ConsumerFi Podcast: Wireless GPS with Passtime’s Kevin Carr

Transcript

[0 4:29:22 AM] Joel Kennedy: [0 4:29:22 AM] You’re listening to the ConsumerFi podcast powered by Nortridge loan software that accelerates dream.

[00:00:20] Everybody. Welcome back to the ConsumerFi podcast. We are super stoked to have longtime industry colleague and all around great guy, Kevin. With Passtime and you’ve been with Passtime for quite a while.

[00:00:31] Kevin, welcome back to the podcast.

[00:00:33] Kevin Carr: [00:00:33] Thanks, Joel. Hello, pleasure to be here. Great. Seeing you again, talk to you all the time, but great seeing you and, uh, great to be on your podcast as well.

[00:00:41] Joel Kennedy: [00:00:41] So Kevin recently, well, I say recently it was prior to the pandemic. You, you ended up relocating you’re up in Washington now, right?

[00:00:48] Kevin Carr: [00:00:48] Yeah. I think that was one of the many California that did a mass Exodus from the state of California. I love the state, but obviously there’s pros and cons there, but the decided it was time to [00:01:00] get away from the hustle and bustle of California living and taxes.

[00:01:04] And get into the great Northwest and moved actually back to Washington state. I have family out here, but my wife found a, uh, a nice little place rule Oceanside area, south bend, which is near the bay. Willapa bay actually produces more always in the world than any other place. So we’re an oyster town USA and a loving life sitting on.

[00:01:30] Beautiful acreage of land around mother nature. You got lots of forest creatures that come by the house yesterday. We had our family raccoons that came by. We have a herd of elk that come by. In fact, we have now too, we just found a new herd of elk that came by and they have four new babies and about 200 feed from me as a Eagle’s nest that I have two new baby Eagles that are now.

[00:01:54] Spreading their wings and they’re flying from tree to tree, trying to figure out how they leave the nest. But yeah, [00:02:00] I got national geo national geographic in my backyard. That’s about as American. Those are,

[00:02:05] those are bald Eagles,

[00:02:07] bald Eagles. Yeah. I hear him and see him every single day. It’s fantastic. All

[00:02:11] Joel Kennedy: [00:02:11] right.

[00:02:12] You win the award for the most American American.

[00:02:18] I bought a Harley. I thought that was pretty American. That

[00:02:21] Kevin Carr: [00:02:21] is, that is extremely American. That is extremely American. I

[00:02:25] Joel Kennedy: [00:02:25] need a ride. It that’s, that’s a whole other story, Kevin, you know, I thought it would be good to get on today. You guys at pastime, and this is a conversation about technology and platform and protocols.

[00:02:35] Pastime is one of the providers. There are many providers out there, but you know, one thing that you guys have ventured into is the wireless space and meaning that. Prior to today, whether it’s a GPS or something like that, they had to be wired in lines. They had to be that a harness and they had to be connected and there’s, you know, Sometime right.

[00:02:57] And there’s some costs to have that done. [00:03:00] And you guys came out with a wireless solution that for me, and just full disclosure, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve worked with Kevin, I’ve worked with a number of, of, of GPS companies. And, and I do understand some of the friction points that, you know, the, these are tools to be used.

[00:03:14] Can you tell us a little bit about the technology that’s behind that? I mean, obviously battery and how it’s picking up the communication. And transmitting information as well,

[00:03:23] Kevin Carr: [00:03:23] right? Yeah. I mean, ultimately he said, Joel, I mean the first thing out of anyone’s mouth who’s ever used GPS, or, you know, long-time users though, number one, I guess, complaint, if there was one was, you know, how do you wire these devices on vehicles?

[00:03:36] Or how do I get my dealer to wire it properly? And that’s always been the obstacle in the industry is getting a dealer to, you know, follow instructions. Cause a lot of times, as you know, Juul, the person that’s actually doing the wiring at the dealership is not the high end tech it’s, you know, whoever.

[00:03:51] Well at the time, it’s a lot, boy, you throw them a device to, Hey, put this on the car. And ultimately it doesn’t get done properly or over time they bills wires get loosened up and, uh, it [00:04:00] diminishes the solution a little bit. You know, it creates a vulnerabilities in your portfolio. If the device doesn’t work.

