American Auto Management delinquent irresponsible beligerent broken contract dishonest ripoff total misrepresentation dismissive Tempe Arizona

The Arizona AG feels your pain...

http://www.azag.gov/press_releases/june/2005/062005.html

June 20, 2005
Terry Goddard Sues Over Vehicle Sublease Scheme

(Phoenix, AZ) Attorney General Terry Goddard has filed suit against U.S. Auto Management Corporation of Phoenix and its affiliated offices located in Cave Creek, Glendale, Mesa, and Scottsdale, as well as a spin-off company, Auto Payment Solutions. The suit alleges the companies engaged in a vehicle sublease rescue scheme that often harmed car owners and lessees financially and damaged their credit.

The complaint, filed June 16 in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleges that between 2000 and 2004, U.S. Auto Management (USAM) and Auto Payment Solutions offered owners and lessees of vehicles subject to retail installment loans or lease contracts the opportunity to be relieved of their existing loan or lease obligations. USAM and Auto Payment Solutions located a sub-lessee to assume the owner's remaining monthly payments until the vehicle was paid off or the lease term concluded and take possession of the vehicle.

"Victims who could not afford to make their car payments sought help, but these companies often only made things worse. Instead of helping consumers as they promised, these companies often took advantage of them with deceptive claims," Goddard said. "Consumers need to be wary of these types of quick-fix offers."

Court documents allege that USAM and Auto Payment Solutions' various Web sites represented that the companies:

Could provide vehicle owners with a means of removing themselves from loan or lease payments without dealership or lender penalties;
Guaranteed that all vehicle monthly loan or lease payments, as well as insurance premiums, would be made on time;
Verified and monitored required auto insurance premiums; and
Created a worry free-arrangement to protect the owner's investment and credit.
The owners varied their promises, but used the same basic business model to entice customers into turning over their vehicles. The USAM Cave Creek and Scottsdale locations also purchased print advertisements and ran commercials on the radio.

The lawsuit states that USAM and Auto Payment Solutions did not deliver on their promises and violated the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act by falsely representing their vehicle sublease rescue services. Specifically:

USAM and Auto Payment Solutions told vehicle owners that they could find a user to assume the lease or loan payments, when in fact, the owner's lease or loan documents likely prohibited such a practice;
USAM and Auto Payment Solutions concealed from vehicle owners the fact that vehicle subleases are prohibited by Arizona law;
USAM and Auto Payment Solutions concealed the owner's financial lender often prohibited the sublease of vehicles without lender approval;
USAM and Auto Payment Solutions assured owners that vehicle users would maintain full insurance coverage on vehicles in their possession, when in fact, numerous users did not maintain such insurance;
USAM and Auto Payment Solutions told customers that a person "using" the owner's vehicle would maintain and repair any damage to vehicles in their possession, when in fact the companies often lost contact with the vehicle user and could not monitor maintenance or repair records.
The Attorney General's Office is asking the Maricopa County Superior Court to:

Permanently restrain the Defendants from further conduct;
Provide restitution to the victims in this case;
Require the Defendants to return to all the victims any money or property acquired through deceptive practices;
Impose a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act;
Require the Defendants to reimburse the Attorney General for costs of the investigation and reasonable attorney's fees.
Arizona residents who feel they have been a victim of any fraud are asked to contact the Attorney General's Office in Phoenix at 602-542-5763; in Tucson at 520-628-6504 or outside the Phoenix or Tucson Metro areas at 1-800-352-8431 or visit the Web site at www.azag.gov. Residents can also visit one of the satellite offices located throughout Arizona to file a consumer complaint. A list of satellite office locations can be found on the Web site at www.azag.gov.

You two have not been ripped off by this company...You've never made any mistakes in your life? Obviously, all the victims of AAA made a pretty big mistake by trusting Denny Hilliard and relying on a useless written contract. I'm sure we all feel quite stupid about it.
What's for sure is that we certainly don't need two judgemental idiots taking part of the conversation only to insult the integrity and the intelligence of the victims.
Maybe you two should consider directing your insults to the right people...
A ripped off owner.

None of the companies in this line of business were taht great, but mine at least took care of business, installed GPS, etc... but when it came time to repo a car, or any damages--- it was mostly the owners who had to take care of it. my boss was a cheap b*****d. we repo-d a car cause they werent making payments... the owners father flew down to LA (from the bay area) to drive it back and my boss wouldnt even wash the filthy thing.

I will be happy to answer any questions regarding the companies.

