Complaint Review: Drive Time - Orange Park Select State/Province

My son is the type that likes to do things on his own and didn't ask for my help. And i'm very proud of him for that. But when he does ask for my help, I allways give him the help he needs.

He got a great deal and a great car and had it paid off with in three years.

I'm so glade you are so educated. Happy Trails.

                  ( The End )

WOW!!!! Sounds to me like we got our selves an x-car salesman or at least some one that knows about those things

- Wow when did education become a crime or something to be ashamed of.   Seriously?  Yes I am one of those people who "knows about those things"...just like 10's of thousands of others who keep a very close eye on their credit.  And here is a shock for you like me not everyone who knows about these things is an Ex-Car salesman.

So in getting back to the ad, in the Ad did it say that EVERYONE was approved for ANY car?  My guess would be no.  In fact I even got a shock(which is hard to do).  I went to their web site looking for anything like that and I found a link to their commercials from the last 3 years.  So can you please post which commercial you saw that said everyone was approved for a car.

https://www.drivetime.com/PressRoom/Commercials

As for the "facts and figures", yes I deal in facts and figures because no matter what you do  you can not "tiptoe" around or explain away the facts of a situation.  So yes would be very interesting to know how much of a "good deal" your son got at the other dealership with his "facts and figures".

Oh and one other thing I never brought up.  How come if he couldn't get a car on his own you were not willing to Co-Sign?  After all he was your son and the benefit to his(and now in your credit) would be exactly the same as if he got the car on his own. 

WOW!!!! Sounds to me like we got our selves an x-car salesman or at least some one that knows about those things. Really laying down some facts and figers. WOW!!! Sir, sorry if we affended you. But no matter, Drive Time still should keep to their TV add. Don't tell the public one thing and then do something else. After all the public tends to believe in adds. If I had an add in the paper that I was selling a BMW and you came to buy it, only to find out I was really selling a Pinto, wouldn't you wonder about how honest I was? I wonder about Drive Time. 

 First off exactly how much experience do you have in approving loans?  Because I really want to know under what standard YOU think your son had good enough credit to get a car?  Oh, by they way I am not saying I have any more expertise..but then again I am also not saying that your son's credit was good enough.

So what was your son's "not so great" FICO credit score?

While we are on your idea of how things should be, can you please explain exactly what you mean by your son does a good job of "keeping things paid".  Because in a FICO Score your payment history is 35% of the overall score.  Where someone who not only is "keeping things paid", but making sure they are paid ON-TIME isn't going to be someone with "not so great" credit.

Now, you did grace us with the pleasure of letting us know how much he was wiling to put down.  Great..so how much does he make a month?  Because let's just say that he bought that $10,000 car, after you figure all of the taxes and other fees he would probably end up financing $10,000 after his downpayment.  So figuring he would get a 4 year loan at 15% interest he would have payments of around $275/month.  Based on his Gross and other monthly obigliations does that exceed the 36% Debt-to-Income ratio?

You also mentioned that he not only got a loan from another dealer but it is paid off.  So I guess this happened a while ago.  So on that...congratulations and hopefully since it has been paid off he has continued to show a positive payment history on his other items.  But again very curious as to how much he financed, what interest rate did he get, how much in other debts does he have and how long was the loan term for?

First, i never said he had bad credit, I said, it wasn't great but it was good enough to get another car.

As far as his bills and such, he is good at keeping things paid.

As for what he was looking for, it was a cheep car for a litte over $10,000.00. With his $2,000.00 down you would have thought that would have been enough. He even opt for a car for $8,500.00 but still no deal. An addvertisment is an addvertisment. He had good enough credit, but just not for them. But he did end up getting a car, not from Drive Time, but from a Cadillac dealership. And he got a good deal on it and has gotten it paid off now. Drive Time lost what would have been a good customer. 

You seem a bit confused, as you seem to think that "credit" is the only thing that you need to have to purchase a car.  Well guess what..it doesn't matter how good your credit is, if you don't have the money there ain't no way you are getting a $50,000 BMW(oh and no I am not saying that is what your son was looking at..at least I don't think so).

You see people with bad credit have not proven they can handle a loan and so are considered higher risk..higher risk equals higher costs.  Now places like Drivetime are much more lienient..but even they have standards.

So ask your son these questions.  How much was he willing to put down?  How much does he make a month?  How much other "monthly" expenses does he have(rent, other credit cards and obligations..etc).  The answer to those 3 questions will be much more telling as to why he didn't get approved than anything about his credit shows.

If he was expecting a low(or no) downpayment, even with good credit that is not a guarantee.  With "bad" credit a lender requiring 25-30% is not out of the question.  Meaning if he was looking at a $20,000 car there is a good chance they were looking at him putting around $4,000 down.  If he didn't have that he wouldn't get the car.

Next lenders also don't like to see borrowers go over about a 36% debt to income ratio(Drive time may be a bit more lienient).  So if your son was making $2,000/month he can't have more than about $720 in monthly debts.  So if he had say $500 in other debts, that leaves a grand total of about $220 for his car payment. Again...almost impossible to do especially with bad credit.

So perhaps intead of continuing the cycle of blaming everyone else for how they are not being "fair" or honest.  Perhaps you should look at your own son and his probable chain of failed promises to the other creditors he has stiffed in the past..or let me guess his bad credit isn't his fault either.

By the way no I am not an employee of this company.  In fact I personally wouldn't buy a car from them(or in reality any dealer) without having it first inspected by an independent mechanic.  I then also would make sure that anything that they promise is put IN WRITTING.