In November of last year, having no other choice I went to Drive Time in Torrance California for the purchase if a automobile... Unfortunately. After picking out a very nice, clean 2002 Ford Escort (one of only a few cars I was allowed to choose from) we sat down to do the deal. The price of the car was $10,000.00 and without any opportunity to do ANY negotiation on the price, that what I was forced to agree to, or walk home. At the time I did own a vehicle and I was told on the phone that I could buy insurance at the dealership since I did not have any. When speaking face to face with the salesman about the insurance he told me that the insurance was $150.00 for comp and collision and an additional $100.00 for liability. I was told that I was not required to buy the liability insurance in order to drive the car off the lot even though it is illegal to drive without it. I was also told that the $150.00/100.00 was a down payment on a insurance policy and that I would be billed for the balance on a six month policy, I could either pay it or get me own insurance.
I asked the salesman that if I bought the insurance right then and got my own policy the next day could I cancel their policy and get a refund, the answer I got was "yes". So in order to have full coverage I paid the full $250.00, I put it on my check card. We then finished the deal and I drove home to Long Beach. The next morning I went out and ran some errands. When I got home I checked my bank account and saw that I was only charged $150.00, not the full $250.00. I then called the insurance company directly to find out why. I was told by one of their representatives that I was only given the comp and collision and NOT the liability insurance because the dealership failed to fax over a copy of my drivers license. I was very upset about this now knowing that I had been driving around without liability insurance, no one bothered to inform me about that fact. I then asked about the money being a "down payment" on an insurance policy and the rep told me that was incorrect, that it was nothing more then a one month binder to be added to Drive Times insurance policy. This made me very angry since I have a spotless driving record and full coverage insurance does not cost me more then $90.00 a month, certainly not $250.00! I then asked if the money was refundable as I had been told by the salesman and the answer was no. So, I got ripped off for $150.00 that I would NOT have paid had I been told the truth. I would have waited till the next day to take delivery after buying my own insurance policy. To this day after talking to many people/management at Drive Time I still have not received a refund. Drive Time does not stand behind what their employees claim, bad news!
Within the last couple of months I have been to many dealerships to try to trade the car in on a new one. I want a new car with a warranty. My credit is now good enough for me to buy from almost anyone, there is only one problem. I have found out that after only 6 months of owning this car its value is $4,000.00, I owe $10,000.00. I owe $6,000.00 more then the car is worth. And with the 29.9% interest rate I am paying my deferred payment (total paid over the loan term) is $18,000.00. I understand now that the full retail value of the car when I bought it was at very best $8,000.00 with much room for negotiation at a creditable dealership.in other words I should have been able to buy this car for $6,500.00 to $7,000.00. Drive Time dramatically inflates the retail value for a improved profit margin, way outside the reasonable. Drive Time caters to folks that simply have no other choice and takes full and unfair advantage of them, me included.in my humble opinion this is unethical business practice. Also, Drive Time not only inflates the retail prices, charges the maximum interest allowed by law, they also charge fees for absolutely everything. They even charge $3.00 to take a payment over the phone.in my opinion Drive Time takes advantage of people in a bad way and do so in such a way that people are totally locked in so they simply cant go anywhere else. After my experience and seeing what others have gone through I would entertain being involved in any legal way to help bring them down, people like this don't deserve to be in business. PLEASE BEWARE!
Scott
Long Beach, California
U.S.A.
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