CINCINNATI -- Among all the stories of layoffs and shrinking businesses, business is booming for the repo man.

The industry is cashing in as people fall behind on their car payments, but the work of a repo man is harder than one might think, reported WLWT-TV in Cincinnati.

In 2008, 1.6 million vehicles were repossessed, an increase of 12 percent from the previous year. Economists said the home foreclosure crisis is partly to blame because as people try to save their homes, their car payments tend to fall behind.

A WLWT reporter rode along with one Cincinnati-area repossession agency, NiteHawk Security, to see what its agents go through in a day's work.

Jeff Gamble runs NiteHawk with his wife, Lori. He said business has shot up over the past couple months, with his team grabbing more than 130 cars in February alone. He said auto dealers and banks will pay rates between $250 and $400 per vehicle.

"The way the economy is now, is working to our favor, not everybody else's," he said.

One night in February found the Gambles repossessing a 9-year-old Pontiac.

"They came and bought the car and have never made one payment," Lori Gamble said. "They owe $3,000 on the vehicle."

The Gambles were ready to quickly take the car, but the owner was home and willing to cooperate. The owner was allowed to get personal effects out of the car in exchange for handing over the car.

Later that same night, NiteHawk tracked down a maroon Ford Expedition in a Cincinnati neighborhood. Jeff Gamble said they had been searching for the car for several months and the owner kept dodging them.

"He's moving here and there, here and there, staying with a relative, brother, uncle," he said.

The repo crew was expecting a confrontation with the car's owner, but again they were able to get the keys in exchange for allowing the owner to clear out his vehicle.

Jeff Gamble said that the people whose cars he takes usually know that they're running out of time.

"If you don't pay, somebody's coming to get it. If you don't pay your house payment, somebody's coming to get that. They just can't put that on a wrecker and tow it like we can," he said.

Even so, not all repossessions go that smoothly.

Jeff Gamble took over the business from his father, Gary Gamble, who has had his share of run-ins over the years.

"I've been doing it for 20 years. When you come out here you don't know if you're going to make it back home," said Gary Gamble.

He said it can be tense coming face to face with people who are desperate to keep their cars.

"Taking people's cars is like taking their girlfriends or wives from them -- and it's a dangerous job," he said.

The WLWT crew witnessed one of those confrontations first-hand during a daytime run. A man shoved the agent who was trying to grab his girlfriend's car.

Jeff Gamble said they use two man crews to keep themselves safe, and try to ignore it when people get aggressive, but he admitted, "It gets your adrenaline pumping. You want to do it quick and get in and out, because you never know who's going to come out on the other side."

Often, repo agents are given a duplicate copy of the keys by the car lot or the bank that holds the note on the vehicle. That makes reclaiming the vehicle much easier. With the keys in hand, a repossession agent can get into a vehicle, start it up, and be gone in about 30 seconds.

But it's not only the risk of confrontation that makes their jobs difficult. Jeff Gamble said it's difficult to watch people in a tough economic situation lose their cars.

"It's sad sometimes, but then it's how I feed my family. You've got to look at it that way," he said. "If not, I'd leave every car if it was up to me."