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Repo-man
Repoman
A repo-man in The Sims 2

Got Fined

The repo-man is an NPC that visits a Sim's residential lot when their bills have been unpaid for too long.

When summoned, the repo-man will arrive and begin to confiscate household items as payment for the unpaid bills. The repo-man usually takes one or two items, but if the Sim is in a large amount of debt, he may take several. The item(s) he takes approximately add up to the amount the Sim owes. The Sims of the household get a negative memory for each of the items taken,[TS2] and may periodically cry about the lost item(s). It is impossible to enter build mode or buy mode after a repo-man enters the lot without cheats.

In most of The Sims games, he wears dark attire. He will come onto the lot and use a gun-like device on whatever he is going to repossess. The gun's special effects may vary from game to game, but the result is that the item vanishes.

The Sims[]

TheSimsRepoMan

Bud the Repo-man in The Sims repossessing a stove.

In The Sims, there is only one repo-man named "Bud", who will arrive on foot when summoned. Sims cannot interact with him, and they are otherwise powerless to stop him. When finished, he will simply leave.

As The Sims had the ability to create a family that only contains children, such families are at risk of a repo-man visit, since only adults can pay bills. This can be prevented by using the move_objects on cheat and deleting the mail woman before she puts the bills into the mailbox. Later games in the series prevented this from occurring by requiring at least one adult in the household.

If the player removes the doors leading into the house, the repo-man will simply use his gun outside, and the object will still be repossessed. Also, if the household does not have any objects that can be taken, the repo-man will still prompt the family that he will repose objects, wave his gun and then leave. No unique dialog occur when this happens.

The Urbz: Sims in the City[]

The repo-man in The Urbz: Sims in the City is Harry Snivel, who is also the landlord and one of the three main villains in the game. In order to prevent him from taking the Urbz's items, players can put all their belongings into the inventory, but after a moment he will say, "You don't even have enough items to pay the rent!"

This section is in need of additional information. You can help The Sims Wiki by expanding this section.

The Sims 2[]

Repoman taking stuff in TS2

A repo-man repossessing a table in The Sims 2.

In The Sims 2, repo-men now have different appearances that vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. They, however, do not have "real" names, and cannot be interacted with. Over time, after bills have been delivered to a house, they change color, going from white, to yellow, to orange, and finally to red; it takes approximately two days for the color to change. As they progress through the colors, the need to pay them becomes more and more urgent. Once bills stay red for more than two days, the player will be warned around 10:00am that they must be paid as soon as possible. The player has until 10:00am the next night to pay; otherwise, the red bills will explode and summon the repo-man. When summoned, they will arrive in a truck, wielding their gun-like device, and will laugh and cackle whilst repossessing objects. When finished, they will return to their truck and leave. If a repo-man is made playable, he will have no voice and his Plumbob will be inside his body, rather than above his head.

If he arrives, the player can kick him off the lot with the use of testingcheatsenabled by shift clicking on him, selecting "Force Error", and then deleting him. This will not cause any corruption or issues, although the truck won't be automatically removed, and will need to be deleted in the same fashion. If the player removes the doors leading into the house, he will teleport inside to gain entrance.

Wasting repoman's time message TS2

The message shown when the repo-man has nothing to take.

If the household does not have any objects that can be taken, the repo-man will criticize the family for wasting his time, then leave. If Nightlife or later is installed, the player can simply place all items in the inventory before he arrives, and then replace them when he's gone.

Pre-made repo-men[]

Pleasantview[]

Strangetown[]

Veronaville[]

Riverblossom Hills[]

Desiderata Valley[]

Four Corners[]

Four Corners (Free Play)[]

Bitville[]

Mesa Flats[]

The Sims 3[]

The Sims 3 Repo-Man

Alan Watanabe, the local repo-man of Sunset Valley repossessing a chair in The Sims 3

In The Sims 3, sinister music will indicate the repo-man's presence. If he is present in and players try to save the game, the game will ask the player if they want to save in the current situation. Build/buy modes and edit town cannot be entered while the repo-man is on the lot.

Like in The Sims 2, the repo-man can be removed from the lot with testingcheatsenabled by shift-clicking on him, selecting "Object...", and then "Delete it". However, the truck (or boat, if in Isla Paradiso) will need to be deleted manually. If the player removes the doors leading into the house, the repo-man will use his teleporter to gain entrance. Moreover, locking the doors or using the alwaysallowbuildbuy cheat[TS3:A] and building walls around the repo-man will not stop him.

