DRIVETIME DECEITFUL, LIED, MISREPRESENTATION, MISLEADING, AND CROOKS! RIVERSIDE California

I recently purchased a 06 Ford truck from the Riverside DriveTime. I knew before I ever arrived at the dealership that I would be taking it in the shorts, but for someone who has screwed their credit up as badly as I did (Fico 542), my options were to continue to put money into my '97 Jeep, or do something drastic like enter into a contract with DriveTime.

Before I went to DT, I tried to secure financing through traditional means, with no luck. I was told by a loan specialist at Wells Fargo to suck it up for a year, let my credit score improve (she also recommended getting one of those high interest, $100 up front fee credit cards), demonstrate that I can make the payments, then try to refinance the vehicle. The cost will still be thousands more than it would have been if purchased through a "regular" dealership, but the interest rate would be lower. 

I didn't put a lot of stock in DT's multi-point inspection they suposedly put the vehicle through, and I took the truck to a local ford dealership for an oil change and fluid top off. The dealership service dept. didn't say they saw anything out of whack when they checked the truck, but I will have a transmission service done soon, and i'll have the radiator flushed before summer gets here.

I'm hoping for no problems. I did talk to a couple of people who had done business with DT, and out side of the horrible interest rate & inflated price of the vehicle (as stated previously, these things would have been unacceptable if I had any type of decent credit), they had a relatively positive experience with the company.

I sold cars for several years. I have never met a sales person that would come out and tell you that you wouldn't have to pay interest back....I have seen people very confused about what they were doing but it's the sales guys job to explain and your job to understand. Buying a car is a major purchase. I just do not see why you thought $14,000 dollars was a good deal on a 4 year old Neon.....you must have been desperate, but if you were at Drive Time, you must not have had any other choice. Just to give you an idea, I purchased a 1 year old, 2000 V6 Ford Mustang back in 2001, with 10,000 miles on it for $12,000. Perfect Condition.....It seems to me that you need to improve your decision making abilities....Every thing you wrote has bad decisions all over it......Please be a little more careful in the future when making expensive decisions like this.

You bought a 4 year old car. You said "loan was for $22,647.61 (21.146% annual rate) "

Why is this anyone else's fault? It is your responsibilty to know the value of what you are buying AND to be able to pay for it.

Thank God there isn't a government bailout for stupid car buyers long with stupid home buyers.

Are you kidding? OF COURSE you have to pay the interest, that is the ONLY REASON why the finance company paid for your car. That's how they make their money.

As far as the car not being worth as much as YOU AGREED to pay for it, you should have done the research before agreeing to purchase the car. You also were responsible TO ACTUALLY READ WHAT YOU WERE SIGNING.. If you had bothered to read the contract you would have known exactly what you were getting yourself into..

Also, you stated you went there because your credit rate was dropping due to inquiries at other dealerships... I don't buy that that was the reason why other places would not finance you... obviously your credit had to be bad if you were turned down by other financing sources and had to resort to using them.

I am sorry you got yourself in over your head but you will not be receiving any refund from the finance company.. They paid out $22,647.61 on your behalf to the dealership and you agreed to pay them back $22,647.61

you are not going to get out of your loan. Next time, do the research and read and understand everything you are agreeing to before you sign your name to anything.

NO I do not work there, know anyone who works there and have never done any business with this company.. I just have a little common sense.

It amazes me how grown adults can blame others for their lack of intelligence or common sense. While I think that all car salesmen are shady, you really asked for this.

You state that the salesman told you that if you made all your payments on time, you would only be paying the price of the car, NOT the price plus finance charges. INSANE! No car salesman would tell you that, and if they did, you should have enough intelligence when purchasing a big ticket item that you could call him out on it because he's LYING!

How can they charge you only the price of the car, with no financing charges...when your credit is CRAP? The only way you're buying a car from a dealer with NO finance charge is when you have perfect credit, and that's only if they're running one of those 0% financing promotions - which these days are few and far between.

An easy way to find out if you're paying finance charges? You say your payment was $206 every two weeks ($412 per month - which in and of itself is an insane price to pay for a four year old Neon). So take that $412 per month and multiply it by the length of the loan...lets say it's 5 years (60 months). Was the "sticker" price on that car $24,720.00? Hell no! That's what folks like us call FINANCE CHARGES!

You agreed to it, signed the contract, and now you want to blame the car dealer? You have to have some responsibility for your own actions....and to think that ignorant people like you are bringing children into the world - God help us all!

My sister and my daughter purchased cars a DT and both had mechanical problems within 2 weeks of purchase. Get this...I took in both cars for repairs and the warrantly contract supposedly states a $40 diagnostic fee is required if you have to take your car in to get checked. Well, for my sister's car the rep told me the company waives the first fee, if it is the first time the car goes in, the second rep told me they "NEVER" waive the fee. My daughter's car had a broken trunk lock and the salesman knew this before he sold my daughter the car. Instead of fixing the lock while it sat on the lot, they waited until the car was sold. Then it took over 2 weeks to get it fix. Now the transmission is slipping and the motor is making a loud horrible noise, and the brakes are slipping...my daughter has not had the car 30 days yet...WARNING!!! DO NOT BUY AT DRIVETIME!!!!

The thing is both cars ran smoothly during purchase and for the first couple of weeks...my sister's car has some kind of leaking gas hose that DT will not pay to have checked, she will have to take car of it herself...but at least it runs better than the one my daughter purchased.

I don't think lemon laws apply to used cars...

So I am just warning people to exhaust all other options before going to DT.