Drive Time - Ugly Duckling Ripoff Intentionally sold me a lemon and broke several laws to do it Garden Grove California

May of 2006 I purchased a Ford truck from Drive Time (actually located in Huntinton Beach). It was a high interest loan but I was desperate for a car, and because of a divorce my credit was not great.

So I bought the truck from the HB location, and after about 3 weeks my check engine light came on. I tried to take it back to the HB location only to discover it was CLOSED. So, I contacted the 800 customer repair hotline and got referred in several circles. Finally they told me the only way I could get the truck looked at was to take it up to North LA county. The locations given me were Ventura, Woodland Hills area, and somewhere in the Inland Empire area.

At this point the clutch was starting to slip and make funny noises, and I was afraid to take the vehicle so far. On August 11th I contacted their customer repair line again, and explained the vehicle would not make the trip. After about 12 phone calls I finally got disgusted. At one point they actually tried referring me back to the location that I could not reach!

Again in October I contacted them. The truck was operational, but made really bad knocking sounds, I think the throw out bearing went bad. Once again I was referred in circles, and finally back to one of the locations which was too far away.

Again in November, and finally in December I contacted them. Same results. Requesting the district manager on the phone was no use, they would only refer to the manager of the Garden Grove location, whos name is Brandon Navaratte.

Brandon DID try to help me, and at this point I was refusing to make payments until something was done to address the vehicle. I was told that my truck had passed the 6 month warrantee window, and that I would have to pay for all the repairs and parts myself. I was furious, and took the vehicle to a local mechanic.

He told me it needed a clutch, which it should *not* need a clutch at 82,000 miles unless it was mistreated. Additionally it has shorts created in the electrical system when the previous owner cut out the stereo and alarm. The mechanic stated that it looked a whole lot like DT repo man had cut the alarm wires since they were cut from within the cabin, and left under the dash (bare ends) which was most likely done to defeat an alarm.

He also said it needs a flywheel, and a rear main seal. He told me for approximately 1400 dollars he could start on it, and that it would need a more thorough diagnostic since it apparently had other electrical system problems as well. (When it does start, all the guages go haywire for a minute or two).

I once again contacted DriveTime, who once again referred me to their customer repair line. I once again contacted the repair line, who apparently working together with DT Corporate from AZ had a local mechanic who would look at the truck.

Finally thinking I was making progress I contacted the local repair shop named "Mr. D's". When I took the vehicle down to them they told me "We don't service manual transmissions here, and we TOLD DriveTime that up front".

I returned the vehicle to it's parking, disappointed as ever. Contacted Drive Time once again. It was wash::rinse::repeat.

Getting more angry about it, I decided to take it to a local shop and have the tranny inspected. This is when the real clencher kicks in. The technician reported to me (In writing) that the transmission service had been done before (estimating shortly before I bought the truck) and that the fluid (yes modern standards use fluid) had been improperly replaced. They had drained out the dextron fluid, and replaced it with 90 weight gear oil!

He also reported that this is done in some cases to cause the check engine light to go away, and that it is common knowledge to mechanics that this will RUIN the clutch and pressure plates.

At this point I spoke with Drive Time again on the phone, asked to record the conversation, and requested the manager. I was given permission to record the conversation, and we had a nice long talk about the transmission, how was it possible that they did this 52 point inspection and fluid replacement without knowing this. At this point I have a physical recording of the manager ADMITTING that they caused the problem and wanted to fix it.

I was told they would fix it, but wanted to send a tow truck to get the truck. I had been warned this may be them trying to get out of it, so I broke conversation with them, and sent them notice in writing.

Suddenly the calls have stopped, and there is NO MORE talk from them about fixing it. I plan to take the case to a lawyer just as soon as I can afford to. I spoke with him today, and he said that with the call records, mechanics reports, and voice recordings I have there is a good chance they'll get into some legal trouble over this.

I'm going to file this report, and give them one last chance to fix the vehicle. Here is a list of what I want:

New clutch, pressure plates and fluids.
New rear main seal.
Electrical system repairs.
Windshield replaced (this was marked into the sale as subject to, and as to date they have tried to deny any knowledge or responsability for the poor conditions of the glass, this was marked at sale time on the inspection sheets).

What I HAVE:

Call LOG dating back 11 months. Includes names, times, and outcomes.

Call spreadsheets of numbers, times, and locations of calls, including names.

Post sale inspection sheets with subject to repairs which were never performed.

Official letterhead diagnostic reports from the local shops indicating that gear oil had been used instead of dextron fluids (called out in factory specifications)

VOICE RECORDINGS of DT employees and managers where in at least one event they CLEARLY claim responsability for the problems and claim to want to repair the vehicle. Yet still referring me to the far away shops.

K
Irvine, California