4 of the most dramatic stolen supercar recoveries caught on camera
YouTube: Royalty Exotic CarsOwning an exotic car rental company comes with its challenges. YouTuber Houston Crosta of Royalty Exotic Cars is all-too-familiar with this, regularly posting videos of ‘repo’ jobs on his channel. Here are four of the most dramatic yet.
Renting out six-figure cars to strangers is a risky game. The majority of Royalty Exotic Cars’ customers are law-abiding citizens looking to have a good time, but as always, the minority try and spoil it for everyone else.
Thankfully the owner, Houston Crosta, is well-versed in these situations and is no stranger to getting his property back by force. Posting the ‘repo’ videos to the Royalty Exotic Cars YouTube channel, they represent an entertaining window into the ‘dark side’ of supercar life.
YouTube: Royalty Exotic Cars“They started throwing gang signs”
While supercar and exotic car rentals aren’t cheap, that’s still no excuse for using stolen money to pay for them. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what this renter did when borrowing a Slingshot from Houston’s business.
Confronting the scammer in a major Las Vegas casino, a crowd quickly gathers around the two parties. When the scammer group starts throwing gang signs, things escalate quickly, requiring the casino security to step in.
Given that a slingshot rents for around $400 for a day, this is a lot of confrontation and potential disaster just for a set of keys.
Clip starts at 9:36
“I’m an honest man!”
Despite this driver’s protests, he clearly was not an “honest man.” Having stolen REC’s Corvette and taken it for a joyride around the city, he really did not want to give Houston the key back.
Thankfully, rental companies always keep spares, meaning that Crosta was able to recover the car – but not without a fight.
What’s more, the driver kept making references to illegal substances in the car, suggesting that the driver may have been on them at the time of the altercation. This is one repo that could’ve ended far, far worse for Crosta.
“The dirtiest car I’ve ever picked up”
Proving its not always random criminals that try and get away with stealing his cars, this time a Universal Music artist decided that they wanted to not only steal, but trash, two REC cars.
Flying all the way out to LA to collect them both, the Lamborghini Huracan was found in a disgusting condition. The renters had left empty bottles, canisters, and all manner of items in the car. It smelt so bad in fact, that Crosta was left retching after looking around the car.
Not only did they make off with a Huracan, but also a Range Rover. Thankfully, this was found promptly and in much better condition, after the original renters sub-let the car to strangers.
Finishing the video with a bit of advice, Houston tells his followers to “never start a rental company in California!”
Clip starts at 2:54
“Not again!”
It seems that the C7 Corvette is a magnet for dodgy renters. The same car that features in the video above, this time it was stolen in tandem with a Range Rover.
After giving the renters 72hrs to return the car, Crosta is able to land felony charges on the renters as the vehicles are officially reported as stolen. Given that the Corvette is worth $60k and the Range Rover worth $90k, these renters are sat with $150k of stolen property on their driveway.
Thankfully the hand-over was much less dramatic this time. Houston also gave a rare insight into his views on the situation. “You try really hard to be mean [because they effectively stole his cars] but it’s hard to be mean when they’re being nice!”
With high risk comes high reward, and judging by the insane fleet seen at Royalty Exotic Cars, the reward is worth the occasional risk. With Houston having his own private fleet of hypercars too, it seems that the hard work pays off.