Complaint Review: Drivetime Ugly Duckling - Albuquerque New Mexico

As with many others, I too have been screwed pretty good by Drivetime AKA Ugly Duckling. Back in November of 2000, My Fiancee at the time and I were young (19 and 20) and did not have any credit built up at the time. Neither of us had ever bought a car before, so we were not real sure exactly what we were doing. We needed a vehicle, and after visiting some of the larger dealerships throughout Albuquerque and being denied due to lack of credit, we decided to go to Ugly Duckling at 5306 Central Ave SW in Albuquerque, NM.

Biggest mistake ever made! As we were looking at the cars that we "qualified" for, there was only one car out of three that appealled to either of us. We had asked if we can take it out for a test drive. As I was getting ready to get into the driver seat, the salesman told me that I would not be allowed to drive the vehicle due to "company policies". So, with the salesman at the wheel, we took a short drive around a couple of blocks before coming back to the car lot.

Once we returned, I began to examine the vehicle for mechanical issues. I noticed that there was a small trickle of anti-freeze dripping under the car. I had asked the salesman about it, and without an answer, he hollered out in spanish to another employee. This other guy walks over to the car and they begin to speak to each other in spanish, while neither my wife or I understood a word. The salesman then tells me that this is the mechanic, and he is saying that he had just filled the car with anti-freeze shortly before we took the car out for a test drive. At the time, it sounded legitimate. So, we decided to inquire about payments, pricing, etc.

After spending two hours sitting alone in the lobby as the salesman was "putting together a quote" for us, he finally approached us and handed us some paperwork. Looking at the papers, it was a contract already typed up. As I was sifting through the rest of it, the salesman began explaining the price and payments. Last statement made, he stated that if for whatever reason we were not happy with the car and wanted to return it, we could do so within the first 30 days.

Feeling a bit more confident with the guarantee, we decided to go ahead with purchasing the car. After two more hours of shuffling papers, we finally get a chance to drive off the lot in our first car. We were really excited. It was already pretty late and cold, so on our way home, I turned on the heater. After 30 minutes, it was still blowing cold air. Ok, so first problem, heater doesn't work. No big deal. I'll have it checked out and fixed. Once we get to the house, we get out and I hear water gushing out from underneath the car. After looking at it further, I noticed anti-freeze coming out somewhere around the backside of the firewall underneath the car. Great!

Next day, I called the manager at Ugly Duckling to let him know what had happened. He wasn't in at the time, so I left him a voicemail. Several hours gone by, still no call. So, I called over there again. First, I was told that he was there and was put on hold. After thirty minutes, someone comes back on the phone and tells me that the manager is not in, and they don't expect him back for another hour or so. Ok, so I left another message for him.

Finally, around 5 pm the same day, the manager calls me back. I explained to him what the situation was, and his answer to my problem... "Sorry, you purchased the car "AS IS" without any warranty." By this time, I was pretty frustrated. I did not have an issue with the "AS IS" policy. I am aware that nearly every used vehicle you purchase does not include any sort of warranty. But, I just drove the car off the lot and barely got it home before it decided to piss anti-freeze all over my driveway.

Not happy with the solution that the manager had given me, I continued to voice my concern about the situation to him over the next several days. In the meantime, I was unable to drive the car because of over-heating issues. After the first week, I was furious. My wife and I had discussed it, and decided to return the car using the 30 day guarantee that was promised to us at the time that we bought the car. So at that point, we called a tow company to come get the car and take it back to the dealer.

Once we returned to the dealer, I met with the manager and told him that we would like to return the car. He stated that we were not able to return the car, that we had signed a legal binding contract, and if we leave the car there, it would then be considered a voluntary repossession. I asked him about their 30 day guarantee, and he just laughed. He stated that they had no such policy. I then told him that the salesman which was there at the time, told us that we had 30 days to return the vehicle if for whatever reason we were not satisfied. The salesman denied the statement and of course, there was no such policy written into the contract. Ouch! Big mistake on our part.

Furious as all hell, we had the car towed back to our house. After several days gone by, I decided to contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. Within a day, the manager calls me at work and stated that if I retract the complaint filed with BBB, they would repair the vehicle at no cost. Happy with those terms, I retracted the complaint and once again, had the vehicle towed to their shop.

After being in the shop for two days, they call us to let us know that the car is ready to be picked up. So, I had a co-worker drop me off to pick up the car. After signing the paperwork and leaving the shop, I drove approx. 3-4 miles before the car started over-heating. I pulled over to the side of the road and got out just to find that there was anti-freeze pouring all over the ground. I tried calling the shop, but no answer. After about an hour on the side of the road, I was able to get in touch with my co-worker and explained to him what had happened, so he came and picked me up.

Next day, I called the manager and explained to him what happened at the shop. He then called the shop to go pick up the car from down the street and bring it back in. After two more days, the shop calls me to let me know the car is ready. This time, I go to pick up the car and had my co-worker follow me. We get home and all is good. Wow, I am really starting to think that these guys are not as bad as I was making them out to be. Once again, a big mistake.

