Complaint Review: Carhop UAC

right- they called my dad i had put as a reference my dad and other family gave them a peice of there mind, there so called customer service reps hung up on me and family when tried to speak to them, they are rude and don't give a crap= i was so made i droped the peice of crap car off right in front of there lot! i will never go to them ever again wish i would of know how of a scam they were before going there, they are rip off.

Car hop screwed me too! I have two children a 5 year old and a 9 month old. I really needed a car that was reliable and that i could get my oldest to school and tote my youngest around on errands. The DAY i got the car it broke down. The check engine light came on, the air bag light, and the door ajar light all came on. I thought i would be safe because it looked like a really nice vehicle. It is a 2002 Ford Win-star. I called the service and warranty and they told me no problem bring it to town and country and we will take a look.. so the next day i took it in. I went to pick it up later that day and the check engine light was off until i was about a mile away and then sure enough if was back on! Not only was it still running shitty but now i get it back and my automatic locks dont work and it runs worse than when i took it in!!! so i called them the next day and once again no problem take it back in and we will take a look. this time it was good for about a week. once again after about a week it started running like crap again! then i called again and said.."look the van still runs like crap.. it has never been fixed and i need a vehicle that runs.. thats why i came to a dealership and not to craigslist!" once again... no problem bring it in we will take a look... well this time i wasnt ok with taking that back to town and country so i asked them who else was available.. they gave me the name of another mechanic that was approved so i made my appointment and took it in. Keep in mind.. I NEVER AGREED TO PAY FOR THE PROBLEM... the next day the mechanic shop calls.. hey your van runs great we fixed it and drove it. so im thinking finally i have a vehicle that runs!! ... haha so i said cool ill be there to pick it up and the guy says well bring your check book bc carhop didnt cover it and its 290 dollars!! WHAT??? i don't think so!! so i called car hop and gave them a piece of my mind and they basically told me to bad its not covered... anyone who is familiar with car hop "warranty" knows that it covers "engine" and the part that was wrong was the EGR censor.... which in the vehicle i have is in the engine... so its part of the internal engine.. why wont they cover it.. anyway i went a week without my van bc i refused to pay for something i didnt agree to pay for. after about a week the shop agreed to take the part out and give me my van back. i now have it back.. of course it runs like crap and breaks down every day even though i had a family member replace the part that they claimed was bad!! so i called car hop and said look i dont need a vehicle that doesnt run.. i am an ill person with severe health problems and i have an ill son. I cant afford to put this much money in to a vehicle that doesnt run. because of problems with health and the rise in medicine cost i cant afford to make the payment for a car i cant use so i got turned over to "loss and prevention" which let me just tell you.. they are a*s holes!! the guy i talked to told me i was rude and that i am talking the wrong way to the wrong person.. all i said honestly was sir, you have my address, i cant afford the payment on a vehicle that doesnt run.. i was extreamly nice to him and he yelled at me until i finally hung up on him! anyway........ long story short.. car hop is a RIP OFF!! and i have told every person i know! it really pisses me off that they call my references to find out where i am and where the vehicle is! why do they have to make it there business?? i thought they only needed references for just that purpose... a reference?

I am in the same situation you are I have a car that shut down on the hwy with my 5 yr old in the car who was scard to death, and i've had it since june 2009 and nothing but mechanical issues with it every since 1st the struts went out and when we took it in to be repaired they replaced it with old one's from a junk yard, and then the engine went out they replaced it with a old engine with miles on it, then the breaks went out, ect this car is nothing but a headache and a pain in the a*** Ive paid on time ever since i got it, then i took auto pay off and they messed up everything they double charged me twice in 1 week, pulse they have poor customer service- very rude......I'm so sick of the stress and the headache, i am just going to be done, ive never had such a bad experience, im so done, i want to file a lawsuite

Yes! We need to rally! I am also a victim of a damaged car. Email me at (((ROR REDACTED)))  and we can share information and get a group together.

<font color="red"><a href="/whyedited.asp"> CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. </a></font>

To the person that post this one "**Alert** Scam **Alert** READ THIS"

AMEN to that.... I'm 100% with you on this!

First I would like to say that CarHop and UAC are the same company we are under the umbrella Interstate Auto Group. The reason we tell our customers this is to make it appear that the customer is dealing with two different companies. This way when the car breaks down the collection department can put blame on Carhop while still trying to get the customer to pay. If UAC tries to tell you they are two seperate companies they are not only lying to you they are giving you misleading information. I would recommend that if they have said this to you, or threatend to repo your car, and never followed through with it, look into 1st party FDCPA violations you may have a case. Also if they give a reference that you listed (they will call them if you fall behind) If they give out third party information that is also a violation!

CarHop/UAC/Interstate Auto Group in my opinion are a preditory lender. They make their money off the uneducated desperate customer. First they but their cars at mass auctions, meaning that they buy tons of cars at a cheap price. Here is an example, they buy a 1999 taurus for $1,200.00 they then turn around and sell said car for $7,000.00 with a extreamly high interest rate. They will try to gain 70-100% of what they bought the car for with a down payment.

What we do is put our nice cars in the front to draw traffic, we do not post the amount of the car on the car, it would be hard in the sale process to justify selling a car that has a blue book value of $2,000.00 for $8,000.00, you will not learn the price of the car until you are ready to sign the docs, at this point you have been going through the application process for hours and just want to leave, so you don't read the contract, even though we show you a video we count on you not reading the contract!!

