I went to Dan Nelson in Des Moines, Iowa in February of 2004. I had just started college and was desperate for a vehicle. My credit wasn't that horrible, I just had some hospital bills and hadn't really established any credit, so after calling many banks and being turned down because of those reasons, I decided that Dan Nelson was my only option.
I went to the delaership off of Hubbell Ave. and seen many cars on the lot that I would have loved to have. I went into the building and it didn't take long for a salesman to greet me. He put me in a tiny room and left me there for quite some time before coming back in to tell me that they did get me financed and that they had a car outside for me to look at. I was then told that it was the only car that I could get. I was displeased with the service and at that point I almost gave up, but I thought about the future of my schooling and knew that I needed the reliable transportation.
I asked to test drive it and was told that I didn't need to because of it being the only vehicle on the lot that I was eligible to drive off with, so I decided to proceed anyway.
I then told him that I would go somewhere else if I was not allowed to test it first and he did end up letting me. I thought that the car was good enough for my first car and I signed, what I now consider, my life away. I have had problems with the car. The car hasn't been as bad as others that I have heard about, but the one thing that really concerned me was when I had new tires put on the car about a month later at a tire store. They said that I should have been in sooner baecause I could have gotten into a very bad accident. I didn't understand, and the man who put my new tires on agreed with me.
How could a dealership not recognize that the tires on the car were not safe if they actually do inspect them before selling them. What would they have done if I was in a bad or a fatal accident, just because they are trying to rip people off so they can make there money.
I was told many things on top of the car purcahse, you know, stuff in the contract that you sign. Well, turns out that I purchased a car that was only worth $3200 book value for a whopping $7800. Add with the taxes, fees and the interest, if I end up paying the car off, yes I am still paying on it, I will pay approx. $12,000 for it and it is now only worth $1,037. I am appulled.
What were they thiking. Anyhow, they sold my contract to Tidewater Motor Credit out of VA. By the way, they also finance furniture. Tidewater should have known better too. Dan nelson auto didn't even let me know. I went to make a payment one day and they said that I had to send it to the other company. I thought that was rude of them, but at the same time, I was thinking, well now I can get this paid down a little and get into a different car and be happy. Noway did that happen. My credit didn't get any better either, and they promised that it would. I just found out about this scheme that they have pulled on people who went through that company and I am obviously one of the victims. I refuse to let them get away with this. I work to hard to let my money and credit go to waste and I am not going to be their victim anymore.
I am going through the Iowa Attorney Generals Office and a non-profit organization and if I will hire a private attorney if I need to. I am going to get my money back or some type of refund. I and everyone else deserve our rights to be restored the ones that they stole away from us, we deserve to see what was stolen from us back into our hands. I hope everyone can hang in there until this is settled, even if it takes years, it is well worth it. Thank you for reading this and I think that you should take time out and file a rip off report as well. Good luck to you all.
Andrea
Grinnell, Iowa
U.S.A.