AMERICREDIT making us pay for a vehicle that is written off, someone please help! Fort Worth Texas
My husband and I bought a car from Americredit in Saskatchewan and we are paying 20.95% interest.That is not even what the problem is..We are current on our payments but our vehicle was hit while parked and was total lossed by our goverment insurance which is called SGI.
We received a settlement of $7000 that was \written in both my husbands name and Americredit. We discussed with numerous people at Americredit what we could do and they told us Substitute of Collateral..
Which is to find a vehicle that is the same price of the settlement so that is exactly what we did at Kia.. Now we are so excited and the manager at the dealership spend 2 days on the phone to Americredit because they no nothing about Canadian laws... why they were even allowed to finance cars in a country that they know nothing about I do not know...
Anyways, finally they said we could receive this car only if we pay the taxes up front.. now I do not know who has $910 to spare but okay..but in Canada our insurance will cover the taxes after the buying of the vehicle but yet again the check will be made out to my husband and Americredit.. How convenient!
So, I am not paying the tax up front so Americredit gets $910 for free I do not think so... so right now we have no vehicle, a check of $7000 that we can not cash, and we are not giving it to Americredit for them to rip us off... As well the new vehicle we were going to get was a newer vehicle with alot less mileage and better collateral for them but whatever!
Right now we have talked to probably every Americredit employee in Texas and have been hung up on, put on hold and even laughed at...As well we were told that if we would have sent in the settlement with the contract from the dealer they would not have sighned it and would have taken the money and left us with no vehicle and still $3000 to pay them back...with no vehicle
These people do not care if you have to walk 10 miles in -30 weather for any of you people who know how cold it gets in Saskatchewan with my little children...
Also, We also sighned a contract for Scotiabank not Americredit.. I have no contract for them and they said they have one but not with my signature and i asked for a copy mailed to me.... Is there not something wrong with that..
We also have different laws and jurisdictions than the US so I do not know if we have a case but we are going to see a lawyer anyway!!!!
If anyone could help us pls do..............
Del
REGINA, Saskatchewan
Canada
8 Updates & Rebuttals
Donna
Vanderhoof,British Columbia,
Canada
Canadian laws don't apply to Americans....
#9Consumer Comment
Wed, February 18, 2004
I have to say, we were wrong! We thought the Canadian legal system would help us with our dispute with AFS, but I guess we were kidding ourselves. As I mentioned in a past rebuttal, we went through a lawyer as well as the MDSA lawyer and although the lawyers felt we were totally in the right, in the end we lost.
We offered a settlement to AFS and before the legal department had a chance to make up their minds ( infact they called us on the 12th to get more information from us)the vehicle was repossessed. A Bailiff found myself with our infant daughter(on the 12th in the afternoon, not more than a couple hours from our conversation with the legal dept.) at our local grocery store, blocked us in to the parking lot and forced me to give them the vehicle. Upon calling AFS head office to find out why they all of a sudden repo'd the vehicle after we had just spoken with them that morning they claimed that they did not order the repossession. We made our payments on time for 2 and a half years and for what? The only uposide to this is we will never again have to ever deal with this company again. The whole dispute started over AFS note documenting payments which caused them to reflect on our credit bureau as paying late as well as them trying to charge interest. And to make matters worse, the RCMP could not step in because thisd company is not Canadian nor could any other provincial and federal means of mediation.
It seems as though every one else has more rights in our country than we do as actual Canadians. AFS was in Canada from June 2001 until January 2002....It smells like a scam to me. We have now
had to buy a new vehicle to replace the one they took. The worst part is our credit will be taurnished for 6 to 7 years now.
DEL
REGINA,Saskatchewan,
Canada
i am still stuck
#9Author of original report
Tue, February 17, 2004
our car was totalled off and we gave afs all the money we received from the insurance company which was left owing 1800 cdn and we do not want to pay no more and what will they do if you do not pay come get our car!!!! we do not have it. we are soooo mad at this company we are at our wits end. do you think they would settle for the money we already gave them noooo way!!!!! my wife and i are just going day by day and hoping someone can helps us!!!!!!!
Cindy
Liverpool,New York,
U.S.A.
NADA is for the dealers and not much help to the purchasers
#9Consumer Suggestion
Tue, February 03, 2004
Thank you Donna, NADA is for the dealers and not much help to the purchasers, I will continue to look. Maybe justice will find its way
Donna
Vanderhoof,British Columbia,
Canada
they are no longer Canadian and their headoffice is in America
#9Consumer Suggestion
Mon, February 02, 2004
Hi Cindy,
The MDSA ( MotorVehicle Dealership Association)is a Canadian web site. But, if it will help there are two addresses for you:
www.mdsa.bc.ca
www.gov.bc.ca/consumers ( Under "Search" type in "Consumer Services" then go to the Motor Dealership Compensation Fund Link).
I did some quick digging for you because you are American and found a web site calle NADA. The address is: www.nada.org/ ( If you click on the black tab at the top of the web site that states "State & Metros" and then click on "Associations..." you will find a listing of states to choose from....When I clicked on New York it gave some web addresses and Association addresses (email too!)) Thought this address might help you out more as Canadian and American laws may differ. Hope this helps. Best of Luck. I just find out that I probably wont even be able to Sue AFS because they are no longer Canadian and their headoffice is in America. Also, on the web if you search "Motor Vehicle Act" it pops up a couple sites on federal laws regarding all aspects of dealerships.
