DriveTime Automotive Group
reviews and complaints

I purchased a 2002 Ford Taurus ses from Drivetime and started making payments on it 04/09/2011. On 06/03/2011 I took it to Sear Automotive Center for oil change. The tech told me there is a substantial gas leak, no dash warning lights or known codes. I bet that gas leak was present before I purchase the car from the salesperson Jillian and Mgr. Mohommed. I have a limited warranty, but cannot afford the $50 for a diagnostic until the 06/17th. I want to exchange the car but the female customer service told me I can not exchange vehicle until I pay to $3500.
My account number is [protected].They need to waived the $50.

I was a cosigner for a car loan for a family member through Drivetime. Apparently it was refinanced last year. I didn't know nothing about it. I didn't sign any papers. Now, I have 2 Drivetimes on my credit report. 1) Original 2) Refinanced Repo. It was repo about 2 months ago after non payment becaused I received a letter in the mail that it was being sold at auction. This was first time I knew anything of repo. Nobody called me. So I took a look at my credit report and there it all is. I think there is some fraud going on here. This is all on my credit and I didn't co-sign for anyone to refinance anything. I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any advice where to go from here. I am not talking to family member at this time because I think she has something to do with all this.

Drivetime is a horrible company and I cannot stand dealing with their employees. I had to purchase a car from them because my credit was ruined during my divorce. I regret it daily. Two months ago, I was pulled over for driving with a suspended license and my vehicle was impounded. I had every intention of getting my vehicle out of impound, and while I was getting my license valid, drivetime came and took the vehicle out of impound.

They called and let me know they had it and I had to jump through all these hoops to get it back. Even drive to a city 2 hours away, where it was being held. Turns out it was because they repossessed it. For no reason other than it was impounded. I was current on all my payments and everything else. I got my vehicle returned, but under the condition that I sign a “Modification Agreement” to the contract.

They did defer 3 payments for me, during the time I was working to get my vehicle back because it cost me nearly $3, 000. While I appreciate them working with me to get my vehicle back, I don’t appreciate their tactics. Currently, I am fighting with them, because one of the payments that they agreed to defer, according to the terms on their contract that I was required to sign, they made me make, and accused me of being late on.

I am pretty sure they violated their own contract, and will be speaking with an attorney. If you can avoid Drivetime – do so, at all costs. It is not worth the time, harassment, and shady activities on their part to purchase a vehicle from them.

I purchased a car from them 3 weeks ago, my check engine light came on, so I called let them know, they send me to the shop, were there were 5 other Drive Time customers there, my car come to find out needs a new engine (so much for the inspection), so I was asked to leave the car there overnight until they can get a quote to Drive Time, the next day I get a call from the shop telling me Drive Time will not fix the car, if they did they would be upside down on the car, I am told to all Drive time to see what next. I call extremely angry they give me some bull about coming in to get a different vehicle however at this point I had requested my money back I did not want a vehicle from there and I was told we can give you a partial refund because we have to charge you miles. I could not believe it. I am in the middle of handeling this matter as it took place yesterday, I am advising you DO NOT EVEN BOTHER ! YOU WILL PAY FOR IT, READ THE REVIEWS THEY DONT LIE! OTHER CAR LOTS WILL OFFER A WARRANTY YOU PAY FOR IT BUT ATLEAST THEY DONT SELL LEMONS

