DriveTime Automotive Group review: harrassment 11

My son bought a car thru Drive Time for $13, ooo @ 21% interest Found our later that the Kelly blue book on it was $6, 000. He paid a $1000 dollars down on it. Drive Time was not my favorite place since my husband and I had purchased a car thru Ugly Duckling 5 years prior and it was a nightmare. But he had a car repossed due to being in the hospital for a week and the loss of his job so his credit wasn't that great and the motor blew in the car he had, so he was a prime candidate for Drive Time. A year later in 2002 he joined the military. Under an act called the Soldiers and Sailors act any loan or credit card he had prior to joining the military was required to be dropped to 6% interest. I called Drive Time told them what was going on and that I would fax his military entrance papers and the date he left for basic training. I also had to fax them a copy of the Soldiers and Sailors Act since they said they had never heard of it. They send me new loan papers with balance of $11, 000 which I knew was wrong. So I checked my son's credit report and that was the balance with the 21% interest. They said they would drop the interest but they would not change the balance of the loan. I refused to accept that and sent it back. During all of this even though he had never missed a payment because he set up automatic payments before he left, they are calling my sons cell phone leaving nasty messages wanting to know when he would be in to pay the next payment knowing that he was in basic training at Fort Jackson South Carolina and only got his phone on Sundays for an hour. They also called me at work and on my cell. They can't legally call you at work and they can't legally call you to find out when your gonna make you next payment if your not behind on payments, even if you are behind they can't call you continuously that's considered harassment. After talking to a military lawyer I faxed and certified mailed them a letter to cease and desist all contact with my son and myself. I don't think they ever read it cuz they kept calling both of us, which is illegal. So my son and I quit answering our phones and let them leave voicemails so we would have a record of all contact they made with us and let me tell you these people were rude and nasty. I talked to the manager at Drive Time many many times and he just flat out told me he was sending the previous loan agreement back and for me to sign it or they would come and repo the car. I was so angry at this lowlife ### dealership that I faxed the manager and told him that I knew they had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Soldier and Sailors act and the cease and desist order and that I wanted all the money back that my son had paid on the car to date including the $1000 down payment in 48 hours or I would go to every news station that would listen to my story, my governor, my state congressional woman and the dept of defense, so everyone would know what kind of business they were running and all the laws they violated. I let them know that I had kept copies of every paper that was faxed to them and from them, including the sticker price on the car and the original loan agreement, and that I had the names, dates and times for everyone I had talked to at that dealership. and that my son and I had every message they ever left on our phones and I would not hesitate to play them for anyone who would listen. The manager told me do what ever I wanted he didn't care. So I sent an email to the corporate office along with all the paperwork I had and explained everything that was going on. I also informed them that since my son was being sent out of the U.S, under the soldiers and sailors act he would be ending the loan on the car with out repercussion on his credit report. And if they reported it to the credit bureau as a repo there would be major law suit. Needless to say the corporate office agreed to everything I asked for and sent a tow truck the 150 miles to pick up his car. The tow truck driver calls me the day before he comes out and I ask him do you have a payment for me, he said no we never give money back when we pick up a car you must have misunderstood. I told him he better call corporate cuz until I had a what was agreed to they would not get the car. He came the next day with payment in hand plus papers for me to sign saying I would never go to the media with this story and if I did they would expect the payment back. The tow truck driver had been on his job for over 20 years and he said that Drive Time likes getting their cars back so they could resell them. Well the may have got the car back but it was on my terms and this time around they paid for it! Please don't take any crap off of these people, they make money off of hard working people just trying to survive. And the way they do business is worse than loan sharking. I did find out that Its illegal for them to jack the prices up on their cars, they can charge more for the car but there is a limit on how much or they can give you an outrageous interest rate but they can't do both. Send them a cease and desist letter certified mail and fax if if you can, if they call you after that contact your local government, the penalties for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act are severe! Contact your local tv stations and expose them for the crooks they are. One thing I have learned dealing with Drive Time is they don't want any bad publicity and they definitely don't want anyone investigating how they do business. Get names of everyone who calls you, log the calls and if you can let them end up on the answering machine or your voicemail. And always send corporate copies of everything you send to the dealership. Here is the link where you can send them an email. Good luck everyone! Hope my story helps!
http://www.drivetime.com/contactus/default.aspx
Drive Time Corp Office Address
Drive Time Automotive Group, Inc.
4020 E. Indian School Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85018
[protected]

DO NOT BUY A CAR FROM DRIVE TIME I have been on short term disability 3 times in the last 6 month due to a right broken wrist and other medical issues they have never been willing assist me. I can not afford Food my Medicines my Co-pays to my doctors and my Rent let alone my Car payment. I had to sell my TV & my computer to assist Drive Time in thier lack of concern & assistance. Drive Time has done nothing but harassed me & I have been in constant contact with Drive Time about my situation Since Dec 2009 keeping Drive Time updated on my situation.