As you have found out, the sources you researched are far from accurate or reliable.

A place to start might have been the AZ Attorney General's Consumer Information office. Next might have been the AZ Dept of Motor Vehicle (they deal with licensing auto dealerships). Also a call to your insurance company to determaine exactly what your liabilities may be couldn't hurt.

I still don't understand how someone could let an unknown person selected by a third party take their car. The liability issues alone make it too risky an arrangement (regardless of what a contract might state, it couldn't possibly cover every law you could be sued under should someone be injured or killed by the person using your car). That and allowing someone else control of your credit.

I just don't get it. The whole arrangement just leaves a person open to too many liabilities and very few benefits.

I am sorry you were taken. I do hope everything can be resolved to some degree of satisfaction.

As you have found out, the sources you researched are far from accurate or reliable.

A place to start might have been the AZ Attorney General's Consumer Information office. Next might have been the AZ Dept of Motor Vehicle (they deal with licensing auto dealerships). Also a call to your insurance company to determaine exactly what your liabilities may be couldn't hurt.

I still don't understand how someone could let an unknown person selected by a third party take their car. The liability issues alone make it too risky an arrangement (regardless of what a contract might state, it couldn't possibly cover every law you could be sued under should someone be injured or killed by the person using your car). That and allowing someone else control of your credit.

I just don't get it. The whole arrangement just leaves a person open to too many liabilities and very few benefits.

I am sorry you were taken. I do hope everything can be resolved to some degree of satisfaction.

As you have found out, the sources you researched are far from accurate or reliable.

A place to start might have been the AZ Attorney General's Consumer Information office. Next might have been the AZ Dept of Motor Vehicle (they deal with licensing auto dealerships). Also a call to your insurance company to determaine exactly what your liabilities may be couldn't hurt.

I still don't understand how someone could let an unknown person selected by a third party take their car. The liability issues alone make it too risky an arrangement (regardless of what a contract might state, it couldn't possibly cover every law you could be sued under should someone be injured or killed by the person using your car). That and allowing someone else control of your credit.

I just don't get it. The whole arrangement just leaves a person open to too many liabilities and very few benefits.

I am sorry you were taken. I do hope everything can be resolved to some degree of satisfaction.

As you have found out, the sources you researched are far from accurate or reliable.

A place to start might have been the AZ Attorney General's Consumer Information office. Next might have been the AZ Dept of Motor Vehicle (they deal with licensing auto dealerships). Also a call to your insurance company to determaine exactly what your liabilities may be couldn't hurt.

I still don't understand how someone could let an unknown person selected by a third party take their car. The liability issues alone make it too risky an arrangement (regardless of what a contract might state, it couldn't possibly cover every law you could be sued under should someone be injured or killed by the person using your car). That and allowing someone else control of your credit.

I just don't get it. The whole arrangement just leaves a person open to too many liabilities and very few benefits.

I am sorry you were taken. I do hope everything can be resolved to some degree of satisfaction.

Larry, thanks for your constructive feedback. It's nice when others actually try to HELP other victims! I think I indicated in my first update on this report that I ended up repossessing my vehicle just about 2 weeks before they went "out of business" and took off.

So I consider myself lucky on that point, since others on here have no idea where their vehicle is. I hope you've shared the advice with them, that you gave to me. I think they would be interested in it.

And just to clarify about how this thing worked, the OWNER was actually responsible for payments UNTIL a User was found for the vehicle, leaving AAM with absolutely no liabilities. All they were ever expected to pay was the exact amount eventually handed over to them from the user each month.

The problem started when they didn't make my payments. I think by the time I came along, they were starting to capitalize on what they had built up over the 2 years they had been operating. In March I was told by the manager they had over 100 cars placed at the time. So with all of those in place, they were now ready to start the scam!

Think of how much cash all those payments each month would add up to. Not to mention they were charging around $3000 per vehicle to each user up front. Then I hear they started charging owners $325 up front to install a tracking device. (That was something I was not required to pay for, but I was informed one WOULD be installed.)

The tracking device was so AAM could repo the vehicle if the user didn't make a payment on time, which was how they helped users feel confident in their system. They were emphatic about how strict they were with the users, and how careful they would be in caring for my credit and my vehicle.

What I'm trying to recoup is all of the charges for back payments and damages to the vehicle caused by them, along with other costs. It adds up to almost $4,000!