[00:04:06] So, you know, over time, over the years, you know, we’ve always had clients say, if you could just get away to put these devices on without needing wires, that would be fantastic. Well, we’ve been working on the solution for quite some time, for a little over three years since we launched and, you know, pastime being a.

[00:04:22] Tech innovation company and also being a very conscientious company. We didn’t want to come right out and sell it before we actually had some good T testing and beta test information. So when we launched and we literally took baby steps, we were two years into beta testing before we actually made it available to our clients.

[00:04:41] And a lot of it had to do with making sure that the battery life could actually live up to expectations because at the end of the day, wireless sounds great. But you know, the number one question we always get is, well, I live up to the four or five years you guys claim it will. And I know other companies out there promote maybe a three-year battery life and it is the [00:05:00] number one concern.

[00:05:00] So ultimately that’s what we’ve been working with. And we’re happy to say that, you know, we’ve been able to make some tweaks here and there and the battery life so far on our end is actually living up to expectations or a little over three. So, and so we launched the results are showing very well. We learned a lot in those first two years.

[00:05:18] Joel, I’ll tell ya. You know, feedback from clients gave us all the things we, you know, we wanted to hear and all the things we were afraid to hear, which is, you know, not working this way or the information wasn’t good, or we couldn’t get a location on the device. Finding about how we had to tweak the information in the software and getting, you know, true data in terms of location, where, where they actually had the device in the vehicle wasn’t being interfered with other parts of the car, because as you will know, it, the device is only as good as the connectivity with the cellular network.

[00:05:46] Again, if you have obstructions, that’s going to prevent the location of where that vehicle is being transmitted from the device to the system. So I would tell you, we learned a lot and we’re better for it. And we’re really been [00:06:00] successful. Couple of years since launch that the feedback’s been positive, the growth has been phenomenal.

[00:06:06] The success has been incredible, but you know, as we mentioned, you know, in previous conversations, GPS and of itself is not a silver bullet. It’s not gonna be. Customer pay that doesn’t have money and it’s not going to make a customer, not trying to find ways to circumvent the process. So ultimately there are some vulnerable parts of it, and we definitely want to make sure that we’re clear about how you utilize the solution and that you have.

[00:06:31] Some rules and some policies and procedures that you implement, and that’s nothing to do with wireless. Uh, that’s just GPS in general, if you’re going to manage a program, a process, you’ve got to have policies and procedures and how you do that and hold people to certain standards of accountability and how they overview or should say how they manage their GPS program.

[00:06:50] Joel Kennedy: [00:06:50] You know, I, I think sometimes people assume I know I did, as I was walking in, you know, this is, you know, we’re talking about consumer lending, we’re talking about consumer vehicles that we’re placing these [00:07:00] devices in, but Kevin, you guys do serve other markets as well. Is that,

[00:07:03] Kevin Carr: [00:07:03] is that right? Yes. Since you know, I’d tell you since, since COVID, it was amazing, you know?

[00:07:09] Lender and dealer experience that dip of, of business. When we were in the first beginning, stages of the pandemic were, you know, consumers, weren’t out buying cars and everyone was in a kind of a panic mode. Those first couple of months from the shutdowns affected us. But what came from. As the resurrection of new business.

[00:07:28] So, you know, all of our salespeople reached out to anyone that basically had a type of mobile asset and asked, Hey, do you want to track it? And lo and behold, you know, commercial truck industry, heavy equipment industry has been a phenomenal business for us. And what wireless did for us was all open up.

[00:07:45] Those doors were wired in the past affected. The ability to track a device. So for instance, a bulldozer or a generator that’s out in the middle of nowhere that wasn’t on power, 24 7, the wireless technology [00:08:00] really addressed that problem. And it solved the issue of a guy wanting to know where his bulldozer was or, you know, whatever heavy equipment he had out in the middle of nowhere that he was concerned of theft, uh, that he had the ability to track.

[00:08:13] Uh, 24 7, and that’s really been a phenomenal, uh, I guess, a solution for us in the wireless.

[00:08:19] Joel Kennedy: [00:08:19] You touched on something that I think is important to let the folks know, perhaps you’re new to this, right? You haven’t really messed with GPS yet. And you want to know if it’s right for you. One of the things that you mentioned, Kevin is the, is the power to the unit.

