In the first place, if vehicle owners had promptly settled their hire-purchase installments with banks, they wouldn't be at the mercy of repossessors — unpleasant people long associated with thuggery — who would be out of business.
But when life gets upended by sinking inflationary and economic realities that brusquely scuttle scheduled repayments, vehicle owners are forced to juggle their priorities. Which is more important? Bank repayments, rent and utilities, medical bills or putting food on the table? The answer is obvious, but the trade-off is brutal.
The loss of a car to a repossessor deprives a family of indispensable transport, like sending the kids to school, ferrying a sick parent to hospital, or simply commuting to work or operating a small business.
Yes, the utilitarian alternative would be to hop on public transport or order an e-hailing service, but that too eventually tears into the shrivelling budget, pummelled by rising living expenses.
Vehicle owners in a financial fix could try pleading with the bank to restructure their loan, but if this fails (and it always does), selling the vehicle is the option to avoid further complications.
So that is that, but the pressing issue here is vehicle repossessors of the "black market" kind, the rogues who straddle between legality and gangsterism.
A major distress is when a repossessed vehicle is "sold" instead of being compounded, placing a bind on owners who want to make restitutions to reclaim their vehicles.
Then the scheming begins: the repo men lodge and abuse police reports of a repossessed vehicle that somehow opens a "loophole" to resell the vehicle despite being tied up in a legal knot.
This is the unstoppable rip-off: how do you dismantle this "black market chain" riddled with secret society meddling?
Hapless vehicle owners are frequently visited by thugs at home, sometimes late at night. Coerced with threats and brought to police stations for "processing", the vehicle owners, while under duress, are tricked into signing a "legal" document they don't fully comprehend.
What's unconscionable is that the policeman on duty thinks this is all legally by the book.
The solution to this scam is a no-brainer: first, police just have to stop condoning such thuggish behaviour, which has been going on for years.
Second, banks too have to come clean: it's just too convenient to blame third-party repossessors for the thuggery as long as banks retrieve their pound of flesh.
It's plain that police must collaborate with banks to revolutionise and work out a scheme whereby vehicle owners have better options to repay their loans without getting into a quagmire of violence or blacklisting — with unwitting police assistance.
Perhaps the vehicle retail industry could also lend a hand by mediating to resolve this quandary. After all, all avenues can lead to more vehicles, new and used, being bought and sold if buyers are protected.