Armando, you asked about something with the original lender. What you need to understand, is that AAM posed as if they were NOT subleasing vehicles, etc. So how they explained what their role was and what would be happening with the vehicle wouldn't have fallen under the category of subleasing, etc., that is prohibited in the orginal loan.

Unfortunately I've learned since, that WHAT they were doing was exactly that, no matter how they decided to SAY it. But my lien holder was aware of what was going on because I was in touch with them often during that time, and they never said anything about it NOT being allowed. So it's not something that I was thinking much about then.

Larry, considering the fact that I DO have my car, is it possible to maybe pick up there where I send a letter to the city? I already had a Mesa Police Officer come out and showed him the NSF check sent, and explained the fraudulent business practices, but he said they couldn't do anything. It would have to be proven they MEANT to be fraudulent, etc., that it wasn't just a mistake. But of course, they aren't going to investigate THAT.

Robert, you're still clueless and are once AGAIN guilty of making false accusations. Just so you know, AAM had a SATISFACTORY rating with the BBB at the time I was looking into them, meaning if they HAD any complaints they were all satisfied. I also searched all over the internet for any red flags and found NOTHING negative.

I learned they had been in business for over 2 years. So obviously they would have to be doing what they said they would do or they wouldn't still be operating. I poured over the contract, and any questions or concerns I had were answered satisfactorily by the company.

There were 3 months between the time I first spoke to them and received copies of the paperwork before I actually committed to it and turned my car in. So this was NO rash decision.

The unfortunate thing, which is WHY this site exists, is that companies sometimes LIE!!! As you will notice, all the ripoff reports on here about this company are within the last 2 months. Which tells you what was going on.

So you know what, it doesn't matter how much you check into something, if they operate legitimately for a time and THEN decide to screw you, there's NOTHING you can do!

So quit wasting the space on my report and find something more productive to do with YOUR time.

Quote "Here's how this scam worked. This company advertised that they would find an "authorized user" for your car, who would make the payments and provide their own insurance while an "authorized user". The user was to send the car payments to this company, who in turn would send them to the lender. They also stated that the owner was not liable for payments while they were looking for a user. Everything was written in a contract."

What does your contract with your original lender say about this? I'm pretty sure the primary lender wouldn't allow this.

Before proceeding, verify that AAM's offices were inside the Tempe city limits. There used to be a couple of small areas in north Tempe that were in an unincorporated area of Maricopa County.

If AAM was located inside the city limits, try once again to file a criminal complaint with the Tempe Police Dept. If the cop who responds gives the old excuse that it is a civil matter, tell him that your insurance company requires you to file a police report in order to make a claim. If that does not work, try calling the city's detective division directly and explain that you are a victim of theft by fraud.

If you once again get rebuffed by the police, send a letter to the city attorney. Denominate the letter as a "Notice of Claim." State that the City of Tempe issued a business license to AAM, that the City knew that the nature of the business was a criminal enterprise operating in direct violation of ARS 13-3717, that the City was grossly negligent in permitting AAM to operate, and that AAM fraudulently took possession of your car (give make, model, VIN), that you suffered an actual loss of (insert the dollar value of the car), and that the Tempe Police Department aided and abetted this criminal enterprise by refusing to allow you to file a criminal complaint against AAM.

A demand letter is the first step in filing a civil lawsuit against the city. Your purpose here, however, is to get this matter out the hands of a bunch of donut-eating cops and to the attention of the higher-ups. This may or may not work, but it's worth the cost of a certified letter. (I used to live in Tempe and have first knowledge that there is no lazier police department anywhere. Former judge Stephen Murretti was on the take for years and state investigators found that everyone in Tempe city government knew about it and remained silent.)

Also, go to your local DMV office and report that your license plate has been lost. They will cancel your old plate and whoever now has your car will at least get a citation if he continues to drive. While at DMV, see if you can file a report there that you are no longer in possession of the car. If you cannot file that report at the DMV office, then send a certified letter to DMV's main office stating that you are no longer in possession of the car as it was stolen and that you are no longer liable for the operation of your car.

Finally, if you have been paying for insurance file a theft claim.

A special note to the two morons who berated Tipton: If every one of us saw through each and every fraudulent scheme the Ripoff Report would be out of business. Hindsight is 20/20.

A special note to Stick: no one listens to ranting lunatics. By the second sentence of your rebuttal I knew that once again Stick was posting another 2,000-word irrelevant off-topic message. (If someone complains about a flat tire on a Suburban, Stick will post a book-length message about a government conspiracy to put sludge in Toyota engines.) I ignored whatever you said between the second and last paragraph. I was amused, however, that you are upset that the media pays you no attention. Gee! What a surprise!