[00:08:32] You know, I recall, and this, I say this in a way that they chose that you guys are kind of. So back in the day when I was using the former gen technologies, such as pastime and some of the others, if you had certain circumstances, such as the vehicle was in a very cold part of the country during the winter, somebody parked it at like an airport outdoor airport.

[00:08:53] Parking lot and the battery goes. And so if the battery goes, then, you know, that creates a problem where the device [00:09:00] is not going to have any way to pull a charge. And so by going battery lists, you circumvent this potential issue, but then there’s also the whole issue of infrastructure. I think of places.

[00:09:10] Africa. I’ve actually been getting a lot of, uh, sales prospects from consumer lenders that are in, in Africa and the way that they want to do stuff, Kevin, like they way they way on often to consumer or the way they want to verify and validate an individual they’re really using the mobile phone. I mean, you wouldn’t be able to do it here in the United States, right.

[00:09:28] It doesn’t meet Ficker guidelines. But down in Africa, this is normal. And so they have this mobile infrastructure that will support this. Right? You have your, your, your kind of infrastructure built. So I mean, those two things I think are really cool that you’re taking advantage of the infrastructures that are there, even in areas that you wouldn’t normally kind of assume, right.

[00:09:49] Think about even the middle of the ocean or something. Right. And then also. Getting away from that potential risk of the cold weather or a battery or somebody unplugging something, you know, vehicle and shop. [00:10:00] That was the big one for me was as soon as the vehicle gets in the shop, the folks at the shop are smart.

[00:10:05] They will unplug that battery terminal or even yank the battery out, or maybe take a tire off the car, a wheel off the car. Because then it’s one extra step to getting that vehicle moved from where it’s sitting and they want to get there, uh, storage fees, you know, before this is taken care of. Well, so if they unplug the thing and the customer didn’t tell me that Kevin, that that car could be sitting there for months.

[00:10:29] And nobody lets me know. And then all of a sudden I get a letter in the mail. Hey, uh, you didn’t take care of your car, so we’re just going to sell it. And we’re going to cover our fees with that total garbage. Okay. I don’t feel like dealing with it anymore. It seems to me that this solution is a way to kind of bend the corner on a couple of those things.

[00:10:46] Kevin Carr: [00:10:46] Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, when you think about it, all the things you just mentioned, you know, the, the battery dies. Someone pops the cables off there’s work, being done. Encore keeps ticking. It’s still tracking. So no matter what. That device is still doing its regular automatic locates. [00:11:00] So it again helps to overcome problems that we see in the marketplace.

[00:11:04] Battery dies, cables, removed a thief who basically, you know, picks the car up, takes it and takes the batteries off. You know, that vehicle, that device is still tracking 24 7. So a lender who’s monitoring their devices and sees any other devices that might be in a tow or impound lot has the ability now to.

[00:11:21] Mitigate their losses by jumping on it before, you know, waiting for its own impound company and notify them, which you’re right, Joe, I hear the complaint all the time. It can be two weeks, three weeks a month before they get notified that the vehicle has been impounded. If the consumer didn’t know,

[00:11:34] Joel Kennedy: [00:11:34] I I’d love to get inside the mind of the consumer to understand more details about how and why this happened so that I could short wire.

[00:11:42] It, it is it, you know, my guess is Kevin it’s, it’s probably just a little bit. Yeah. Well, let me just leave it here and see how much it is, because if it’s too much, I’ll probably just abandoned the vehicle. There may be even some shame with respect to being able to meet those obligations, you know, as, as somebody who’s been in the industry for a while, [00:12:00] These are real problems.

[00:12:01] And these are real people that have real problems and you’d have to be the devil himself. If you didn’t want to at least try to help out at least loan, a helping hand. You know? So I, I was always a big fan of, of the GPS in so far as you can, to really encourage the customers, point them towards good color.

[00:12:17] And service contracts and warranties, I think can be very good. I think they can be helpful because when I looked, when I used to look at the reasons for repossession mechanical failure was one of them. And I think, you know, took to cover a lot of these angles is just really helpful. So. Yeah, I, I just applaud any move we make toward more mobility, those types of things.

