If the old saying "a new sucker is born every minute" is true then every JD Byrider MUST be some sort of delivery room for these suckers being born.
I was unfortunately born (SUCKER) in 2001 at their location in Brockton Mass. Now I knew going in that they had a sleezy'esque feel about them. Perhaps even more than your average Dealership. I knew this because lets be honest they are caterring to the desprite and for the moSt part they know or assume (they) are your last hope and at that point in order to turn to them you can pretty much assume no one else will finance you, right?
Well I knew being a woman and a desprite one with bad credit I was in for it and to add to that I was and still am to some degree ignorant of anything to do with a car. I came in the door doe eyed and a little to eager. They saw me a staning there with 3 kids my youngest an infant and swooned in on me. I told thm I needed a Mini van. I told them my past credit woes. We did the paper work even though I pleaded I was "just looking" so I see they have vurtually nothing pertaining to multi passenger cars with the exception of a Dark Blue 1995 Dodge Caravan. Now in my defense it was late at night. But even the optimist was skeptical. It looked pretty old. It had a sticker but NO PRICE?
It had well over 150,000 mls on it which was I guess understandable. It looked like a base model. So we get the keys me and the kids pile in and buckle up and we drive only around the block, everything seemed "okay" but what do I know? Literally! So the kids were grateful to be riding it was late and I worked and again was desprite. So the took me up to the Delivery room where the magic happens. Now durring this whole night a price was never mentioned I asked a few times and was told over and over how low my payments would be. I can only fault myself I guess for not insisting of this very important deal breaking news before the joy ride.
Anywho they have all the documents laid out and go on about how big a favor they are doing me by giving me a "second chance" and how I'd better not mess it up. Im signing the papers and then we get to the price first they give you the seemingle good news which always starts with the Segway "ONLY!" $179 a week
Which monthly translates to a brand new car payment not a car that is over two decades old! My bad..
So I sign my life away and they explain away how great their warranty is and assure me tht they do a exstensive tune-up and check and fix everything. So I don't feel as had after that. I put down $500.00 and the car is now ONLY! $7,000 and some change. If I were to sell the car in the condition I bought it I would be lucky to get $500.00 for it.
After everything was done and I was given the keys to my new lemon it was closing time. The last sales man and I drove off the lot together ONLY I didn't make it to the 3rd set of lights!
The car cut off on me several times in traffic. I was soo scared, it was cold I didn't know the area I had no cell phone and I had my 4 month old infant with me. I never Prayed so intensely in my life. The car made it back to Boston where I live. That was about a 45 mnt drive (for me). I was pissed to say the least and called the very next day and reported what happened. They seemed as shocked and upst as I (of course) and I stated I want to return the car and wash my hands off it. I was already feeling like a big idiot for buying a car that old for that much and then it had a nerve to break down on the way out the dealership? Ohhh NO! I was told that would be a voluntary reposession and I would not be financed again anywhere. I had no choice but to bring the car back. They could find nothing wrong with it (of course) It was one of those moments when ur scratching ur head wonderring hmm maybe it is just me?
The next incident was the bald tires and the rotted bolts. I was driving on the highway and I could feel the tire wobbling I got off the highway and looked at the tires and they were not flat... Not yet anyway. The bolts were soo old and rusted that some of the front ones had rotted off and my tires were not secure. I had to get towed... I got towed a lot in 2001
I had to pay to have the car towed to them they fixed the bolts at no charge. Soon after that incident about a month and a half the bald tires started peeling like Banans. Then it was a gasket, then the Transmission. There were so many trips to Brockton and soo many out of pocket cost I had no car more often than not and I was paying for something I couldn't use. I couldn't afford to keep paying for Insurance and car payments and repairs. I got behind in my Insurance not car payments and had enough I told them to come and get it again and this time keep it.in the end in they got about a $3,000 profit from a $500.00 car. Now who says the car business has a small profit margin. Perhaps you need to go checkout Jd Byrider if your an out of work sales man. However if you are NOT and you are looking for a car don't do business with JD BYRIDER. If you want a used car buy one flat out. I gaurantee you in a months time you will have paid them the market value of your car anyway. The rest of your payments are just salary and profit for them.
The moral of this story is If someone is offerring you a deal and they claiming to be doing you a favor and acting as if it's because they wanna help you AND they are in the car business chances are your going to be taken advantage of.in retro spect It is soo very obvious you should be firm and you should never act out of despiration. You should have a clear price on the car BEFORE you drive it or sit down to bang out the details.
I am now left with really, really bad credit No car and no recourse. My next car will be bought and paid for at the same time.
Foot note: if anyone decides to do business with JD please keep in mind they don't like to answer questions about the cars price and will try to distract you with other things. Pleas know the Blue book value of the car and have it checked out by a couple of mechanics first and have a thorough test drive.
Sincerely, Jaded
Angel
Dorchester, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
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