Because we buy cars at auction we are not aware of what the problems are, we have someone look them over and "Rig" them to just barley work. I heard a story that one of the mechanics we work with was instructed to put black tape under the dash board because we couldnt get the check engine light to turn off. True there is a warrenty, and early in the contract we try to fix "somethings" it is not because we are generous it is because we have not made enough money off of you yet! When the service dept. does fix something it is with USED parts.

I have been witness to the scam that this company does to feed off the uneducated and desperate customers, and I must tell you it makes me sick to my stomach that I am a part of it. I am posting this so past customers can maybe understand how they got screwed, and if I can stop one person from buying from Carhop, perhaps it will make up for the numerous unethical things I have had to do in the past.

In my opinion please stay as far away from this company as you possibly can, once you sign that contract then we have you, and if you are ever late you will be forced to deal with the most ruthless collection people that you can possibly imagine! With the economy the way that it is most dealerships are lowering there standards try their first if you need a car. Second the amount of money you will spend on the down payment plus the preferred down payment, you can purchase a beater for the same price, chances are the beater will run better and have less problems. 3rd if you still go through with it check these things.
1. Know the blue book value
2. Take the car to YOUR mechanic get a FULL inspections you will thank youself!!
3. READ THE CONTRACT know what you are getting into
4. RECORD THE CONVERSATION WITH SALES STAFF, they will try to mislead you or be less than honest to close the deal. If you have it recorded you have a better case in court
5. THINK THINK THINK

I bet you that if someone from the company responds to this post it will be filled with lies, and deception. The only reason that we have an "A" rating with the BBB is because those who have complained were NOT helped thats why they complained and we are aware that a bad BBB rating can hurt your business so we go abnormaly above and beyond to "fix" the problem.

Ok... I think it's about time for an update. Well since my last update I have been ignoring carhops calls. The car has been sitting in my driveway until January when I was notified it would be towed. So I made an effort and tried to move the car. Before it used to turn on and now the car won't even start. It has a new battery so thats not the problem. After I tinkered with it for about 30 minutes I closed the door and low and behold the windshield shattered. I mean c'mon I didn't even close the door hard. So I guess the city came and towed it the day after that happened.

I really don't care now since I called UAC and asked them if they were eventually going to come and repo the thing. There response was if the car is that bad we don't want it. It's actually a good thing it was towed cause knowing them they would try and sell it to someone else. I love how they have the half-way decent cars in front of there dealership but if you walk around you will see old beaters with dents and flat tires. Anyway I got a call a few days later from a collection agency saying the wanted to settle my account.

She was asking all these questions about where the car was so I said I don't know (Thats the truth) She offered me a settlement offer for about $1,000 bucks but she can go get bent. I asked her to send a bill so my attorney can look it over before I pay so I don't get screwed. She said she didn't want to put another letter in the mail and she needed my checking account info now so congrats if your reading this b***h. I am not paying one red cent. My credit didn't suffer too bad since it was a charge off and not a repo. And I was able to get a new car from the dealership. My advice for victims is FIGHT! Keep all the letters from carhop, record conversations if it's legal, take pictures of damage. Get an attorney. We should all get together and file class action against these homewreckers. They are taking ADVANTAGE of people who are already down and don't have money for a new car. I may update in the near future if they reason like adults and settle my account without playing games. It's been a good two years in the making now.

Ok... I think it's about time for an update. Well since my last update I have been ignoring carhops calls. The car has been sitting in my driveway until January when I was notified it would be towed. So I made an effort and tried to move the car. Before it used to turn on and now the car won't even start. It has a new battery so thats not the problem. After I tinkered with it for about 30 minutes I closed the door and low and behold the windshield shattered. I mean c'mon I didn't even close the door hard. So I guess the city came and towed it the day after that happened.

I really don't care now since I called UAC and asked them if they were eventually going to come and repo the thing. There response was if the car is that bad we don't want it. It's actually a good thing it was towed cause knowing them they would try and sell it to someone else. I love how they have the half-way decent cars in front of there dealership but if you walk around you will see old beaters with dents and flat tires. Anyway I got a call a few days later from a collection agency saying the wanted to settle my account.

She was asking all these questions about where the car was so I said I don't know (Thats the truth) She offered me a settlement offer for about $1,000 bucks but she can go get bent. I asked her to send a bill so my attorney can look it over before I pay so I don't get screwed. She said she didn't want to put another letter in the mail and she needed my checking account info now so congrats if your reading this b***h. I am not paying one red cent. My credit didn't suffer too bad since it was a charge off and not a repo. And I was able to get a new car from the dealership. My advice for victims is FIGHT! Keep all the letters from carhop, record conversations if it's legal, take pictures of damage. Get an attorney. We should all get together and file class action against these homewreckers. They are taking ADVANTAGE of people who are already down and don't have money for a new car. I may update in the near future if they reason like adults and settle my account without playing games. It's been a good two years in the making now.

I apologize that you're having mechanical issues. Unforeseen problems can occur with used vehicles. You say that your warranty center denied you assistance one days after you purchased. I'm well versed in their policies and practices and can tell you with one hundred percent accuracy that that wouldn't happen. I'm sorry if you were somehow misinformed. You are welcomed to contact your warranty center so we can get an accurate assessment of your situation.

Sincerely,

CarHop