If you spent as much time checking the companies you are about to do business with as you do spell checking an opinion, you would not be in the mess you are in.

I feel that you are indeed a victim of a scam. However, you share a larger portion of the blame for relying on a saleman's pitch without "shopping around".

Jumping at the quickest and easiest solution usually ends up costing more in the long run.

You are a scam artists dream.

I spoke with a CA police officer, who helped bust a similar scam in California a few months ago, and she suggested finding out if subleasing was illegal in AZ, because if it was than it would be a criminal, not a civil matter.

I was able to find section 13-3717 under AZ law, "Unlawful subleasing of motor vehicle," at this link - http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/13/03717.htm&Title=13&DocType=ARS

This indicates that the nature of the business Denny Hilliard was running was criminal and is considered to be a Class 1 Misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail.

The Tempe police department indicated this would be a matter for the attorney general. Since I already have a complaint with them about their breach of contract, I will send them updated information showing Denny Hilliard was involved in an illegal business and should be prosecuted.

Monke,

My comments to Robert apply to you also. However, for you I add the following:

Here's how this scam worked. This company advertised that they would find an "authorized user" for your car, who would make the payments and provide their own insurance while an "authorized user". The user was to send the car payments to this company, who in turn would send them to the lender. They also stated that the owner was not liable for payments while they were looking for a user. Everything was written in a contract. Most times the owners had to pay some form of monies to the company for their services.

And what did the owners of this business do? Took all the money and ran. How, prey tell, is that saying that Tipton (and all the others who fell for this) has s**t for brains?

You say you usually only post constructive criticism here? My advice is to go back to doing that, instead of berating an honest victim of a scam. Do you do that to those who still fall for the Nigerian scams, even though they have been plastered all over the news and internet?

Robert & Monke, the only thing unbelievable is your imbecility. You obviously can't read, and I would suggest both of you grab a dictionary and USE IT next time you try to do anything in writing, since neither of you can spell and have a limited vocabulary. Robert, I know writing only has one t, but anyone knows you add ANOTHER one when you change it to past tense.

What's ironic Monke, is that you spelled incompetEnt wrong! That was entertaining. Oh, and in the English language, sometimes a c sounds like an s, and an e sounds like an i, so you really need to watch those. (I hope my constructive critiCism helps so you aren't the one looking like a DIlbert next time!)

Maybe you two should do a lot more studying and a lot less writing until you have SOME clue about what you're talking about. You're obviously ignorant to this entire situation and if you manage your lives in the same manner, they are no doubt a complete mess. (Which would explain why you are on ripoffreport.com making such uninformed comments.)

In this state we DO NOT have an attorney General that has shown any evidence that he has gone after any deceptive business in the auto industry. If he has I would love to see and read about it. Car dealers do what ever they want to consumers and NO BODY will do anything to stop them.

I am involved in a law suit involving 21 Bell Kia on Bell Road in Phoenix. This dealer's employee changed the truth on the car Buyer's credit application and wrote in FALSE info before they sent the car buyer's credit application to a lender for a loan approval. The buyer's have a witness as to all of this.

The dealer's employee gave me the original credit app that was altered out of the "Deal jacket" Which is a BIG NO NO! Many car buyers right here in this state have car loans that have been processed in a FRAUDULENT WAY and they do not even know it. Go check it out at the below URL.

www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/civil/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=CV2004-009041

I am listed on this case as an expert witness. I am the one that spotted that something fishy was going on. The cosigner Mr. Snapka told the dealer's employee that he did NOT HAVE a job.

They told him he could be a cosigner for MIS Smith and that they would use his credit as "BACK UP" needless to say, They put Mr. Snapka as the main buyer not the cosign as they told him they would do. He did have good credit so they put him on top and MIS Smith as the cosigner.

She was 19 and he was in his mid 50's. somebody wrote in on the credit app that they were a married couple. One of the dealer's employees told Mr. Snapka that he did not need a job. They told him they only needed his credit as "Back up" for Miss Smith. He was not trying to play any funny games. He just wanted to help her get a car. He was lead to believe that he did not need a job to use his credit as "Back up"

Banks that do auto loans are taking in fraudulent credit applications everyday and they don't even know it. One would think that banks would have the ability to hire loan processors that have the ability to spot FRAUD. Then I might ad that maybe they do spot the FRAUD and look the other way because they like the car dealers business that comes their way.


