American Car Center - The King of Credit Scam, Rip-off, Unprofessional, Memphis Tennessee

This is one of the biggest scams running in Memphis, although they have several locations that are ran the same exact way. They prey on desperate, poor people with little credit or very poor credit. They are not upfront about the terms of your agreement, so please read, reread, and ask plenty of questions before signing your name or allowing them to run your credit. Do not settle for simplified answers. You are technically leasing a car for about 4yrs; then, you have the option to buy after another term of payments (the balloon payment). By the end of your lease alone, you have already paid for the car more than twice over. Mind you, lease means the car is not yours, but you still have to pay for all maintenance on the car plus the biweekly car note and full-coverage insurance. And they do not offer gap insurance. If you are in an accident and your car is totaled, you are responsible for the full lease amount since there isn't really a finance percentage. It is an As-Is lease, so you never know what condition their car truly is in, and you cannot return it without breaking the terms of your agreement. That being said, they will get their agreed upon payment one way or another.

You pay your car note biweekly, and there is absolutely no grace period. So if you get paid three times in one month, you will make three car payments in one month. For me, that's about $700. If you happen to be late on your payment, there is a late fee added to your account per day for three days (not business days). There is no way that you can pay monthly. They claim to help build your credit score. This is not entirely true because they do not accurately report on your account each month, and they do not report on all three beauru's. For me, they have reported on my Equifax what seems like two separate accounts with two different amounts, increasing my debit-to-credit ratio inaccurately. Good luck trying to fix that without getting a lawyer involved.

They can and will repossess your car on one missed payment, and they will not make it easy to get your car back. So even if you paid on-time for three years and you miss one (biweekly) payment, they can reprocess your car four days after. After the car is repossessed, do not think that they will not sue you for the remaining terms of the agreement. Like I said before, they will get your money, one way or another.

Oh! There is a fee for everything, including paying your car note and changing the date that your note is due (even if you are not late). I would not suggest anyone think to enter this place. It has been one big headache after another for me. They will make everything sound so good, but in reality, it's one big rip-off. Catch the bus, and save for a down payment at a real dealership. They can purchase a brand new car for the price that they are leasing these used cars with high mileage.