing else to offer the apps to remote start and unlock the car that consumers just expect now.

Its generally the same industry wide.

> https://www.ford.com/support/category/fordpass/

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw someone's RV getting repossessed over $50 in 2019. They were clearly living in it. I walked over and handed the repo guy $60. He wouldn't take it. This was in a cul de sac. I parked my truck across the way so that it would not be possible to enter or leave the cul de sac. Someone called the cops. The cops showed up after a few minutes, good response time. The lady living in the RV was told that she could not pa…

Aren't repo guys usually just contracted out to do the job and pull the vehicle by the lender? They don't usually have the authority or facilities to take a payment on site.

Possibly pocketed the money and reported that the RV wasn't found or something.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so. Aside from the shadiness of it: he called the car loan company and they owned up to repo'ing it. He did in fact pay too little on his monthly payment. So how would a scam work? (I don't know if he called the police or not, or what they would do in a case like this. Probably say, "Yep, sounds legit" and that would be the end of it.) see above comment. Not a scam.

How much was the underpayment (I know you said a dollar or two, but I presume this had gone on for a while?). It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.' I find the story wholly believable, a lot of people who work in payments seem to be stupid and/or stubborn, and it might be the industry selects for those traits.

> It's odd to me that they repo'ed rather than contacting him to say 'hey, there's a problem with your account.'

That might be a good assumption if human beings were involved in the decision loop to repossess the vehicle, but I wouldn't be surprised if the entire process is automated.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#370

The problem with this isn't the idea of a car repossessing itself per se, because repossession is already a legitimate thing; it's the idea that your car can be remotely controlled by anyone other than you. There are already so many things that can go wrong. I don't want to buy a car that can be remotely disabled because I drove near a protest, or because there was a "clerical error" at Ford, or because my payment di…

> (Although maybe it would be interesting as an opt-in system with a hardware kill switch that saves you boatloads of money if you don't drive like an a-hole...)

This exists and just serves to charge customers more money while blowing smoke up their asses, people want to believe they're better drivers than the rest.

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