[00:12:38] Kevin, is there anything, you know, within the device, the device is very data rich. It’s an IOT device. As far as I’m concerned, it’s something that I have a window into and it also signals out. Are there additional things within the data? Or the ability to administer the devices through the website. Have you guys made any, any changes in that?

[00:12:58] If you didn’t, it’s not a [00:13:00] big deal because I was always very pleased with the interface that you had and my ability to set little geo fences or a tow alert or something like that. And we can, we can define what those are. Or have you guys made any other moves in terms of data utilization interface that the agents would be using July?

[00:13:19] I, I,

[00:13:20] Kevin Carr: [00:13:20] I thank you for always bring up the fact that being an innovative company, we’re always looking at what’s next what’s next? What’s next? I would say that there are 20% of the users out there who maximize the use of GPS and the data. And they always feed us information that I, you know, when it can do this, when it can do that from a standpoint of, of Encore, I mean, keep in mind with this group.

[00:13:41] Success of wireless and the cost savings of installation removal is huge. So, you know, you have people saving or from, you know, 50 to $150 that now they don’t have to pay an installer to get that device installed. It really addresses a lot of complaints. This is left for instance, in the state of Nevada, you have to have a certified tech.

[00:14:00] [00:14:00] Uh, have a GPS installed on there and now you can virtually have, you know, anybody in their brother put a device in that doesn’t have any certification skills whatsoever because you’re talking about the simplicity of flip a device on and pair it with a vehicle and it’s done. But, you know, from a and point of innovation beyond the GPS side, no, I can only talk about what past has done versus what, you know, what others are looking at.

[00:14:21] We’re always thinking one step ahead with wireless, as you know, it’s only as good as the network and it’s only as good as you know, where it’s at. So things that, you know, Well, compromise GPS, you know, buildings, infrastructure, uh, brick and mortar underground parking structures, and, you know, rural America, if the satellites can’t reach the device, then unfortunately you’re not going to get the information that you want.

[00:14:42] So, uh, pastime, we implemented solution, uh, through a third-party called Pulte Pulte, P O L T E position over LTE. So. To a cloud-based system, uh, IOT, uh, basically through the cellular network where it takes the Trank lization of satellites. And it [00:15:00] will give us that location data when GPS isn’t available.

[00:15:03] So with the chip sets that we have, that we implemented over three years ago, we added the software partner. So now for our client, They get the peace of mind knowing they’ve got a GPS device tracking their asset or their vehicle at any time. But in the event that, that consumer parks, that vehicle in a parking structure, they’re in an area where it’s rural America and it’s not tracking because they’re not up-to-date with the satellites and their area, or it’s in a heavy Metro market like Los Angeles or in New York where you’ve got all these buildings that are going right.

[00:15:34] Fear with the device. We now have a solution that will fill that void. So when GPS isn’t available at any given time, Pulte is so our clients still have a location of where that vehicle is. IR, regardless of what might be circumventing the system with lack of satellite or lack of connectivity with the device.

[00:15:54] And thank you for using the word a thank you. And thank you for using the word IR

[00:15:57] Joel Kennedy: [00:15:57] regardless. Cause I use it all the time and it is a [00:16:00] word, but it drives my wife crazy and then it makes me want to use it more. So thank you for that. And please, I encourage you to use the word IR regardless. Great word.

[00:16:09] Kevin Carr: [00:16:09] Oh man.

[00:16:10] You know, but, but that being said, Joel, as we look at innovation, I mean the GPS is only as good as the end user in terms of we can provide all this data. It’s like leading a horse to water. You can’t make them drink. And we have plenty of users. We talk about all the richness richness of the device, but you know, at the end of the day, many of them are really just, it’s kind of a set it and forget it mentality.

[00:16:30] The devices in there and they could use it at the beginning to verify, you know, proof of residence, proof of work and make sure that the device is tracking in the beginning. But after that, it’s like, next time they go into the device or looking at the system is when that loan starts to default. So, you know, there’s lots of different alerts.

[00:16:46] There’s lots of different things that can happen, but at the end of the day, Still comes down to is, you know, you have to inspect what you expect. Um, the device can’t do it for you. So you have to ensure that you put a person in charge and, and make a rigorous [00:17:00] process of making sure that you’re checking in with the reports and checking in with the information and verify it against your delinquency.