If the household does not have any objects that can be taken, the repo-man will subtract household funds that are approximately of the same value as the amount owed. Additionally, if forced to come to the lot with testingcheatsenabled, the repo-man will take a large amount of items (sometimes at least twenty items) regardless of whether any debt is owed.

If the player's Sims live in a house built on an ancient burial ground, the repo-man will suck up the graves with his gun. He will then warn the Sim to "pay their bills" or he/she will be back, despite that warning not making much sense in context.

One commonly experienced problem in The Sims 3 is that when a player changes their active household but then returns to the original lot after a few days, a repo-man may appear after a few Sim-hours as the Sims did not pay the bills in the player's absence.

The Sims 4[]

TS4 Repo-man

A repo-man repossessing furniture in The Sims 4.[1]

Repo-men were first added to The Sims 4 in the Discover University expansion. Repo-men will arrive to repossess a household's furniture after their water and electricity has been shut off for neglecting their bills. This will absolve their bills. However, this will not relieve them of their debt, and they still have to pay their loans. Until they do, repo-man will keep showing up each day. Repo-men will also repossess a university student's furniture if they do not pay off any student loans they took out. If there is nothing to repossess, the repo-man will complain about it and leave, but they will return as soon as the household has something of value for them to take again.

Repo-man were added to the base in Patch 95 and functions the same as the previous games. The Repo-man arrives 24 hours after water has been shut off. This was added to prevent players from "cheating the system" by having The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle installed and being off the grid, through the installation of solar panels and water collectors in their lot to keep the utilities running even if the bills are unpaid.

TS4 Nothing to repossess message

The message that appears when there is nothing to repossess.

If the repo-man is about to take a valuable object, Sims can ask them not to take object and hope that they'll move to another object for repossession. Sims can also try to appeal to humanity, bribe with simoleons, or fight the man. If successful, the repo-men will not repossess an object and leave the household.

Trivia[]

  • If the repo-man is deleted using cheats, he will come out of the truck again a few seconds later. It will usually be a different repo-man.
  • The repo-man has a way to foil almost every trap or cheat imaginable. Nothing stops him except paying the bills, using cheats and deleting the mail woman before the bills are placed in the mailbox, or by deleting the repo-man's truck.
  • In The Sims 3, the message telling the player that the repo-man has arrived on the lot starts with 'Repoman! Repoman!' This is likely a reference to the song Genetic Repo Man from the horror musical The Genetic Opera.
  • There are no pre-made repo-men in Belladonna Cove. They will be generated by the game once a Sim's red bills are overdue.
  • Many repo-men/women in The Sims 3 will often possess traits that promote negative interactions such as evil, mean spirited or inappropriate.
  • If The Sims 3: World Adventures is installed, the player can protect the lot from the repo-man by using the buydebug cheat to place armed and hidden fire traps around the lot. Alternatively, if all Sims are outside the house, place tomb room markers in every room to fog them out and prevent the repo-man from even targeting items in the rooms (he may still take simoleons).
Repo-man fire message

The message displayed in The Sims 3 when a repo-man encounters a fire.

  • In The Sims 3, the repo-man will leave if there is a large fire on the lot, telling the player that it is getting too hot and he will come back later.
  • The repo-man did not appear in The Sims 4 until the Discover University expansion and patch 95 of the base game.[2] Instead, delinquency in paying bills resulted in utilities being shut off.[3][4] In the City Living expansion pack, it also resulted in the landlord refusing to check out problems with the apartment.
  • Repo, in this case, is short for repossess. It is also a shortening of repository.

References[]

Other languages[]

Language The Sims The Sims 2 The Sims 3 The Sims 4
English Repo Man
French Huissier
German Gerichtsvollzieher
Italian Agente pignoratore
Spanish Cobrador
Dutch Deurwaarder
Danish Foged
Swedish Kronofogden
Norwegian Torpedosim
Finnish Ulosottomies
Russian Налоговый инспектор
Portuguese Homem das Retomas
Japanese 回収業者
Polish Komornik
Chinese (simplified) 讨债人
Chinese (traditional) 收帳員
Thai ลิซ่า /
ยึด​ทรัพย์
Korean 환수인
Czech Exekutor
Hungarian Behajtó /
Szerelő
Brazilian Portuguese Cobrador
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