Car dealers get away with all kinds of deception and FRAUD because many TV stations, Newspapers and TALK RADIO stations REFUSE to expose any auto dealer deception to the public because advertising money from car dealers is much more important then protecting the consumer from car dealer Rip Off's.

I called KFYI 550 AM at 602-258-5394 and tried to get Bruce Jacobs to talk about fraud in the auto industry. He does not like to talk to me at all. NO BACK BONE!

Go check out this below Rip Off Report and see if you can spot the FRAUD! Look at all of the pic's that have been posted. There are many.

www.badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff52158.htm
I called Fox 10 right here in phoenix and talked to one of their so called reporters about some BANKING FRAUD that is going on right here in Phoenix. The Reporter wanted to know more about it. She sounded really interested about what I was telling her.

I thought HEY maybe I found a TV station that has guts. I started telling what I know and telling that I had proof as to what I was telling her. As soon as I said it was a car dealer that was doing it, She did not want to talk about it any more and wanted to end the conversation.

I believe that there is an unspoken rule that many in the media have. That is NEVER try to expose any deception pertaining to new or used car dealers that have big money to spend on advertising.

I at one time was working with a guy named Rich Skidmore who did work at 3 TV. We were working on a story about how many new car buyers were not getting any safety recall notices on their new cars and trucks.

I told 3 TV's reporter / investigator Rich Skidmore how new car dealers were doing what is called CSI DIVERSION. He told me that one way or another he would get the story that he had on video aired. 3 TV NEVER aired the story. I think they did not have the balls to air it. The palce that HIDES MORE STUFF!

If you are a new car buyer and you bought a new car and it had a safety recall and you got into a bad wreck would you be upset that you never got any notice in the mail from the car maker that you might be driving an unsafe car? I would!

My wife bought a new 2005 Yukon from Peoria Pontiac/GMC and she never got any of the GM recall letters from GM. Makes me think that Peoria Pontiac/GMC does some funny things after the sale. If I could find a form of media that had big BALLS I would rip the auto industry a new Corn hole!

Try doing this. Call up any local TV station and ask to speak to a news investigator. Once you get one on the phone try to tell them about your auto dealer Rip Off story. Watch how the conversation goes. They will not spend much time talking to you.

The only way a consumer can be truly informed about scams in the auto industry is to read the Auto Dealer Rip Off Reports!

Would you Rip Off Report readers like to read some real a*s kicking stories?

www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/dec/dec13b_01.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/may/may30b_01.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/apr/apr19b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/jan/jan14b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2000/oct/oct12a_00.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/aug/aug09a_01.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2003/mar/mar12b_03.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/1999/sep/sep30e_99.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2003/mar/mar18b_03.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/1999/dec/dec06b_99.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/feb/feb28b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2000/mar/mar28a_00.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/nov/nov07b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/dec/dec13b_01.html

My hat is Off to Eliot Spitzer he is a man that all consumers in New York should thank. He has the balls to spank car dealers that are reported to be playing deceptive car buying games. It is a shame I can't say the same about other AG's. Maybe one day I can chat about other AGs.

In this state we DO NOT have an attorney General that has shown any evidence that he has gone after any deceptive business in the auto industry. If he has I would love to see and read about it. Car dealers do what ever they want to consumers and NO BODY will do anything to stop them.

I am involved in a law suit involving 21 Bell Kia on Bell Road in Phoenix. This dealer's employee changed the truth on the car Buyer's credit application and wrote in FALSE info before they sent the car buyer's credit application to a lender for a loan approval. The buyer's have a witness as to all of this.

The dealer's employee gave me the original credit app that was altered out of the "Deal jacket" Which is a BIG NO NO! Many car buyers right here in this state have car loans that have been processed in a FRAUDULENT WAY and they do not even know it. Go check it out at the below URL.

www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/civil/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=CV2004-009041

I am listed on this case as an expert witness. I am the one that spotted that something fishy was going on. The cosigner Mr. Snapka told the dealer's employee that he did NOT HAVE a job.

They told him he could be a cosigner for MIS Smith and that they would use his credit as "BACK UP" needless to say, They put Mr. Snapka as the main buyer not the cosign as they told him they would do. He did have good credit so they put him on top and MIS Smith as the cosigner.

