Betrayed By Your Own Car

Car dealerships who lease cars to subprime borrowers are making sure the risk of the loan isn't so great as to lose out completely.

A little box is mounted under the dashboard and when a car payment is due a light begins to flash.

If the payment isn't made and the resulting code punched in to reset the box, the vehicle won't start. The next step is a visit from the repo man.

Sekurus, a company based in this suburb east of Los Angeles. is among several companies that market such devices.

Sekurus CEO Mike Simon said: " The box's LED light starts blinking when a payment is nearly due. On deadline day, the unit not only blinks, but beeps. Motorists find it so annoying that it drives "them absolutely nuts."

When the customer makes the payment, the lender gives them a six-digit code to enter into the box.

Sekurus is continuing to introduce products. The latest enhancement is coupling the keypad to a global positioning device. Not only will the car's starter automatically shut off, but a message will go to the loan holder with its location to make repossession easier.

In the near future all major items may have such a device to speed up customer turnover and reduce the costs and hassle of hiring Repo men to hunt the cars down or bailiffs to evict homeowners.

In houses when the customer misses a mortgage payment the power and utilities will shut off and a flashing light on the front of the house will emit a voice repeating "loser, loser" to 'shame' the homeowners to leave or to pay.