[00:17:06] But, you know, as a provider, we coach and educate and promote, but my advice to anyone using or thinking of using GPS is make sure that before you go, that you assign someone to be your champion to manage it and then hold them accountable with policies and procedures and utilizing it within your collection process.

[00:17:25] That’s a

[00:17:25] Joel Kennedy: [00:17:25] must have, I think it’s just the smart thing to do to have everything documented. And then if you have any. Particular concern or scruple around access to information or who’s, who’s messing with stuff, you know, you can single point that, right? Get it down to one agent. Who’s never really on the phone with customers anyway.

[00:17:45] So there’s, there’s going to be little motivation for them to come. Play any games and I’ve never run into that quite honestly, but, but it is a good point. You can’t just put a whole, a whole mess of these all over your fleet of vehicles. I mean, these are essentially another [00:18:00] component of your asset and for that reason, It’s just like, if I, if I had a garden and then I installed a couple of new plants, you know, you can’t just ignore them, you got to care and feed for them, just like you do the rest of the garden.

[00:18:12] And if you do, then, then it’ll, it’ll pay you back. Right. It’ll reward you. And these, these solutions are, are really helpful. I do like when they wrap policy procedure, a person. And have very clear guidelines relative to compliance around them, especially now, you know, I used to mess around a lot with the starter interrupt device, which isn’t really what we’re talking about today.

[00:18:34] We’re just talking about the GPS device, which allows you to track the whereabouts of your collateral for the most. At the time when there’s non-performance and you have to escalate collections or advance the account, look, this technology, you know, and people will know for Pelican the, the, the auto finance company that I founded while ago, we were predicated on Sid and GPS.

[00:18:55] That was, that was our whole business model. And we went to the street with that and the street [00:19:00] resonated. And now we’re to a time when Sid isn’t really that big. It’s not as, as utilized, maybe still some in the buy here, pay here space. I’d love to have somebody who is still using it on top. But, you know, GPS is kind of the way to go.

[00:19:12] And I think we all feel relatively safe within that. You know, for folks that, uh, Kevin, let’s say I’ve got somebody who’s relatively new to all this that maybe they’re familiar with GPS, but they’ve not really, they’re building up a company. They haven’t really administered anything. Are there some questions or some starting points, you know, when they’re implementing a wireless solution like this, is there anything unique about the wireless solution?

[00:19:34] Versus the wired solution, obviously, you know, installers is one that you mentioned, you may not need skilled installers to get it done, but for somebody, you know, that that’s going to go down this path, you know, what are some questions they should be asking or some things they should be thinking of? The first

[00:19:49] Kevin Carr: [00:19:49] question I always ask a finance company is basically what do you want from your GPS?

[00:19:53] I mean, what do you, what do you expect from it that kind of guides you down? What kind of device they should have in the first place? Because [00:20:00] ultimately, you know, there’s two schools of thoughts or GPS there’s those that you use. This is a collection tool. So it’s not a matter of, yeah, it can help get the car back, but I really wanted it to be something that enhances my collection capabilities.

[00:20:12] Keep the customer aware when they’re delinquent. Right. You know, there’s a consequence, so they don’t pay. And that’s a whole different model, different from wireless. That’s a, that’s a wired device. That’s doing payment reminder and starter interrupt. And that is a, you know, that’s a big solution for the guys that say, I really want something to be, you know, Changing the behavior of my slow paying customers or my high-risk customers to know you’re going to be notified when you’re delinquent, we’re going to get you to understand that the car payment, it needs to be a higher priority in your life because you can’t, you know, can’t get to where you are.

[00:20:45] Okay. You’re a credit if you’re always living your world and, you know, D. Credit, uh, slow paying, no paying, or, you know, always thinking that 15 days delinquency is okay, it’s my way of life. You know? And once you know how you can pay on time, you know, the world starts opening up to you in terms of [00:21:00] more, um, access to credit and let’s face it.

[00:21:03] When you have more access to credit, you have more opportunities afforded to you. So if we can get those that can’t pay on time to start paying on time, it’s amazing what can happen to them in terms of more affordability, more options, and definitely a savings of a lot of. So those that are really looking for a recovery standpoint, you know, they don’t want all the other bells and whistles.