She was 19 and he was in his mid 50's. somebody wrote in on the credit app that they were a married couple. One of the dealer's employees told Mr. Snapka that he did not need a job. They told him they only needed his credit as "Back up" for Miss Smith. He was not trying to play any funny games. He just wanted to help her get a car. He was lead to believe that he did not need a job to use his credit as "Back up"

Banks that do auto loans are taking in fraudulent credit applications everyday and they don't even know it. One would think that banks would have the ability to hire loan processors that have the ability to spot FRAUD. Then I might ad that maybe they do spot the FRAUD and look the other way because they like the car dealers business that comes their way.


Car dealers get away with all kinds of deception and FRAUD because many TV stations, Newspapers and TALK RADIO stations REFUSE to expose any auto dealer deception to the public because advertising money from car dealers is much more important then protecting the consumer from car dealer Rip Off's.

I called KFYI 550 AM at 602-258-5394 and tried to get Bruce Jacobs to talk about fraud in the auto industry. He does not like to talk to me at all. NO BACK BONE!

Go check out this below Rip Off Report and see if you can spot the FRAUD! Look at all of the pic's that have been posted. There are many.

www.badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff52158.htm
I called Fox 10 right here in phoenix and talked to one of their so called reporters about some BANKING FRAUD that is going on right here in Phoenix. The Reporter wanted to know more about it. She sounded really interested about what I was telling her.

I thought HEY maybe I found a TV station that has guts. I started telling what I know and telling that I had proof as to what I was telling her. As soon as I said it was a car dealer that was doing it, She did not want to talk about it any more and wanted to end the conversation.

I believe that there is an unspoken rule that many in the media have. That is NEVER try to expose any deception pertaining to new or used car dealers that have big money to spend on advertising.

I at one time was working with a guy named Rich Skidmore who did work at 3 TV. We were working on a story about how many new car buyers were not getting any safety recall notices on their new cars and trucks.

I told 3 TV's reporter / investigator Rich Skidmore how new car dealers were doing what is called CSI DIVERSION. He told me that one way or another he would get the story that he had on video aired. 3 TV NEVER aired the story. I think they did not have the balls to air it. The palce that HIDES MORE STUFF!

If you are a new car buyer and you bought a new car and it had a safety recall and you got into a bad wreck would you be upset that you never got any notice in the mail from the car maker that you might be driving an unsafe car? I would!

My wife bought a new 2005 Yukon from Peoria Pontiac/GMC and she never got any of the GM recall letters from GM. Makes me think that Peoria Pontiac/GMC does some funny things after the sale. If I could find a form of media that had big BALLS I would rip the auto industry a new Corn hole!

Try doing this. Call up any local TV station and ask to speak to a news investigator. Once you get one on the phone try to tell them about your auto dealer Rip Off story. Watch how the conversation goes. They will not spend much time talking to you.

The only way a consumer can be truly informed about scams in the auto industry is to read the Auto Dealer Rip Off Reports!

Would you Rip Off Report readers like to read some real a*s kicking stories?

www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/dec/dec13b_01.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/may/may30b_01.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/apr/apr19b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/jan/jan14b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2000/oct/oct12a_00.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/aug/aug09a_01.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2003/mar/mar12b_03.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/1999/sep/sep30e_99.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2003/mar/mar18b_03.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/1999/dec/dec06b_99.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/feb/feb28b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2000/mar/mar28a_00.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/nov/nov07b_02.html www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2001/dec/dec13b_01.html

My hat is Off to Eliot Spitzer he is a man that all consumers in New York should thank. He has the balls to spank car dealers that are reported to be playing deceptive car buying games. It is a shame I can't say the same about other AG's. Maybe one day I can chat about other AGs.

I am in total agreeance with Robert. What kind of "Delbert" would voluntarily turn over their car to some fly by night wanna be car dealer to sell while still being responsible for the payments and insurance! Tipton you appear to be a totally incompetant person and should not be able to make decisions as such. You should turn over power of attorney to a family member who can make rational decisions. What a dumbass you are. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard someone do.

I usually write constructive critisism on this website, but you got s**t for brains. It's people like you who give the human race a bad name. You deserve everything you got coming to you. If the company went out of business you will not recover anything. You're best bet is to cut your losses and not pursue this. You will only make more of an a*s out of yourself. Good luck dipshit.

Robert,

If you do not have anything useful to add to this report, then please refrain from posting. Your childish comments are not helping anyone, and undermine the integrity of the RipOff Report.

And besides, if you had read the reports accurately, nobody ever said the only contact they had with these scam organizations was via telephone or internet. I mean, HELLO. How would the car and keys have gotten to them otherwise?

