I am from Arkansas and I purchased a 2005 Ford 500 with 14,000 miles on it from Jake Sweeney Smart Mart through the 722 Redemption program. I received the information for this from my bankruptcy attorney so I figured it must be a safe place to use to get a vehicle since I was in the bankruptcy process and could not get financing anywhere else.
I went through the same exact process that Jennifer from Kansas City did. Thinking this is great, the vehicle only has 14,000 miles on it, they pulled a vehcile history report and it came back clean this car will last me a long time and they sell below retail value, according to William, so that will make up the difference in the high interest I will have to pay for the first year. According to William the bank that would be financing me would let me refinance at a lower rate with 12 months of on time payments.
My payments are made before they are do, it has been over a year and the bank I am with will tells me they never refinance anyone out of bankruptcy for at least 24 months.
So, angry as I was at that I wanted to get a truck anyway because a truck more so fits my life style then the car so I went to a dealer to trade in the car. The mechanic took the car for a ride and come back to tell me they will only give me $7000 for the car I paid almost $16,000 for a year ago because it had previously been in an accident!
Of course I told that mechanic that the car had never been in an accident I got a vehcile history report when I bought it and it came back clean. Well now that it had been brought to my attention my husband and I have looked at the car and oh yeah almost the entire passanger side of the vehicle and the front bumper have had damage and you can see where they sanded the doors and did a very poor job fixing it. I have over spray above the rear passanger side door from them repainting the car. Just to let everyone know, had we known the vehicle had been in an accident we would have never bought it, especially at retail value!
What I want to know, is how is this dealership getting a CLEAN vehicle history report when these vehicles have been damaged????
I have not had CCC Valuescope run the record on my yet because I just found Jennifers report online yesterday. I believe some kind of fraud is going on here and this company is taking advantage of people that are already down. I now have a car that I am having rear break problems with, they believe due to being in an accident, that I owe so much money for I would have to come up with almost $8,000 just to trade it in and get it off my hands. I am stuck with the interest rate that keeps sending me into even more negetive equity that I was told I would be able to get rid of in 12 months.
If there is anyone that this has happened to and would like to try and do something about it, I give Ripoff Report permission to give them my contact information.
Jake Sweeney Smartmart
Cincinnati,#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, December 10, 2009
I would like to begin by introducing myself and our company. My name is Scotty Rienschield and I am the Used Car Manager at Jake Sweeney Smartmart. We are a dealership in Cincinnati, Ohio that has been in business for 10 years and sold thousands of cars. We are part of the Jake Sweeney Organization which owns over 10 new & used automobile franchises and has been in business for over 30 years. Here in Cincinnati, Jake Sweeney is a respected name in the automotive industry. Jake Sweeney Smartmart began life as any other used car dealership would, serving the local communities. We have been involved in several programs over the years, with our most successful being an approved dealer for 722 Redemption Funding Inc. As we understand it, 722 helps people that have recently filed bankruptcy to obtain a late model, low mileage vehicle at a below retail price. Our normal bankruptcy customers that come in to our facility, if we can even get them approved, they usually end up in a ten year old vehicle with well over a hundred thousand miles. Through the 722 program, we usually can get the customer into a vehicle no older than a few years and under forty thousand miles. We understand it to be a great program. With that being said, I will attempt to tell our side of this story.
Debbie from Arkansas was referred to us by 722 for their bankruptcy program. She was directed to William who explained how 722s program works. On a side note, William has been with Jake Sweeney Smartmart for over 8 years now. William gave her the list of cars she was approved for and she proceeded to choose the 2005 Ford 500 that she has mentioned. It had very low mileage and the 500 was one of Fords nicer vehicles. Her sale price was exactly $14,985.37. Our vehicles all receive a thorough inspection and reconditioning procedure. During this inspection, no indication of a previous accident was detected. The vehicle was purchased directly from Ford Motor Credit, who did not disclose any previous damage. I also pulled an Auto Check report this morning while doing research that does not reveal any accidents or damage. I cannot guarantee that the vehicle has never been in an accident, but I will say that we have multiple checks during our time with the vehicle. Our goal is to provide the customer with a reliable vehicle that will serve them well until they are able to re-establish their credit. If we were not successful with this, 722 would not use us as an approved dealer for their program. During my reference to Auto Check, the last reported odometer reading was 42,000 miles. This vehicle has served them well and, as far as I can tell, they were happy with the vehicle until these issues were pointed out to them. My last point is that they did choose an unfortunate time to purchase a vehicle. It is no secret about our economic problems, and this car was purchased before it spiraled down. Any individual, who purchased a vehicle before the end of 2008, has seen a considerable drop in their vehicles value. We have no way of telling the future, so we could not have known this would happen. Hopefully the economy will get better and, with that, the value of vehicles will rise. Even with the times, NADA is still showing the vehicles retail value to be $11,975 with over forty thousand miles. I would say that the vehicle should be taken to another dealer for a trade in appraisal.
In closing, I will say that I understand Debbies frustrations. Im sure we all have a car, house, or other possession that is not worth what it was over a year ago. I can assure you that there is no fraud happening with our company. We have a great program and go to great lengths to see that each car we sell is of satisfactory condition.
Scotty Rienschield
Used Car Manager
Jake Sweeney Smartmart