Former football star Michal Zandberg said on Wednesday that his private car was taken after he returned from a padel match at Kfar HaMaccabiah. In a post on X, he described meeting a man about 1.90 meters tall, carrying handcuffs and a gun, who asked whether he was Zandberg, entered the car, and told him it was being confiscated. Zandberg said he was relieved his children were not with him.
According to Zandberg, the man was acting for the enforcement and collection authorities and pointed to a tow truck waiting outside. He said the action was not because he had tried to avoid payment or ignored repeated demands, but because two installments bounced after a technical problem with a standing order. He said the sequence escalated from lawyers to enforcement proceedings, attachment, and vehicle seizure.
Zandberg also said the leasing company told him notices had been sent to an old address, emails went to spam, and text messages were sent to a wrong number that it claimed he had provided. From his perspective, he said, he received no warning at all, not by phone, SMS, email, or any proper attempt to reach him. He criticized the lack of customer communication, saying this is not how a client should be treated in 2026.
He added that the enforcement officer behaved humanely and drove him home before the car was loaded onto the tow truck. Zandberg said he was told the arrangement may be legal because he signed a contract allowing enforcement action after two unpaid payments without prior notice. He said the car remains in a parking lot and that he has been told he must pay 20,000 shekels in arrears and expenses to recover it, over an original debt of 3,000 shekels.