The several reports about these companies on here all state that the company agreed to find a "user" for each vehicle, and the contract stated that AAM would make all payments until someone was found. All lies.

I hope these guys are found and put in jail for their actions.

Robert,

If you do not have anything useful to add to this report, then please refrain from posting. Your childish comments are not helping anyone, and undermine the integrity of the RipOff Report.

And besides, if you had read the reports accurately, nobody ever said the only contact they had with these scam organizations was via telephone or internet. I mean, HELLO. How would the car and keys have gotten to them otherwise?

The several reports about these companies on here all state that the company agreed to find a "user" for each vehicle, and the contract stated that AAM would make all payments until someone was found. All lies.

I hope these guys are found and put in jail for their actions.

Robert,

If you do not have anything useful to add to this report, then please refrain from posting. Your childish comments are not helping anyone, and undermine the integrity of the RipOff Report.

And besides, if you had read the reports accurately, nobody ever said the only contact they had with these scam organizations was via telephone or internet. I mean, HELLO. How would the car and keys have gotten to them otherwise?

The several reports about these companies on here all state that the company agreed to find a "user" for each vehicle, and the contract stated that AAM would make all payments until someone was found. All lies.

I hope these guys are found and put in jail for their actions.

Robert,

If you do not have anything useful to add to this report, then please refrain from posting. Your childish comments are not helping anyone, and undermine the integrity of the RipOff Report.

And besides, if you had read the reports accurately, nobody ever said the only contact they had with these scam organizations was via telephone or internet. I mean, HELLO. How would the car and keys have gotten to them otherwise?

The several reports about these companies on here all state that the company agreed to find a "user" for each vehicle, and the contract stated that AAM would make all payments until someone was found. All lies.

I hope these guys are found and put in jail for their actions.

Have you all lost you minds.

Who, with any functional brain cells, would turn over their car to someone they have only had contact with on the telephone or by the internet.

You have to be pretty stupid to rely on a promise (writen or not) that some unknown person will take over your car payments (all while the account stays in your name). Or that said unknown person would carry insurance (required by the company that has the lein on the car).

If the unknown person using your car had killed someone in an accident you could very well have been liable.

Unbelievable.

Thank you, Tipton for your response.

No, we don't know the guy's name. He was the guy who took our truck for it's "test drive" before it was accepted into the "program". They never told us anything about who it was- only that they wouldnt have the fee needed til after the next payment was due so they duped us into making one more payment. They were already out of business by the time we tried to contact them again to discuss the insurance issue. They never came back after 05/05/05 per the lady who works at the flooring store next door. The landlord of the building would like to get a hold of them too.
I pray that the CA police get the PD here to do something.

Thanks again for the info. This is all soooo unbelievable and sickening.

Rachel, I forgot to mention that there was a tracking device on the vehicle. It was towed to a Honda dealership after the repo, and I asked them to look to see if there was one. They said there was a black box underneath the driver's side that wasn't a factory installed thing.

So later that day I took it to a place to have a new alarm put on and the tracking device removed so AAM couldn't use my keys to take it back. The box is a few inches wide and maybe 6 inches long. No company labels or any markings to know who made it or where it was purchased.

Rachel - In April they were not verifying the user's insurance with my lienholder so I was on the phone with AAM and my lien holder a ton, trying to get AAM to follow through and fax over the correct information so I didn't get charged for a policy. At one point the insurance rep asked if I had an insurance declarations page for the person driving my car.

I didn't at the time, but when I realized I would probably have to get my car back, I called AAM and told them there was still confusion over the insurance and asked the secretary to fax me the user's declaration page. I had it in about 10 minutes and it had the name and address of the user on it.

Do you know which employee might have it? I have numbers and home addresses for several of the employees and would be happy to help you track someone down. (I've done some background searches.)

By the way, I spoke to the user I repoed my car from last week, and he indicated that he received a letter from AAM the week before telling him they were out of business and giving him the owner's info. So did they tell you when your car was placed that an employee had it? The owner told me the same thing, but when I talked to the user, I found out that wasn't true.

Someone from AAM was driving it, though, and put 2300 miles in a month and made all sorts of changes to the car, etc. I'd like to find out exactly who did it.

Just to update my whole report, AAM went out of business a few weeks ago and pretty much disappeared on everyone. It seems some owners/users may have been notified by mail, but others have not.