[00:21:20] They just want to use it for tracking. So that that’s my first starting point is what do you want it to do? Or are you looking for a collection purpose or, or repurpose? And then from there we can guide if it’s just a recruiter. Okay. Well, great. What information do you want for the recovery? Are you going to utilize mileage data?

[00:21:35] Are you going to be lasing, low power notification? Do you need geo-fences you know, all these things come up to where those things all sound right. But at the end of the day, if somebody says that’s a nice to have, but not a need to have Kevin, I really just need to know where my vehicle is, but I’m going to keep guiding you down wireless because as you said, Joel, if I can eliminate the headaches, the hassles and the cost of wiring a device, [00:22:00] this is the answer.

[00:22:01] This takes care of all those issues. You for a finance company, working with dealers, you avoid the pushback. You, you, you avoid the, the franchise dealer that says I don’t have an installer for that. Or if I run it through my shop, they’re going to charge me $250 because my service techs not going to give me a break on the rate.

[00:22:19] So that finance guy is saying, you know, we’re running it through my own operation. Going to be a huge cost, which is going to affect the bottom line. So you can avoid that. You make a franchise dealer really happy. So, and then ultimately, also you look at the types of financing. If we’re talking about power sports, holy cow, this opened up just so many operatives brought back finance company.

[00:22:41] Using GPS because the biggest complaint and the power sport rural was one wiring it and to the impact it was going to have on the battery of the motorcycle, because it was going to, you know, GPS wire devices will draw more power off of a motorcycle because it’s not being written every [00:23:00] single day. So ultimately the power drain on a bike was impacting the consumers.

[00:23:05] So now you eliminate those. Crucial points on why some motorcycle finance companies exited using GPS that part of our industry, because, you know, as you won’t know, Joel and the, and the subprime power sport market, there’s not enough subprime lenders for the dealers. There’s plenty of unbanked consumers out there still looking to get, you know, a motorcycle or a power sport type of vehicle.

[00:23:31] And there’s lots of opportunities for that. The GPS has really opened up opportunities for many of these lenders to start lending again or going a little bit further or addressing maybe down payment constraints that they can still get that protection, uh, and still land and put more riders on the road.

[00:23:50] Yeah. And I think

[00:23:51] Joel Kennedy: [00:23:51] it’s just, obviously there’s so many things we could talk about, right? Yeah. We’re we’re just about at time, but delinquencies are looking good and [00:24:00] recoveries are, we’re not maybe not seeing that spike. I do keep an eye out for that. So it could be wrong on that, but we know this is coming.

[00:24:08] We know that there is a wave coming and as we originate these vehicles that have much higher LTVs than what we were doing a year or two ago, right. These, a lot of these vehicles used vehicles are actually appreciating. I think you got to take a good look. And how you’re going to hedge that risk. You know, a lot of this stuff with, with these, these, these major coordinated cyber attacks and stuff coming from, you know, government sponsored organizations, we’ve been tracking fraud.

[00:24:39] Kevin, as you know, you are a part of the first fraud Friday with NAF about four years ago. If I had, if you had told me that this was going to move from, you know, individuals to loosely con configured fraud rings to actual fraud ring. To then government sponsored, you know, fraud type stuff. Call me crazy, but I don’t even [00:25:00] view the potential of, of a fraud ring, go on and get in a bunch of vehicles, sticking them on a container ship and then sign and ARRA.

[00:25:07] And you’ve got no recourse and they do this as a coordinated attack. To nail somebody, whether it’s a bank, a finance company, just the us broadly. I don’t know. As far as I’m concerned, you have to have your, I have so many things on my phone now to protect me. I’ve got probably four to six apps. I’ve got one that calls out the spam calls from all the people that sound like they’re there in Mumbai, but they’re really with the IRS.

[00:25:33] Kevin they’re really, and I got to go get some apple. Gift cards to these guys. Cause otherwise the cops are gonna come and take me away. Cause the IRS, FBI, they’re all involved, all the three-letter organizations involved, you know, I, I just think we owe it to ourselves to protect ourselves and from that fraud, but also, you know, this is a great solution in terms of non-performance right?