I BOUGHT A 2003 FORD TAURUS FROM DRIVE TIME, I ASKED FOR A CARFAX AND TO THIS DAY I STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED IT. WHEN I QUESTIONED THE NEW PAINT ON THE BUMPER, I WAS TOLD THAT HTEY HAD IT PAINTED DUE TO SCRATCHES ON THE BUMPER. I WAS RUSHED INTO MAKING A DECISION AND WAS CONGRADULATED AFTER I DID.
WHEN I PAID MY PAYMENTS EARLY I WAS CHARGED A LATE FEE. HOW DO YOU GET CHARGED A LATE FEE FOR PAYING EARLY. WHEN I QUESTIONED THEM AFTER THE HARRASSING CALLS THEY PUT ME ON HOLD FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES AND CAME BACK WITH A STORY SAYING THIS WAS ABOUT SIX MONTHS AGO THAT WE ARE CHRGING YOU FOR. WHEN I ASKED WHY I NEVER BEEN TOLD ABOUT THIS THEY DIDN'T GIVE AN ANSWER JUST SAID PAY IT.
I THINK THAT SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT THIS SO-CALLED COMPANY BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY UNETHICAL IN THEIR PRACTICES, THEY ARE RUDE AND HARRASSING. CONSIDERING THAT I AM PAYING $15, 000.00 FOR A $6, 000.00 CAR. THEY ARE TOTALLY RIPPING OFF CONSUMERS AND THE GOVERNMENT ARE LETTING THEM DO IT.
SO, I SAY TO EVERYONE WHO HAS FELL VICTIM TO THIS COMPANY. "HOLD YOUR HEADS UP, BECAUSE THEY WILL REAP WHAT THEY SOW" MEANING THEY WILL GET WHAT'S COMING TO THEM.
BE BLESSED BECAUSE WE ALL CAN HAVE THINGS IN OUR LIFE TO GO WRONG BUT THAT DO NOT GIVE OTHERS THE RIGHT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF US.

I purchashed a vehicle less than 35 days with the misrepresentation of a bumper to bumper warranty from my salesman. True, you MUST read your papers. This warranty pays for nothing! My car has an axle leak, strut problems, radiator pressure issues, and an unexplained electricial surge! You think, " how would you possible get a car with all those problems within the first 30 days?" purchase fromDriveTime! My suggestion to anyone, DO NOT! I've spoken to several managers with no success. When you're shopping, they present themselves as concerned dealers & their vehicles have been checked by their mechanics before the car is put on the lot? If true, their mechanics are not worthy! So keep your money & go somewhere else instead of purchashing an over priced headache from DRiveTime. Anyone fimikar with Ugly Duckling, new name, same horrible service & vehicles!

My husband and I are looking to buy another vehicle. We don't have very good credit and so are limited as to where we can purchase a vehicle. We called 1-800-barnone since we had seen their commercials on television and they put Drive Time in touch with us. We do not live in the same city they are located but they asked us to set up an appointment. They really wouldn't go over pricing of the vehicles we were interested in over the phone so that raised a red flag. We still decided to go and check it out. The vehicle we wanted to look at they had marked almost $5000 above book value. They wanted a huge down payment of $4500 and they wanted payment of of over $400 a month plus they charged 20% interest. My husband and I about choked. Then they gave us a list of cars that we had absolutely no interest in what so ever and asked if we wanted to look at any of those. We said "No Thanks"! Sheesh we may have bad credit but we aren't ***! It seems to me that because they are a buy here pay here place they think they can take advantage of the consumer and that is very sad! I definitely would not recommend them to anyone! Buyer Beware!