I found this link recently, http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/newsrel/2005-01.htm, where a company just like AAM was busted in California. I spoke with an officer in CA yesterday to see what direction I should go in AZ to go after these guys. He was very nice and was having an officer from his investigations dept call me today.

He said they would have to transfer the case to AZ, but that may get someone to actually do something. When I talked to an officer in Mesa a few weeks ago, he said it seemed like a civil issue. When I told the CA officer what was up, he said it sounded criminal to him.

Another lady on here wrote a ripoff report about AAM and said she wanted to do a class action suit against them. I would be interested, and if you are, we could be up to 7 or 8 people so far.

Tipton, Your update on 05/08/05 states you were able to figure out where your vehicle was. How? Did you yourself find it or did you hire a repo company to find it? Or were you contacted? I think one of AAM's employees has our truck so I dont think they will send us the notification that they claimed they would be sending. Were you told that they put a gps tracking system on your vehicle too? And if so, was there one on it when you repossessed it?

Since April 15th, when I initially wrote the report, things have only gotten worse. AAM not only didn't send in my April car payment, the late payment they had sent for my March payment was returned due to INSUFFICIENT FUNDS! So now I was stuck having to wire $700 worth of payments to try to save my credit.



I was able to figure out where my vehicle was so I decided to go get it and repossess it. I got a towing company to come help me with the repo, which cost me another $250. And what was worse, once I got the vehicle I realized they were in breach of contract as far as the condition the vehicle is to be kept in. The car had been lowered 2", which caused the alignment to be off, the struts to leak, and the dust boots to tear. Holes were drilled on the inside panel between the windshield and driver side, along with other damages.



I sent a Demand Letter urging them to settle, but have heard nothing. Never heard from them after reposession my vehicle and don't expect to hear anything when I have to take them to court. After paying for repairs and getting estimates, I figured that AAM owes me over $3900!

Since April 15th, when I initially wrote the report, things have only gotten worse. AAM not only didn't send in my April car payment, the late payment they had sent for my March payment was returned due to INSUFFICIENT FUNDS! So now I was stuck having to wire $700 worth of payments to try to save my credit.



I was able to figure out where my vehicle was so I decided to go get it and repossess it. I got a towing company to come help me with the repo, which cost me another $250. And what was worse, once I got the vehicle I realized they were in breach of contract as far as the condition the vehicle is to be kept in. The car had been lowered 2", which caused the alignment to be off, the struts to leak, and the dust boots to tear. Holes were drilled on the inside panel between the windshield and driver side, along with other damages.



I sent a Demand Letter urging them to settle, but have heard nothing. Never heard from them after reposession my vehicle and don't expect to hear anything when I have to take them to court. After paying for repairs and getting estimates, I figured that AAM owes me over $3900!

Since April 15th, when I initially wrote the report, things have only gotten worse. AAM not only didn't send in my April car payment, the late payment they had sent for my March payment was returned due to INSUFFICIENT FUNDS! So now I was stuck having to wire $700 worth of payments to try to save my credit.



I was able to figure out where my vehicle was so I decided to go get it and repossess it. I got a towing company to come help me with the repo, which cost me another $250. And what was worse, once I got the vehicle I realized they were in breach of contract as far as the condition the vehicle is to be kept in. The car had been lowered 2", which caused the alignment to be off, the struts to leak, and the dust boots to tear. Holes were drilled on the inside panel between the windshield and driver side, along with other damages.



I sent a Demand Letter urging them to settle, but have heard nothing. Never heard from them after reposession my vehicle and don't expect to hear anything when I have to take them to court. After paying for repairs and getting estimates, I figured that AAM owes me over $3900!

Since April 15th, when I initially wrote the report, things have only gotten worse. AAM not only didn't send in my April car payment, the late payment they had sent for my March payment was returned due to INSUFFICIENT FUNDS! So now I was stuck having to wire $700 worth of payments to try to save my credit.



I was able to figure out where my vehicle was so I decided to go get it and repossess it. I got a towing company to come help me with the repo, which cost me another $250. And what was worse, once I got the vehicle I realized they were in breach of contract as far as the condition the vehicle is to be kept in. The car had been lowered 2", which caused the alignment to be off, the struts to leak, and the dust boots to tear. Holes were drilled on the inside panel between the windshield and driver side, along with other damages.



I sent a Demand Letter urging them to settle, but have heard nothing. Never heard from them after reposession my vehicle and don't expect to hear anything when I have to take them to court. After paying for repairs and getting estimates, I figured that AAM owes me over $3900!