[00:25:53] And so you can, you can go and get that vehicle. And if you can get a better return on it, it’s going to be better for that consumer that [00:26:00] no longer has a utility for it. They’re going to have a lesser deficiency balance. I think it’s part of a well functioning economic setup. And, you know, I just, I just encourage people, you know, listen to this, ask Kevin questions, keep apprised as to ways you can cover yourself and do things smarter and more efficiently.

[00:26:18] That’s the one big thing I saw during the pandemic. Kevin, I don’t know if you did, too. People were really fighting to get a lot more

[00:26:24] Kevin Carr: [00:26:24] efficient. I thought for a second, you’re telling me you had a crystal ball back there. You’re going to tell me that this delinquency or lack thereof is going to be coming to an end because I know that many people are feeling like, you know, this is too good to be true.

[00:26:36] The, you know, every lender I’m talking to you right now is a, the delinquency is the lowest it’s ever been. It’s

[00:26:42] Joel Kennedy: [00:26:42] better than before. It’s unaided. It’s not like they did anything different. And so, you know, it goes to show you, you know, Daniel Perry, who I worked with a true decision used to always say, Is the reason for your delinquency, the way that you originated the paper, are you responsible for this customer’s delinquency?

[00:27:00] [00:26:59] Because a lot of times people put their credit program under that type of microscope where they say, well, if my credit programs on point, and I’m not going to have any, any defaults or any delinquency, did you cause your customer to go to? No, you did not. You did not. And so it’s funny because, you know, we always say it’s like plumbers, right?

[00:27:17] The stuff rolls downhill and it ends in collections. And, you know, you have these CEOs with these egos, just screaming at the collections manager, why can’t you get better numbers? And you’re sitting there thinking, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, I did everything. I could, I have a GPS on the thing I did.

[00:27:33] I did a door knock. I did a skip trace. I did everything I possibly could. Have. You looked at the economics of what we spent against this and is it really worth it at the end of the day? I mean, the guy is not going to pay. He has no idea. The car is abandoned. Okay. Just go get the car anyway. Sorry. My soap box, Kevin, you, you pull it out of me.

[00:27:53] You’re you’re, you’re, you’re

[00:27:54] Kevin Carr: [00:27:54] amazing at pulling me. I, I, we can’t get ourselves. This isn’t going to last forever. There is a, there is an end [00:28:00] to some of this that the true colors of some of the subprime customers will come back. Not in a matter of if it’s just a matter of when and, um, bottom line is be prepared.

[00:28:10] So those out there that not utilizing it, God bless you. If you’ve got other tools out there, but you know, I think you gotta be smart about your business and always be thinking, you know, what, what I could be doing better. You know, what’s a better mouse trap in our business and that GPS has been around for a long time, but it’s all in how you utilize the solution.

[00:28:27] We know Joel, cause we’ve done studies together that the numbers don’t lie. The impacts positive. The results are incredible. You would be foolish not to implement something like this in your arsenal of collections. And the data that you get is, is just rock solid. Any lender. Any collection, any repo agent will tell you real time.

[00:28:47] Data is better than, you know, 30 days data. Right? If I know where my car is right now, I can make a better educated decision at the end. If I have a hit list that says, Hey, 30 days ago, this is where it was at. So just be smart about your [00:29:00] business and know where to go to find. Get answers. I’m going to give, you mentioned, call me, uh, you know, my information is free and in, before you make a decision, make sure you make an educated decision.

[00:29:09] So ultimately, you know, we’ve been around for 28 years. We have a focus on quality product and quality of service at a fair price. So if, if you’re looking for something that you know is going to give you high. Results and has a background to support it and stability, you know, we’re, we’re a solid institution.

[00:29:27] There’s others out there like us, but you know, there’s a lot of guys that jump on the bandwagon and they promote a lot of things and they sell price. And that’s great too, if you can’t afford it, I get it. But you know, at the end of the day, the quick doesn’t come cheap. You know, when, when you’re looking for something that’s good fast, it’s not going to be cheap.

[00:29:43] And if you’re looking for something that’s cheap, it’s not gonna, it’s not going to be good. So. Yeah, that goes without saying, but you know, I’ll kind of finish with this. Joel, the devices are utilized in every aspect from a standpoint of either collecting yourself when the time comes, you have to repo, you mentioned fraud.

