Recovery of Vehicles under Defaulted Finance or Lease Agreements

When the vehicle never comes back

The agreement has been terminated, the instalments stopped months ago, the letters go unanswered and the vehicle is still on the road. Finance houses, long-term rental companies, dealerships and fleet operators know the situation well: the debt is certain on paper, but the asset is physically somewhere else — often in another region or another country — and every week that passes eats into its residual value.

Lion Security’s vehicle recovery service exists to close that gap. It is not a matter of force: it is tracing, verification of title and documented repossession, carried out by unarmed officers under a written mandate from the party entitled to the vehicle, and always in liaison with the competent authorities of the territory concerned.

Who it is for

• Finance houses and lenders with finance or leasing agreements terminated for default.

• Long-term and short-term rental companies with vehicles not returned at the end of the term or after termination.

• Dealerships and resellers that released the vehicle before payment cleared, or against payments later reversed.

• Fleet operators and transport companies: vehicles not returned by former employees, subcontractors or drivers who cannot be reached.

• Law firms and debt recovery agencies that need an operational structure on the ground, abroad as well as in Italy.

How it works, step by step

Before anyone moves, we verify the title. We collect the written mandate, the agreement, the termination notice and the vehicle details (registration, VIN, specification). Without a documented position we do not open the file: that condition protects the client as much as it protects us.

Next comes tracing: known addresses, workplaces, storage yards, discreet observation during the hours that matter. Once the vehicle is located, an officer confirms its presence and condition before the recovery is scheduled, so that a recovery truck and a team are never sent out for nothing.

The repossession takes place in the presence of the keeper wherever possible, after the mandate has been produced and the contractual position explained. The vehicle is photographed, recorded in the condition in which it is found (mileage, damage, accessories, personal belongings) and moved to a secure, CCTV-monitored compound pending the client’s instructions.

Always in cooperation with the police

Our staff are unarmed and use no form of coercion. Every operation is preceded or accompanied by notification to the police force with jurisdiction, who may attend or be called in real time through 112. If the keeper objects, if the title is disputed or if the situation could escalate, our officers stand down and the file returns to the client with a full report, to be pursued through the courts. No recovery is worth litigation or a risk to people.

Across Italy and throughout Europe

Defaulted vehicles travel, and often cross borders. We are based in Brescia but operate nationwide and across Europe, with local correspondents, handling of the paperwork required to move the vehicle and a single point of coordination from our operations centre: one contact follows the file from instruction to handover, whichever country the car is in.

What you get when the file closes

Every recovery closes with a file: repossession record, photographic report, vehicle condition and mileage, list of keys, documents and accessories, and a log of access while in storage. If the recovery is not successful you still receive the activity report with everything established on the ground: very often it is that document that makes the next step effective.

Do you have an open position and a vehicle that has not come back? Send us the details of the file: we review the documentation and tell you within 24 hours whether recovery is feasible, on what timescale and on what terms.