OMG! Crazy to know that some of you have been through the same thing as me. Ok, so, I first got a black stratus from DT and everything was fine and dandy with it until a week that I had it. It was starting to jerk, but didn't think nothing of it because I had been looking on their website and they had finally got the REAL car that I was wanting, on the lot. So i called and told them my situation and that I just wanted to get the Mazda anyways. They were fine with that. Went in, gave that car back because I had only had it a few days and got the Mazda. Only days later, I was at the bank on lunch time and my car just shuts off in the line! TOTAL embarassment! Luckily after praying that it would start back UP, i drove myself back to work(thank goodness it was just right down the block from my bank). Had a limited warranty on it so I took it to one of the shops thinking they would get it all fixed for me and everything. Turns out what was supposed to take about a day or 2 turned into damn near a month that they had to keep it in the shop! I didnt have money for a rental or anything so I relied on getting rides from parents or friends! So not fun! Finally I get the freakin car back and kept it because i needed a car really bad at that time as I was living on my own etc. Little things kept happening after that. My drive side door would not open one time that I got off of work. I had to crawl in thru the passenger side. thank goodness I have a mechanic in the family that could fix it! It even smells like something's burning everytime i turn it off after I drove it. NOW IS MY LAST STRAW! Recently during the holidays, i was turning into where I live and i made sure cars were still a ways away, but as i was turning, my car was slowly going about 10 mph! its like it was shutting down slowly, but surely. thank god i made it past the oncoming traffic soon enough or I would have died! When i got home, I let it sit there thinking ok maybe I've just been driving it around alot that day. next day was thanksgiving and if it wasnt for having a fianci with a vehilce, we would have never made it on time to family gathering.my car was DEAD! nothing would turn on. We jumped it after we got back from everything and even had the uncle come take a look at it and what he thought it was was TOTALLY not what was wrong. He thought it was a mutli function switch that was causing everything, but finally took it to get a diagnostics ran on it at the Mazda dealership and transmission is totally messed up costing me $4, 500 to fix along with other issues!Talk about frustrating! I dnt have that kind of money for repairs and on top of that still have the damn car payment! LEMON LEMON LEMON! i feel like just taking it and dropping it right in front of the dealership and saying here have ur damn car back! SCREW MY CREDIT! THEY DID!

I Bought My Car from Ugly Duckling in 1997..It was a Blue Ford Contour ..I kept the car approximately 2-1/2 yrs ..Was on my way to work the 1st time the Engine Blew going up 400 in Alpharetta..Motor just went dead .got it off the road..tried to crankit untill the Battery went so dead it wouldn't even turn over anymore..Had it towed back to my home and called then the next day they had it towed to the Memorial Dr location..Was told that the motor had blown and I would have to pay half on another motor for them to replace it ...I refused at first but saved up the money after letting my car sit on thier lot for Over 1 Year and still making payments ..They sent it to a place called the OIL PIT to be repaired ..It took them about 2 weeks to replace my Motor and get me up and running again ...But in the mean while had not missed any payments during or after the whole Year ..It ran good for appoximately 6 months ..I had drove it to work that day and when got off from work and was about to leave ...So got in it attempted to start it and Again it would not Start ..Attempted to start the Car till the battery was Dead ..Then had the Security attempt to Jump Me off ...But would not Start ..Had to call A Tow Truck to Come Get it again ..This time took it directly to Drive Time (Memorial Drive Location ) they Put It in the Back lot ..Said untill could get the Work Order wrote up to have it Repaired..After complaining and Pleading my case with the Store Manager about the Car and how I was done the !st Time they agreed to Pay All Expenses For A Repairs no matter what .. After about 1 monthI got my Car Back it ran better than it ever ran before even when I bought it ...I Had the Car aTotal of 2Yrs and 6 Months and after 2 New Motors And almost 2 Yrs of Lost Driving Time (Being on the Bus where had to catch 2 buses and 2 Trains just to get to work every day in Alpharetta)..I lost my Car on a Bogus Trick ...I had lost My Job and Started a New One...I had worked 1 - Week on my New Job ..Went to work that Friday and gotten Paid but what I made that week was not enough to cover the Car note ..So when I got home..I Called them and asked to speak to the Acount Manager ..I won't mention her Name (But I Know It)..Tried to explain to her I had Over half of the payment but not all of it ...and asked her could I bring that in and set up a payment plan to get me back on schedule...She said something about she was tried of dealing with me and my car (Because she knew exactly who I was because of the 2 motors and the Previous complaining I had did with her Store Manager..(**She told me to bring in the Car that Evening or SHE WOULD DECLARE IT STOLEN AND HAVE CHARGES PRESSED ON ME**)..I took the car in and was told I would be Credited With A VOLUNTARY REPO and never heard from them Untill I was at work one day at a job I had been on for 2 years when the Hiring Manager showed me the Paperwork they had filed with the company in 2007 for garnishing my Wages ..I never saw it comming or knew they were sueing me untill that day found out that they had a Court Hearing on my Case and I had missed it because I recieved no Paperwork or Notice from them ...I have had this Garnishment For Over 3 yrs now ...And it is prohibiting me from working noone will hire me ..I had 2 small kids I can't take care of have been out of work for over 27 months...But they were garnishing me More than the limit allowed and when I lost my job...They contacted me and said I still owed them $8, 000 dollars and I haven't had a job since .. Would love to hear from other this has happen to please contact me ...

