Complaint Review: JD Byrider CNAC

Let me be perfectly clear, I left CNAC (the financing company for JD Byrider) at my choice and on "good terms" with the company, which included a severance package. The reason I left, in large part, had to do with the continued problems the company had regarding it's practices.

JD Byrider and CNAC are franchises both owned by the Russ Darrow Group. Where the problems would startw as when the purchased cars at auction for sale on the lots. Most of the cars were purchased for a mere couple of thousand dollars. Most had questionable mechanical problems. The "Technicians" employed were not formally trained or certified, at one particular store only one mechanic was a certified ASE mechanic.

The company would buy the cars, check the fluids and make sure everything appeared "OK" but they had no diagnostic equipment to do more than just a visual inspection. During the period of time that I worked there, the current warranty offered was useless, after many complaints from both customers and staff, the company changed to a different type of warranty that was marginally better.

Because the cars were used, it was "Buyer Beware". I dealt with the recovery of accounts and cars. If you stopped paying I would be one of the people out knocking on your door or looking for your car. Many of the clients I came in contact with just thought they could get a free ride and it had nothing to do with the mechanical abilities of the car. However frequently I would come across and account were the reason the client would stop paying was because the car stopped working. Even so many of these were after the customer had added hundreds or thousands of miles to the car.

In my experience, If I had a customer willing to pay, but the reason they stopped was that theu just got the car and it wasn't working correctly or at all, my job was to do what was neccessary to find a solution good for both the company and the customer. This is were I encountered frequent problems with the service departments.

The company also had many questionable practices, one of which was that if you bever made your first regular payment on the loan, not the DIP (Deferred Installment Plan...part of the intial down payment that was stretched over a month of so after the purchase of the car) then your account was considered a "First Payment Default" and we (the field staff) were to get it back by any means. This included convincing the customer to voluntarily sign it back to the finance company, or by repossesing the car. If this happend the customer lost any money paid towards the car and then JD Byrider would put the car back on the lot for sale. Many times by this point the company had already made enough money to cover the intial auction purchase price.

My problem with the company was many of these gray line areas, and not addressing the problems of recently purchased cars. This is why myself and the majority of the executive staff at CNAC left.

While CNAC / JD Byrider do have probably more complaints than what is typical of a used car dealership, many truly were not the responsibility of the dealership, but due to the ignorance of the customer (example: engine seized up 1 year after purchase because customer never changed/added oil)

Whether buying from JD Byrider or any used car dealership, have the car inspected by someone you trust, test drive it for at least 10-20 minutes including on the freeway or at higher speeds, and don't rely on the word of a salesman, get things in writing. If you can't accomplish these things, don't buy the car.

I agree about bringing in a mechanic if one can do so, and if affordable. Many mechanics are not able to go and evaluate a vehicle and prefer it brought to them which many dealerships do not allow. Then you are talking an entirely different matter. Even with CarMax reports that are not 100% accurate. In the state of wisconsin, dealers must post a vehicle inspection sheet checked with either a check as legal or not! This too dealers ignore and get around. All this now is determined by how well one's trust is in a dealership reputation. I have lived here in this state and found much in what I consider to be objectionable and have had to rely on taking my vehicle to my old mechanic from the state I moved from in Illinois to get good service. At least when my car is repaired there, the price is resonable and it is repaired the first time. Here, I have had my car in numerous times for what was a simple correction and was overcharged.
Dealers are in the business to make money,"Even if it is at the cost of the public." Gone are the days of an honest dealership and the salesman and now are the days of trying to get what you can get regardless of who your screw. I am in sales and see it everyday with the salesman that are hired in the company I work for. These guys could care less about the customer and only care about how much commission they can make.

The dealers put a lot of pressure on you to buy but you should always resist buying so quickly on a used car and have a 3rd party mechanic (NOT THEIRS) look the car over and tell you what is wrong before you buy.

The dealers put a lot of pressure on you to buy but you should always resist buying so quickly on a used car and have a 3rd party mechanic (NOT THEIRS) look the car over and tell you what is wrong before you buy.

The dealers put a lot of pressure on you to buy but you should always resist buying so quickly on a used car and have a 3rd party mechanic (NOT THEIRS) look the car over and tell you what is wrong before you buy.

The dealers put a lot of pressure on you to buy but you should always resist buying so quickly on a used car and have a 3rd party mechanic (NOT THEIRS) look the car over and tell you what is wrong before you buy.

And if you dig into who owns JD Byrider in Wisconsin, you will find it is Russ Darrow. A man who ran for Senate who swore and promised to serve the poeple, "Or should I say, Screw the people." I have been there and done that with Russ Darrow and am fighting that company as far as I can for selling over priced crap. You should have done the same. Good Luck to you.