Walk in our shoes.

One of the comments that was made on a recent thread made a comment about gas prices. I can only assume that it was meant to be fuel prices. As the cost of fuel rises, naturally the cost of business rises. This would be a lifeline from raw materials to finished goods. Point A to Z. Well what happens to B through Y. People forget those, and forget the backs that are getting broken in the process and in the name of business.

Vehicles do not arrive on a recovery agencies lot with the wave of a magical wand or wish request of a genie. Nor do they transport from that recovery agency to the auction with the same.Time and materials play a major role as with every other industry.

Time of the men and woman moving those vehicles is as vital to our industry as the involuntary muscle movements such as a heartbeat or a breath taken by the human body.

Materials such as fuel, oil and trucks get bundled up as the cost of doing business, and discounted as the same. Nobody even discusses the cost of the trucks or the insurance policies. However could you take the blood from a heart or the air from the lungs and expect the human body to continue to strive to grow, flourish or even live.

It was stated that the escalating fuel cost as well as all the other fees to recondition the vehicle are what is eating away at profits of the lending institutions. I challenge anyone, man or woman, that sits behind a desk, and dictates policies that are to written into contracts that govern our relationship between our clients and our individual companies, to take a eye opening, real life vacation from the four wall or their office. Ride in a truck or spend a day, with any part of our industry, whether in recovery, transport, reconditioning or auction.

The challenge is this. After doing the above reality check, then and only then would you have the right, if you still had the audacity, to disavow, discount or discard the times and materials of our industry.