Complaint Review: JD Byrider - Maumee Ohio

Back in January, 2001 I bought a '95 Plymouth Neon from the JD Byrider located in Maumee, OH. Less then a week after I got it, the battery had died. The contacts themselves had a lot of corrosion on them and were in dire need of a good cleaning. I took care of the problem myself, rather then deal with the runaround, as I wanted the car running right away.

The night before I was planning to drive to Chicago for a weekend long convention, there was a nasty grinding noise coming from the brakes. This ended up being due to the brake pads being *torn up* by the rotors, which were rusted so badly, I had no choice other then replacing them.

As soon as the car hit 60,000 miles, it blew it's head gasket, stranding me in Seville, OH for a week, as this ruined the cam sensor. As soon as I got back, I had the head gasket replaced, but I had voiced concerns about the replacement cam sensor, as the same problem had begun to show up intermittently on the way back into Toledo. I was told there was absolutely nothing wrong with the cam sensor, that it was just fine. When I looked at it myself, it was SOAKED in oil! This is clearly NOT fine.

Even after the repairs to the head gasket and cam sensor were complete, the car still did not drive very well at all, and the transmission was not working correctly. They had to send the car to a transmission shop to have the linkage cleaned and adjusted

After picking up the car again, the engine light came on again a mere 4 hours after picking up the car. This time, the 02 sensor was bad, and it too needed replaced.

The headliner is, and has been falling down since about 3 months after I got the car. The paint on the driver side door is peeling and rusting off at the bottom... Part of the reality of living in Ohio, I guess, took a good amount of time to have that happen though.

I suppose I can't hold them responsible for ALL of the car's issues up to that point, other then the rusted rotors, and the messed up brake pads, as everything after that is related to known issues with the 95 Neon. They *ARE* known to blow their head gaskets at 60k.

The car has since had it's engine replaced, but the circumstances leading to that happening have nothing to do with negligence on J.D. Byrider's part, so I am not going to even bring that up, it's not a complaint that has anything to do with them.

My REAL complaint is mostly directed at CNAC. They were very nice at first, but after moving to Columbus (I needed to get away from my alcoholic roommate, and his dope addicted sister in law, as well as the lack of jobs in Toledo), their tone changed drastically. Mailing them payments was a major pain, so I worked out an agreement with them that they were to automatically charge my card on the 10th and the 26th of each month, so that I wouldn't have problems with them getting their money on time. Rarely do they actually do this on time, so I've given up on that, and now my payday ritual involves waking up, checking to ensure my account has been funded, and then immediately calling them and having them run a payment. They almost have a tone of disappointment in their voices when I call to pay, as if they would like nothing more then for me not to pay them so they can repo it, and resell it to someone else, making even more money.

I'm not terribly happy with how heavily marked up the car's price is either, not having known the car was only worth 50% of what they priced it at, and the interest rate is outrageously high. I'm also planning to move back to California to rejoin my S.O. in a few months, and I don't trust them not to try something REALLY screwed up, like claiming I never notified them (I plan to show up at least 45-60 days in advance, with a witness, and give them the notification in person, as well as mail them a second copy, certified mail, with reciept, and fax them notification as well.) or "losing" payments. I'll probably be looking to re-fi the car with someone else, or trade it in with negative equity financing (My driving technique has advanced past the limits of the Neon, and I need something better now, to keep improving my skills as a driver) so I can at least get a more manageable interest rate, as I know I can't do anything about the excessive price, but at least I can do some damage control.

Overall I wouldn't say I despise them, but they've tried a few things that set off red flags in my book, and I'm not terribly satisfied with the car itself (but the majority of the problems are problems that affect most 1995 Neons, so I don't completely fault them) Watch out for them, and you might want to just learn to repair cars on your own, or take it somewhere else once the warranty ends.

Sean

Columbus, Ohio
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on JD ByRider