Donna
Vanderhoof,British Columbia,
Canada
they are no longer Canadian and their headoffice is in America
#9Consumer Suggestion
Mon, February 02, 2004
Hi Cindy,
The MDSA ( MotorVehicle Dealership Association)is a Canadian web site. But, if it will help there are two addresses for you:
www.mdsa.bc.ca
www.gov.bc.ca/consumers ( Under "Search" type in "Consumer Services" then go to the Motor Dealership Compensation Fund Link).
I did some quick digging for you because you are American and found a web site calle NADA. The address is: www.nada.org/ ( If you click on the black tab at the top of the web site that states "State & Metros" and then click on "Associations..." you will find a listing of states to choose from....When I clicked on New York it gave some web addresses and Association addresses (email too!)) Thought this address might help you out more as Canadian and American laws may differ. Hope this helps. Best of Luck. I just find out that I probably wont even be able to Sue AFS because they are no longer Canadian and their headoffice is in America. Also, on the web if you search "Motor Vehicle Act" it pops up a couple sites on federal laws regarding all aspects of dealerships.
Donna
Vanderhoof,British Columbia,
Canada
they are no longer Canadian and their headoffice is in America
#9Consumer Suggestion
Mon, February 02, 2004
Hi Cindy,
The MDSA ( MotorVehicle Dealership Association)is a Canadian web site. But, if it will help there are two addresses for you:
www.mdsa.bc.ca
www.gov.bc.ca/consumers ( Under "Search" type in "Consumer Services" then go to the Motor Dealership Compensation Fund Link).
I did some quick digging for you because you are American and found a web site calle NADA. The address is: www.nada.org/ ( If you click on the black tab at the top of the web site that states "State & Metros" and then click on "Associations..." you will find a listing of states to choose from....When I clicked on New York it gave some web addresses and Association addresses (email too!)) Thought this address might help you out more as Canadian and American laws may differ. Hope this helps. Best of Luck. I just find out that I probably wont even be able to Sue AFS because they are no longer Canadian and their headoffice is in America. Also, on the web if you search "Motor Vehicle Act" it pops up a couple sites on federal laws regarding all aspects of dealerships.
Cindy
Liverpool,New York,
U.S.A.
How do I get in touch with Motor Dealership Association?
#9Consumer Comment
Wed, January 28, 2004
I searched on line and got over 17,000 hits. Do you have a specific address on line for them? My dealership was found guilty of fraud, but because it was a settlement, I only received about 9% of what was owed to me. I cashed the check, but signed it in dispute, so that they know that I am not willing to just settle on that amount. I am interested in learning about that compensation part you mentioned in your rebuttal.
Anyone who has pertinent information on this is asked to let me know what I can do. Paying a lawyer is not an option at this time for me.
Donna
Vanderhoof,British Columbia,
Canada
MDSA. and a lawyer helped us....
#9Consumer Comment
Mon, January 26, 2004
After our current dispute ( now posted on this site) we have done as much research as possible on AmeriCredit and the laws in Canada.
Unfortunately, we have found that all forms of provincial and federal mediation were not useful as AmeriCredit is not a Canadian company. We tried Consumer affairs, Consumer services, the RCMP, the director of debt collection, Ministry of finance, Institute of Finance....Noone had the jurisdiction---which makes us wonder how this company can even report canadians to the credit bureau....What we did find was the MDSA, the Motor Vehicle Association of BC ( I am sure saskatchewan would have the same thing or something similar).
The Lawyer from MDSA told us to SUE. He said to demand what was ours. He said to also make it clear that Post dating cheques are legal in Canada. In our case we wanted the extra interest paid refunded and our credit bureau ammended. Some of our payments were late due to wrong information given to us by representatives. Our dealership also did not complete the contract nor the "assignment of contract" properly. We have been advised by both of our lawyers to stop making payments to AFS.
The dealership has also told us to stop making payments. Also, under the Motor Dealership Association there is a compensation fund for consumers who had vehicle losses, dishonest conduct by your dealership,or if your contract does not clearly state who has the lien on the vehicle, each consumer who applies for this fund is ellgible for up to $20 000.00.
My husband and I will be taking our case further. We have obtained a lawyer who feels we are in the right and we anticipate that this matter will most likely have to go to court. AFS does not practice fair business practices and does not know the laws in Canada. They don't even know their coworkers our employer guidelines let alone the laws they must abide by. It helped us to literally pick apart the contract, use a microscope find an"in" to get what's yours. We have never missed a payment to this company until we were legally advised to stop making payments ands are credit is ruined by bthis companies poor practices.
We have found several lawsuits, that of which include "fraud","wrongful reposetion" and "perjury" against AFS. WE hope to find others who are willing to swap stories and get a "petition" so to speak, to take to the courts to show this company is not legitimate. Our report has our webpage and email address if you are interested.
My advice, if possible obtain a lawyer. In BC our lawyers charge $10 for the first half hour and will tell you exactly what to do and how to do it. We also trace through Telus every call we receive and make, especially since this company does not documant or stand by their conversations with us. Hope this will help.