DriveTime 1825 W Memorial Blvd, Lakeland 2 reviews drive time sold me a defective car lakeland Florida
I bought my 2006 mazda 3 with 85000 miles for 13,000 well the interest came up to 21000 first the guy who sold it to me told me i could get the alignment fixed. Well guess what its not covered under warranty. Then i have to replace my turn signal switch my cigarette lighter and all my plastic shield was gone under my car. They would not fix the shield. Everything was going good till i have tranny problems they made me take it 30 miles away to a shop that looked like my garage to pay a 56 dollar diagnostic fee to tell me what i already knew then i had to drive it from that shop to another 45 miles from my house then they finally rebuilt my tranny after a week of waiting. Then after that im on my way home from the shop my car stalls out getting on a busy highway then i get it going and my tranny is slipping more than it was before but this time actually shifted to 4th i contacted the Warrenty place for them to tell me to drive it back out to their shop so they can take a look at it again. I feel like i do not even want this car but im a first time car buyer well with payments but don't want to mess my credit up i have two kids for210000 i should have a pristine car not a pos that stalls and slips every chance it gets if anyone knows of a good attorney let me know.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Michael
Columbus,Ohio,
Class Action
#4General Comment
Mon, March 31, 2014
I was wondering how did it go as far your situation is concerned, if has not been resolved please join me. I trying to start an class action lawsuit against this company I'm currently in contact with the attorney general, and trying to find an lawyer to help the lawsuit.
Karl
New Mexico,DO YOUR HOMEWORK
#4Consumer Suggestion
Wed, January 01, 2014
The retail price for a used 2006 Mazda 3 with 85k miles is $7775, Why did you agree to pay $13,000 for it? You could have gone to a Mazda dealer and bought one for $7775. Why didn't you do your homework and figure out what the retail cost of the car should be before you got ripped off? The cars sold at Drivetime come from auctions. These are the cars that regurlar new car dealers do not wish to sell. I understand that Drivetime seems to cater to people who have poor credit and cannot buy a car from a normal new car dealer. Since Drivetime is dealing with high risk customers it overcharges for the cars it sells and sells at a high interest rate. In many cases it assumes that it may have to repo the car.
I don't know why the majority of complaints on ROR deal with mechanical issues on cars bought from Drivetime. I'm sure that Drivetime doesn't intentionally sell bad cars but you as the customer need to quit believing salesmen. Did you review a CARFAX report on your car? Did you take it to an independent mechanic for a review of its mechanical functions? Did you realize that you were going to pay $5,000 more than this car is worth?
Next time visit a dealer to see what he has then go home and figure out what you should offer for the car. If he accepts your offer or you agree on a fair price then get the car inspected. Request a CARFAX report on the car from the dealer. It is your car and your money.
FloridaNative
Palm Beach Gardens,Florida,
You are confusing a couple of issues in your report
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, October 03, 2013
I understand that this is your first vehicle purchase so you may not be aware of the differences, but if you purchased the car for $13,000 than that is the purchase price plus tax and tag and title as indicated on your contract. The $21,000 you are referring to is what your cost of the vehicle will be after you make each and every payment on time and not one day late. If you choose not to pay it off early or pay more than the minimum due then that is what you will pay. That difference between the $13,000 and $21,000 is interest for borrowing the money from the lender. (You can't attribute the interest to the acquistion cost of the car.) In this case, you chose to go to a subprime lender rather than a regular lender. Because you are using a subprime lender, they are charging you extra high interest. However, if you want, you can save a lot of interest by either paying it off early or refinancing with a regular loan at a better interest rate. You can't call the interest you pay monthly a cost of the vehicle. Interest is the cost of the money you borrowed to buy the vehicle.
The other issue is the repairs. Once you buy a car or vehicle, you are responsible for all the repairs unless you have a written warranty covering the specific repair that needs to be done on your vehicle. Because you purchased an older car you will have more repairs to make on the car. That is why the initial cost to buy is so much less than a new car.
Now, by taking it back to the dealership to repair you really are asking for trouble. Take it to a real mechanic and spend the money to get it fixed rather than have the dealership put a bandaid on it. You are new so you don't know this, but DriveTime isn't going to actually fix anything. They just bandaid it together enough for you to get it off the lot. If you get it fixed with a real mechanic you will have a much better car. Next time you buy a car, go to a regular dealership and finance your car through a credit union and you won't have these issues.