I needed to start shopping for a car as I knew the one I was driving was not going to last me much longer. It had over 250,000 miles on it. I don't have bad credit, but I don't have much of a credit history either. The following story is the experience I had with the local JD Byrider. I am posting this for people who may be thinking of buying a car from there. Be careful!
My experience started last Friday. I was surfing the web for deals on cars. I stumbled upon an online car loan website. It looked legit, so I applied for credit. About an hour later I got a phone call from, you guessed it, JD Byrider. This was not what I was expecting.
The rep on the phone told me that he read my application and told me I should have no problem getting a car from them. I asked him what kind of cars he had for sale, the price range, the years, etc. He kind of skirted the question and told me to come on down and have a look. I said I could be in the following day, so he set up an appointment to meet.
I got to the lot the next day and started looking at the cars. They did have a few cars that I thought I might be interested in. No prices, mileages, were listed on the window. That sent up a red flag in my mind immediately. I was only out there for about 2 minutes when the rep came out for me.
He introduced himself and I started to ask him about a couple of the cars I liked. He told me to come inside first and see what kind of loan I could get. I laughed and told him that I would like to look at the cars first to see if I even wanted any of them. He would NOT answer any of my questions about the cars until I came inside with him. I thought this was very strange.
So I go inside and he started to give me a tour of the building. After a minute of this I told him, this place is nice, but how about a tour of the cars?!? That's why I was there after all. He said we'll get to that, let's sit down and talk first. Ummmm, ok?
So he starts with the flip chart showing me about the history of JD Byrider, the warranty, and other stuff. I tell him again, great, can we go look at cars now? He says as soon as I get your information we will go take a look at some cars.
I had just about had it at this point. I say I'm not giving you any information until you at least let me see how much a couple of the cars cost. He says, fine we have nothing to hide. He goes and gets a sheet of paper and hands it to me.
It was a list of the cars on the lot with the prices and mileages. I read the first one and didn't need to go any further. I just started laughing. His eyebrows raise and asks me what was so funny. I point out the first listing to him.
2001 Chevy Cavalier 106,000 miles, $10,200
What???
I told him that I could go on his computer right now and find him a dozen of those cars for half that price or less. He says, maybe but none of them will have the warranty that we give. I said, oh so I am paying 5 grand for a warranty? No thanks.
Now he starts to lose his cheerful demeanor at this point. He says, look not only do we sell cars but we sell the ability for people to fix or establish their credit. Isn't that what you are interested in?
I say, No, what I am interested in is a fair deal on a good used car. And it looks like I'm not going to find that here. I stand up, extend my hand for a farewell handshake, which gets refused, and I walk out.
I made it out alive. If you are reading this, I hope you do too. Or better yet, don't even bother going there in the first place.
I will find another way to get a good used car. I will just have to save up a little more money and hope my car doesn't die in the mean time. But I will never give a dime to these rip off sharks!!
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