We bought a car from DriveTime about a year ago-since we had no credit history they were the only ones that would give us financing for the car we needed. First, the interest rate was outrageous but we had no chioce because we needed the car so desperately. Not a month after we bought it, the transmission went out. The shop we were told to take it to by DriveTime was dirty and in a really bad neighborhood, and they kept the car for over a week. DriveTime told us that they couldn't pay for the rental for more than a week, so we had to pay for the extra time we had it.
Just last week, part of the radiator that shop was supposed to have fixed broke again with my kids in the car! Since the warantee expired after only 6 months, it cost us another $400. We had to get the air conditioning fixed last summer (around $300) too.
We get more calls from them about our payments-even when we're not late-than anyone, even family and friends! On the few occassions we've been late (like now because of the unexpected cost of fixing what should have been done right the first time) they harass us relentlessly with threats. We've complained about the rudeness, but then it only got worse. We've had to start to lock up and cover our car every day because of the constant threats to tow it if we're even a day late. They refuse to compromise on pay dates, even when there's an emergency. I was receiving harassing voicemails at my grandmother's funeral!
When our pay dates changed, we were forced to come in and re-write the loan, but they refused to talk to us about lowering the interest rate because of our "poor payment history" (no lates reported to the bureaus and never more than a few days beyond the scheduled pay date) and because they don't "refinance" even their own loans. We've tried to refinance elsewhere, but DT gives us such a bad credit reference they've made it impossible.
On top of that, we were forced to pay to have the loan re-written, even though it was only because they forced us to! I wouldn't recommend DT to anyone for ant reason-you're better off taking the bus!
FYI-To those of your concerned about the threats to your credit rating: I worked for a third party credit reporting company. DT CANNOT report a late payment to the credit bureaus unless it's at least 30 days late. If they report it any earlier, you can dispute it and have it removed-then sue them for reporting false information!
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