It’s amazing how your credit improves when your car won’t start

A company in Revere, Massachusetts sells cars to people who otherwise could not get a loan but with one catch: if they fail to pay up, a kill switch prevents the car from starting. From the Boston Globe – “Engine-shutoff device gets drivers to pay loans on time”:

According to CNW Marketing/Research in Bandon, Ore., 27 percent of drivers with poor credit fail to pay their bills on time and 15 percent end up having their vehicles repossessed. The research company says approximately 3 percent of so-called subprime drivers skip town and can't be tracked down.

Car owners with the On Time device in their vehicles do a much better job, according to CNW. Only 3 percent fail to pay their bills on time, 3 percent end up having their cars repossessed, and less than 1 percent skip town.

I love stories where private and public interests come together. The auto dealership gets to sell cars while people who either couldn’t get a loan or would have to pay exorbitant interest rates can afford personal transportation.