In 1997 I purchased a vehicle from a company that was then called Ugly Duckling. I was and am an adult student and I didn't have good credit. I didn't have bad credit either. But, I was an uneducated consumer and this was the first car that I was purchasing independently. The dealer stated to me that this purchase would take a total of 3 years and that the care would be paid off in this time providing that I made my payments of 160 every 2 weeks.
This I did, though it was a struggle and I was late sometimes. I would recieve very threatening calls from collections departments. One of the Supervisors whose name was Jackie was very rude and made a personal threat as to what would happen to me if I didn't pay the 320 dollars that I owed at one point. I explained that I had been having problems with the car and that I needed to pay for work that had to be done on the car. She threatened to come to my house with the police and reposess the vehicle.
My fiance' paid. After paying on this car for 2 years I decided that I wanted to purchase another car rather than continue to pay for things that went wrong with this car and be harrassed by the dealer when I couldn't pay on time. I decided to go to another dealership one that was more traditional and purchase another car. I would trade this car in. Well the new dealership stated that in doing the research he had found that there was 7000 dollars owing on this car.
I couldn't believe that because that was the purchase price; it was as though I had never paid a dime. I called the Duck and told them that I would be returning the vehicle to them and that I wouldn't pay another dime. I was told that I wouldn't do that unless I wanted problems. I was afraid because of the way these people had spoken to me over the relationship. I had never really told my fiance' how they made me feel because I didn't want him to take matters into his own hands.
The police called it a civil matter and suggested small claims court. I decided to return the car to the dealership anyway. My fiance actually drove the car to the dealer's lot and they gave him a reciept stating that they had recieved the vehicle. Now it's 2003 and I am attempting to refinance my home and pay off my school loans and Drive Time appears on my credit the bank contacts them and Drive Time AKA Ugly Duckling is demanding to be paid 6,500 dollars to go away. They are like a cancer.
There is no cure. It seems that I don't have a leg to stand on. Though they have probably sold the car to someone at auction or otherwise and have gained tremendously and I have lost, it seems I will continue to lose money because of their greed and my own ignorance. I would not like to see this happen to anyone else. There will always be someone reputable out there willing to make a deal with you and take a chance.
Don't feel desperate because your credit appears to be too bad for anyone to trust you. Try to do business with traditionally financed companies or you might end up like me. Ripped off and Flipped off. I've gotten my license to practice my profession and am not suffering financially as I did when I was a full time student, but unless I allow this company to complete the rip off by having my refinance company pay them off I will continue to have these points against my credit.
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