I bought a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am in March. I faithfully paid my payments every week (even when the car was in the shop - which was pretty often). My husband continuously teased me about my "little piece of crap" every time it went in the shop. I will admit up front that for the most part, I knew what I was getting into when I purchased the car. I knew I was paying too much, that the interest rate was too high, and that my payments were outrageous. However, in order to work - I needed a car and based on my poor credit history - it was what I had to resort to to earn the living to pay for the over-priced car!
In October my husband went on medical leave from his job and in December of I lost my job. I contacted the dealership and was told to keep them posted on my status. I began to get nervous when I was falling seriously behind - and contacted the dealership again. I asked them if they had any kind of program where I could defer a couple months' payments until I could find a job and could then get caught back up. They stated that they did not have any program like that. I worked with a pay by the day company in order to keep a little bit of cash coming in to help with some money towards my past due balance. I constantly received phone calls (mostly voice mai) from their Collections department (one person mostly - Marta or Martha) which sounded something like, "you need to call me by the end of the business day today, " and I would receive the message an hour before they closed. They kept suggesting that I borrow money from family members so I could get my past due balance paid.
I finally found a job in March. I notified the dealership that I was beginning work the following Thursday, and would be able to begin catching up on my payments the following Friday. On Monday morning at 6:00 am while I was getting ready for my first full week of work at my brand new job - my car was picked up and hauled away. They wanted all of my past due balance PLUS a repo fee in order to give me my car back. Since I hadn't even received my first paycheck - I couldn't do that. I told them that I was going to contact a lawyer - that what they were doing wasn't right & I was told #1- I had signed an arbitration agreement so I couldn't call a lawyer and #2 - they had my car and they could do whatever they wanted to do.
About a month later, I saw my car sitting back out on their lot for sale. Yep - my car. I was driving by there on a Sunday and stopped to make sure it was my car. Same color interior (which was an unusual color), same burn mark in the driver seat that had always been there, same cracked front bumper (that had always been there) and same wheels. A week or so later - it was no longer on the lot.
The reason that I am telling you about that part is that last night, I was served with papers from a LAWYER saying that I owe $8800!!! Not once since I picked up my belongings from the car have I heard a WORD - not a phone call, a letter, a NOTHING - from them (and not to mention - I am pretty darn sure that they resold my car) until I receive these legal papers.
I don't want others to go through what I have gone through. Since my car was taken back in April, I carpooled, rode city transportation and walked to get myself to work and saved money to buy a car outright from a private owner.in a perfect world, it is possible that my purchasing that Grand Am would have led to better credit. However we don't live in a perfect world and you can't plan for losing your job and running into financial difficulty. Isn't their slogan, "we understand that bad things happen to good people"?? Hmmm... Doesn't sound like they actually believe that, does it? It's more like - "we understand that we can make good people in a bad situation have an even worse situation and enjoy it in the process."
Angie
Three Rivers, Michigan
U.S.A.
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