Linda Azuras-Jenkins

I am in the same situation as both of you, and they also brought my financial strain into the conversation, due to the fact they are such liars, and verbally abuse you to no end, and harrass to no end, I requested something in writting, and my response was : "YOU DO NOT DESERVE ANYTHING IN WRITING, YOU ARE NOT GETTING ANYTHING IN WRITTING" according to the FTC the law states i am entitled if i so ask, , does anyone have any advice on what can be done? There is no one to complain to at corporate, they all stick up for each other.. something needs to be done about the abuse with this company

My advise is to keep sending the original letter to Drive Time Corporate every week. I also stopped answering there phone calls because I am being harassed by them. I would file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. They start harassing me 2 day after my car payment is due. I advised them of Colorado law and requested them to correspond with me via US Postal Mail. I am thinking about filing a harassment lawsuit on Drive Time!

Linda Azura-Jenkins

I am going through the same thing. I have never been late. The car is not running at this time. I owe payments till 2014. all I have is a 2005 kea paperweight. This is not a good place to buy a car. Think Twice. They told me the legal dept will call me today. I will let you all know what they say. I was told when I bought the car that I could trade it in in 6 months for a lower interest rate. one lie after the next. I'm so sick of the lies. I just want to see results.

I am presently seeking legal representation for a warranty / finance / identity dispute with DriveTime. This is just an example of the first issue. I just bought my car in 10/2010 and less than 2 days off the lot I had problems. I took it to the dealership to return it because we have a cancellation period here in Colorado and they insisted I would be charged money to return the vehicle and that if I kept the car they would make sure the problem was fixed. Well needless to say but after 6 mo's, 4 different shops, countless down time w/o a vehicle, the car is still not fixed. I personally had it looked at by a special mechanic to diagnose the problem, after he diagnoses the issue DriveTime says they won't fix it because it was from the previous ownership, even though its the same issue since I bought the car! By the way the car is still in the shop!

I purchased a car in Jan 2010 from these people and stayed current on my payments until my husband lost his job. Got behind on 1 payment and asked for help, they told me to make the current payment that was behind and that I would qualify for 3 deferrals. So I took my utility money paid the payment and was then told that I did not qualify for deferment. Everytime I would make the payments and ask for help they would tell me the same thing to make the current late payment and then I would qualify for help. Well now I am 3 payments behind and they are calling 4 and 5 times a day, at work, at home. I have stopped answering their calls, cause it is just the same crap of lies everytime. I told them to repossess the car and they said that they did not have the ability to do that at this time. I told them that I was not going to continue to pay for something that is so far upside down that I will never be able to get out from under. Tried to trade it in at a new car dealership and they said that I owed 10, 000 more than what the car was worth and to just give it back.
Please do not ever do business with these people they are crooks.

Thanks for the reports. I am in dire need of a vehicle, but life out there in the once great country of the US of A, being what it is today...one doesn't need anymore headaches. Drive Time keeps calling me and telling me how lucky I am to have gotten a auto loan with them. Yeah...right.

I'm not a customer, but I am having issues with being harrassed by Drivetime. I applied through their website to see about an Auto Loan but the day before I was set to go in i fell down resulting in tearing the ligaments in my calf leaving me on crutches and waiting for surgery. I explained to them the issue and that I would not be able to get a car from them for several months but I would be in contact with them when I am ready. So now, this representative from Drive time, Matthew Simms has started harrassing me. He will call my cell phone multiple times during the day while I'm working, if I don't answer he blows up my house phone and sends me multiple emails trying to get me to come in for a car. For the first 5 or 6 times I was polite and said look I'm not ready my surgery isn't for a couple of months I will get in contact with you all please stop calling and emailing me every day. That didn't work, he refused to stop and just kept on calling and emailing. So after the 2nd week of this harrassment I emailed and called him personally and told him i WILL NOT be going to Drive Time when I am ready for a car because of his ridiculous harrassment and demanded that he stop all contact immediately. That did not even stop in and he kept on. He now emails and blows up my phones about once a week and there is nothing I seem to be able to do to get this lunatic to stop. I've already told him to stop well over a dozen times both in email and on the phone. I've even had to resort to calling Corporate to report him and the Corporate Employee even made the statement that because I proved all the times I have asked him to stop contacting me that it is now considered personal harrassment, So they claim they are going to take care of it, but as of today I am still getting calls and emails. I'm at my wit's end and I do not know what to do. I would warn anyone thinking of going to drive Time to weigh that decision very carefully as it is apparent they harrass you both before and after you get a car from them!

I do not own a car, nor have I ever had anything whatsoever to do with Drive Time, yet I receive multiple calls from them a week. When I answer, I tell them they have the wrong answer, and the agree and apologize, but then the next day I'll receive another call. This is getting ridiculously annoying and if this is how they deal with noncostumers, I can't imagine how irritating it must be to be an actual costumer.

They RIPPED me the hell off though, got me paying 10, 000 on a car thats worth 4, 000 dollars ! I pay 221 every two weeks and its killing mevery badly they don't call and harass me all the time but they do ask questions thats not any of their business ! I hate that i signed that lease ! I pray to god i can get out of it .