Device Shuts Off Cars For Missed Payments

WENDELL, N.C. -- The pay-as-you-go concept has taken on a literal meaning with a new electronic device that allows people with poor credit to pay off cars as they drive them.

The PassTime device, made by a Colorado-based company, prevents a car from starting when the owner misses a payment. Dealers or finance companies can install the device in a car at the time of sale.

"It's reduced my delinquencies from 23 percent down to 2 percent and drastically reduced the number of repos we do," said Bob Rodriguez, of Action Auto Sales in Wendell, who has put a PassTime in hundreds of financed cars he has sold.

"It kind of gets them in a pattern of making payments on time, and it minimizes the late fees they would have to pay," Rodriguez said, adding customers behind on payments now call him before he has to call them.

Once the wired unit is installed, the car chirps whenever a payment is due.

"I'll get in the car and hear the beeps and think, 'Oh, I better get a check in there,'" said Patricia Magliocco, who bought a car from Action Auto with no credit check and almost no money down.

Drivers have two days to pay and can use a remote control to input a new code given by the dealership. Otherwise, once they turn the car off, they can't start it up again.

All drivers with the PassTime device also are given a one-time emergency code so they can go to a hospital even if they've missed a payment.

"I'm busy -- I run five offices. I don't write a lot of stuff down -- so I can call in a payment or mail the check in by the time the payment is due," Magliocco said.

Action Auto has lowered the down payment required to buy a car because of the device, Rodriguez said.

Many customers said they like PassTime because it is considered an anti-theft device, which qualifies them for lower insurance rates.