Complaint Review: DriveTime

My ex-wife and I purchased a 1999 Ponitac Gradn Am from Drive Time in April 2005, the vehicle was pretty nice when we first purchased it, but I have had to pay to replace the water pump(09/04, which was $289.00 and now it is the engine in the car. About a month ago I had to pay $1500.00 to replace the engine. Because I live alone I could not afford to pay that type of money and contine to pay my car note. I called the store manager Amy and informed her of my situation, she informed me that I needed to send her my recent checkstub along with the repair bill for the car. I faxed the information requested and received a confirmation. I was told that my car note payment for the month of August. After talking with the mechanic that repaired my vehicle he suggested that I trade the vehicle, so I went to Hennessy Madza and the dealer called Drive Time for my pay and it was $10,000.

I hit the roof, I could not believe that I still owed that much for this vehicle. Also, after the appraisal of the vehicle I was told that it was only worth $2,000. Here i am in a vehicle I have $8,000 of negative equity. I got my car back about 2wks ago and I was still experiencing the same problems. My car was taken back to the mechanic and I spoke with him yesterday and he had to put another engine in my vehicle. I called the corporate headquaters at Drive Time today and spoken to rudely by one of there associates only to be told that the payoff on the vehicle is now $11,000 because I did not make a payment for August. I informed her that I faxed documentation to Ms. Salazar, the store Manager in reference to my car repairs she stated that she do not see anything in the computer showing where a deferrment was made. She just continued to stated that I was 60 days late and I informed her that I have been without transportation for almost 2 months. Again, I state that this dealership should not be in existance because it is ripping people off with the amount of interest they are charing on their vehicles. It is horrible!!

Darryl
Decatur, Georgia
U.S.A.