[00:29:58] There’s no doubt that [00:30:00] fraud. It hurts us financially. And ultimately, if you could find a way to prevent that again, knowledge is key. Information is king and information is powerful. So, uh, one of the, one of the biggest aspects that we heard from our clients using our wireless and using our GPS tracking is the reality that during the pandemic, the amount of lender or the amount of consumers that left and relocate, it was humongous in terms of the number of people.

[00:30:26] 80%. We heard from one lender, 80% of the consumers that relocated did not notify them, that they relocated. They found out that the GPS and we heard that more often than. So again, the device does incredible things just to have a plan in place and know what you want to get from it. You know, when you make the decision to either investigate or buy, know what you want from it.

[00:30:45] So, you know, you’re, you’re buying the right product and you’re not spending more for something that you do. That’s a

[00:30:50] Joel Kennedy: [00:30:50] great way to finish. And Kevin, thank you so much for your, uh, your you’re an educator within the ecosystem. You know, folks that have been out on the conference circuit know Kevin he’s, he’s a mainstay of fixture.

[00:31:00] [00:30:59] There. I look forward to seeing you out on the conference circuit, but for folks who. Maybe you want to talk to you beforehand? Kevin, can you give us, uh, what’s a good contact.

[00:31:09] Kevin Carr: [00:31:09] Yeah. So, uh, you can reach me at K car, K C a R r@pastimegps.com. My office line is 3 0 3 9 6 2 5 1 6 5. Check me out on LinkedIn. I’m happy to connect with a lot of my associates in the industry and partners in the industry as well on LinkedIn as like Joel and many others.

[00:31:29] And, uh, You can go to our 800 number or look on pastime gps.com and get an 800 numbers from there. Happy to help you. But Joel, I appreciate the opportunity and the exposure. And definitely like you said, Joel, uh, being an educator, I’m happy to talk with anyone as it relates to implementing GPS. I’ve been in lending for 24 years.

[00:31:48] I was a user first before I became a provider. So I like to speak on behalf of how I, how I. Using GPS as a finance company. And that’s how I guide my clients today.

[00:32:00] [00:31:59] Joel Kennedy: [00:31:59] Amen. Well, Kevin, I think you’re, you’re, you’re kind of operate in the same spirit as I do. And I didn’t realize I was this way. You know, I got into doing more business development and I have some clients, some potentials with north Ridge, actually a couple that, that took the bait, where you’re dealing with some individuals that really put themselves over to you and take advantage of that information that you have and what you get.

[00:32:20] When you, if like, so I’ve, I’ve, I’ve done a little sales engineering where we’ve constructed some really cool kind of solution stacks using north Ridge as the backbone, and like building completely taking a business from completely broken mortar to online. What you get with somebody like a Kevin or a me when you do that is we are so excited and invested in the solution because at the end of the day, we may be doing business development.

[00:32:46] I, I would dare say, we’re ops guys at heart and we get really excited at seeing these things get implemented and seeing the smile on somebody’s face and seeing them being able to use it. And we’re solving problems. [00:33:00] It’s just really important that I convey that because you know, with the podcast itself, this is educational, right?

[00:33:04] We’re, we’re, we’re out here trying to educate folks and, and lift all the boats. Right. So, you know, just bear that in mind, do give Kevin a call and, uh, and take advantage of the fact that he’s there to answer questions for you is a really nice guy. He’ll tell you all about the Eagles in his backyard. If you will Eagles

[00:33:22] Kevin Carr: [00:33:22] good stuff, Kevin.

[00:33:24] Thanks for having me on again and thank you for what you do for our industry. Joel, it’s really great. Having someone like you being, uh, uh, in the space and then leadership that you are. So thanks again for the opportunity.

[00:33:35] Joel Kennedy: [00:33:35] Thank you, Kevin. Well, everybody, this has been another episode of the consumer fight podcast.

[00:33:39] We had Kevin Carr, who is with pastime. Thanks Kevin. The

[00:33:43] Kevin Carr: [00:33:43] consumer five podcast has been brought to you by Northbridge loan software.

[00:33:47] Joel Kennedy: [00:33:47] That accelerates change. We’d also like to thank the national automotive finance association, the only trade association, exclusively serving the non-prime auto financing industry. [00:34:00]