I had a loan and a repo through Americredit. I was behind 1-2 pmts and they took the car. They let me catch up and I got the car back but the damage was done. I paid off the acct on schedule a couple years ago and it had about a dozen lates with a repo mention.
I GWd them with no response in August. I did it again and sent to two other addresses in September and again no response. Within about 30 days, I checked my reports. EQ and EX, I believe, deleted the repo reference and kept the lates. TU kept the repo reference, but deleted all the lates. Go figure. I'll try again next month.
So, to answer your question, I had some success. I used the letters from here and modified them with a sob story and my success on paying on time for the last 18 or so months of the loan. I also thanked them for their leniency and patience.