All was going great for several months. Then the finance dept. calls started happening. We have never been late on a single payment, but now we started getting calls from U.D. several days before the payment was even due. Just thinking that they are "friendly" reminders, they continued to get worse.

After having the car for 4 months, we once again started having mechanical failures. I took the car into a local mechanic to have them diagnose the problem, and come to find out that the main computer was burned up, due to the engine overheating. Not only did the main computer need to be replaced, but I was also told that all four coil packs would need to be replaced as well. All together, it costed $2180 to repair.

I called Ugly Duckling to let them know what was going on, and at that time, I made arrangements to pay the car note 4 days past the due date so I could pay a partial payment on the repair bill. Of course, I get the usual call from the finance department two days before the bill was supposed to be due on the original due date. I explained to the girl about the arrangements that I had made with a fellow co-worker in her department a week prior. She was ultimately rude and told me that if I did not pay the bill on the due date, there would be a late fee applied, then she hung up on me.

At that point, I called the manager to explain the situation, and about the payment arrangement. He stated to me that regardless of whether or not I had an arrangement, there will still be a late fee applied. I questioned him on the "10 day grace period" and he told me that it only applies to those who have a better credit rating.

As you know, I am now just flat out pi**ed off. After getting the car back from the shop, it wasn't but 2 months later that the head gasket blew out. Once again, I had it towed to the shop to have them diagnose the problem. The mechanic explained to me that the reason the head gasket blew was because of the engine over-heating in the past. It had weakend the gasket and was just a matter of time. Furthermore, he told me that it was going to cost approx. $3000 to replace because they had to pull the motor to get to it.

Finally, enough was enough. I was still paying on the last repair and had no way of repairing the car at this time. I called Ugly Duckling to explain to them what was going on, and the manager told me to bring the car in to them. So, I had the car towed back to the dealership. I was under the impression that they were going to repair the car and add the charges to the original contract.

Two weeks went by without a call from Ugly Duckling. I decided to wait another week before I called them to find out what was going on. When I called over there, I was told that the car was turned in as a voluntary repossession and that it was on it's way to be sold at an auction. I had no intentions of returning the car and voiding out my contract.

As usual, I was not able to get ahold of the manager to find out what was going on. And to add insult to injury, I get the usual call from the finance department two days before the payment was due, asking when I was going to be in to make a payment on the car. I explained to the girl on the phone what was going on, and she told me that she would look into it for me and find out what was happening and call me back. Another week went by, no phone calls whatsoever from Ugly Duckling.

At this point, I did not know if I needed to contact an attorney or what I should do. A couple more days went by and I finally got a call from Ugly Duckling. This time, it was the collections department telling me that they were only able to retrieve $6000 from the selling of my car at the auction. They were telling me that I still owed $4000 and when could they expect me to be in to pay the amount in full. I flat out told the girl on the phone that I would not be in to pay any more money on the vehicle since they basically "stole" the car from me and sold it at an auction without my permission. She then told me that if I did not pay the balance due within 30 days, they will take me to court to recover the remaining balance.

I decided to start contacting lawyers around the metro area to figure out what I needed to do. Not a single one would take the time to even listen to the full story. I was basically told that I was S.O.L. In the meantime, I was getting calls at home, at work, my cell phone, my mother's house, and my co-workers house from the collections department.

I was finally able to find an attorney that would listen to my situation. He told me that what they did was illegal, and that if I would give him a few days to investigate, he would get back to me with a solution. A week later, I get a call back from the attorney and he told me that the situation has been handled, and that I did not owe them any money. Phew!! What a sign of relief. The collection calls and nasty letters stopped. Wow, finally, an end to this nightmare.

So, now with all that behind me, we decided to move on with life. Seven years later, we are now looking at trying to buy our first house. I went into the bank last week to see if we could qualify for a first time home buyers loan. Lo and behold, they pulled my credit and denied us due to the fact that it states on our credit report that we owe Drivetime nearly $11,000 and we also owe Ugly Duckling another $6,000.

Come to find out, the attorney that I was dealing with back in Albuquerque did indeed stop the collections department from harassing me, but he did not solve the situation. And now that Ugly Duckling was able to spin off a new company, Drivetime, they are capable of selling my account back and forth between the two companies in order to keep the negative impact on my credit report. The banker told me that they will continue to do this until I either file bankrupt or pay it off.

So once again, Ugly Duckling and now Drivetime are here to haunt me. We are not able to buy a house because we made a wrong decision when we were young and desperate. I do not know how to go about having this removed from my credit report. I'm afraid of calling them because if I do, the collections department will start with the calls again. I no longer have any of the paperwork on the car due to a house fire, and have no way of showing proof to back up my situation. Every attorney I contact here in Roswell is telling me that they are unable to do anything. I am not even eligible to file bankrupt because of the amount of debt is not significant. So, we are left to continue on in life without the ability to obtain any sort of credit.

It is unfortunate that a company like this can ruin a person's credit before they even have a chance to prove that they are worthy of credit. I'm currently in the process of trying to find out how I can resolve this situation. If anyone has any advice, I would certainly appreciate any help.

Clint

Roswell, New Mexico

U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Drive Time, formally known as Ugly Duckling which is registered under the same ownership.