Complaint Review: Car City & Orbit Leasing - Battle Creek Michigan

Do you have even the slightest clue what you got into?  You didn't "BUY" anything!  You got into a CAR FLEASE!  This has absolutely NOTHING to do with you buying anything yet you seem to be equating them!  The reason there is no line or block indicating "INTEREST RATE IN APR" is because you didn't buy anything!  Secondly, nobody but nobody stalked you or dragged you out of your house to force you into this stupid FLEASE.  You volunteered.  You can whine all you want about how bad of a deal you have (and you do) but nobody put a gun to your head and forced you into this.  Surely the paperwork told you this was a FLEASE.  Apparently you didn't read that. 

Is this a bad deal?  Absolutely!  Should you have done this?  Absolutely not!  But YOU did and nobody but nobody forced you to do so.   Perhaps you don't know as much about finance as you think you do!

No, I don't work for them.

After reviewing my credit report while preparing to shop for a new vehicle in June of 2011 I realized that my lower credit score would require a substantial down payment or a co-signer which I did not have available. I decided to take a look at the programs advertised by Car City which were said to be designed for helping borrowers establish stronger credit while providing quality reliable vehicles    
 With an enormous advertising campaign focused on financing for any borrower with solid employment and requiring little to no down payment. Perfect, just what I was looking for. It was almost as if they were crusaders for people with less than perfect credit.
  I stopped by the  local Car City and met with a salesman who listened to exactly what I was looking for , which was a reliable newer model year auto mobile which was good on gas and would still maintain value at the end of my finance term. He assured me that the company was dedicated to providing quality vehicles and an outstanding service department as well as a 6 month 100% dealer provided warranty to cover almost every major part and additional extended warranty which could be added to ensure low out of pocket cost in the unlikely event of a mechanical issue. He stated that the company firmly believed that by selling quality vehicles that would not need repairs the borrowers we're able to afford their payments and unlikely to default. Seemed like common sense to me.   
  Needless to say not only is the lease contract (which is with Orbit Leasing) very difficult to decipher but nowhere in the contract is there actually an interest rate provided, making it virtually impossible to access how much the cost of improving your credit will be. The payment is actually based on an assigned  cost of depreciation during the lease term (which is interestingly higher than the actual selling price...hmmm) and then adding a rental/lease charge and dividing the total by 48 payments... Which I must tell you brought the cost of my 2006 Sebring which was priced at 10,400 dollars to a staggering 23,642 in 48 months (not including the repairs which totalled more than the cars value by month 13).    
So to all of the attorneys reading this and shaking their heads while uttering  didn't you read the contract... I must say to you yes I did, and with over 10 years of mortgage lending experience I challenge any of you to calculate the formula used to arrive at the payment without my having given you the break down.    
 And to further add insult to injury, since when did we as a society begin to accept predatory lending as punishment to anyone who had fallen on difficult times or lost a job resulting in a less than perfect credit score?
 And to the law makers and legislators who have chosen to over look this little injustice because the majority of people who are forced into using these parasites to obtain the vehicle that enables them to get to the job that provides for their families are not the people who fall into demographics that will strengthen your numbers at the polls.... You may want to re evaluate the impact of predatory lending and the fall out it creates. Have we forgotten already that the mortgage industries use of predatory lending played a larger role in the collapse of our current economy than any other "single" factor... with fall out that we are still seeing today.    
  Let me assure you that after research into this disgusting business practice which claims to offer help to those who have nowhere else to turn, as well as my personal experience ,I am making it my business to see that this is brought to the attention of not only potential consumers but news media and the general public as well.    
Does anyone really think that it is ok to let people who either lack the resources to stand up for themselves or who lack the knowledge that they even possess the right not to be bullied into situations that trap them in a finance situation that they have no hope of ever getting out of, many of which have actually had their vehicles repossessed while never having missed a payment... Because it is not O.K    
My personal situation left me, after ongoing  mechanical failures, taking the vehicle to a reputable mechanic only to learn that the cost of repairs necessary to even deem the car safe to drive would total more than the vehicle which I had only had for 13 months was worth. That 10,400 auto mobile just 13 months into the lease was now valued at 2465.00 dollars with repairs required that would exceed 2500.00
Weighing my options and wanting to continue to re establish my credit rating I chose to address the issue yet again with the very dealer ship that misrepresented the original purchase. I provided them with a plethora of documentation detailing every single issue which led to the unsafe to drive status.    
 Because of their strong moral fibre (are you kidding me), they offered to do all the required repairs while only charging me their cost which totalled 993.05. When the car was finished I asked for the old parts which had been replaced as  I had signed the form opting to have the old parts returned to me. Well somehow it was over looked and they had mistakenly been thrown out. As soon as I drove away from the dealer it was apparent that if anything had been done at all it was a screw which had been tightened, not a  front end and suspension system replaced. The car drove exactly as it had before.
The car is currently being evaluated by the mechanic who gave the original estimate showing what was required to make the car safe to transport my two small children.
 It has now been just 21 months since the purchase/lease of this car, and as of today the value of the car (if it were in mechanically sound condition) is $ 1739 dollars.
 So it appears that what I will be looking for is a really good attorney who still believes that predatory lending and misrepresentation is a crime. So if you are out there feel free to contact me, I have all documents to substantiate these facts.    
 Take a moment to look at the highest offer I have for this car is today. Just 21 months after I picked the vehicle up and with 27 months to go @ 405.59 a monthA big Thank you to Car City and Orbit Leasing, you are quite a team to say the very least.