I baught a car from Drive Time in March of 2008, as of today I have never received a balance due on the car. I have filed a claim with the BBB in Texas, however the home offce is in Arizona and I was advised to file the claim in the state where the home office is...therefore this is my next step...I was making payments at the DriveTime office in Dallas, all I get is a receipt. Now they are having their customers go to Ace check cashing, Walmart and Etc: to make car payments where they are charging a fee and again all I get is a receipt; I should be seeing the balance due each time I make a payment; or either have a payment book...I make payments of $201.00 bi-weekly; and have not missed a note...and I read the statement about the young lady having to go to a funeral, and when she got back they were to re-po her car for being late after she explain the situation to them; well thats not fair; and I have been a day late did not make it on a Saturday at Church on Sunday's and Monday they are calling first thing before the store even opens, I will complain until I get my balances due and a record of all payment made.

Like many of you, I have been victimized by DriveTime. Their fraud, deception, and abuse must be stopped! There are hundreds of complaints regarding the company posted in various locations on the internet. Certainly, there are countless other victims who remain silent. I am presently in the process of gathering information to present to the Federal Trade Commission regarding their illegal business practices. If have a complaint or need instructions on how to stop their harassment, you may email me: [protected]@yahoo.com

i have ask drivetime dealers in montclair for my balance that i owe on my car and it was not the right amount i felt that i owe them it was much higher i have always paid monthly for over 5 years now they are cheating me i need help

I purchased a vehicle from this company in February 2010 after a very messy divorce. Basically, I fell on hard times as what often happens to women after divorce. I was dignosed with Breast Cancer and have incurred substantial medical bills. I work on a government contract and with the new fiscal year the contract came up for renewal. Several individuals where laid off, others (like myself) who were fortunate enough to have been hired back were hired back at part time rates with 2001 wages. I called DriveTime and explained all of this to them.They told me to borrow the money. I didn't try to hide or not take their calls. I asked if they could put the payments to end of my loan, and I was basically told that "management" would not approve the action because my loan was too new, but if I made one more payment they could assist me ( I struggled and made the payment) and called back for the assistance that I was told would be granted; to only be told that their was nothing they could do. They have harrased me to NO END ... called my family, job, and my ex-husband who I have a restraining order against (now he is harrasing me again because someone at this company gave them my private information).

It would be a safe bet to say they are not donating to the Susan G. Komen foundation!

They need to be sued for unsavory business practices. Even the banks got a bail out!

I bought a car from DriveTime near the end of June, 2010. In August, I had to take it to a repair shop to have a wheel bearing replaced. This, luckily, was covered under warranty. Two months later, in October, I had to take it in AGAIN! The rotor on the wheel that had the bearing replaced was warped by the previous repair, but since it is a "maintenance" item, it is not covered, even though it cannot warp itself. Additionally, my car has started stalling, making it a hazard to drive. They say this is also a "maintenance" problem, so it is also not covered. The warranty office told the repair shop these are maintenance items because I have put 11, 000 miles on the car in three months. I thought the warranty was 3yr / 36, 000 miles, not 3yr / 36, 000 miles unless you drive a lot. I now have a car that I've owned right at four months that has a $1, 400 repair estimate, all of which I must cover myself. This so-called "Warranty" is apparently good for nothing.

i was sold a lemon car i got the caR on july 30th because someone wreck my oringinal car.soon as i drove off the lot been have problems left and right with the car.the people at drive time are hiding from me dont want to fix the problems .please people do not buy cars from drivetime they prey on people because they know they can .i cant depend ion this ragledy car its been three weeks of hell .they dont want to give u your money back they dont want to put u in another car.they just sorry when it comes to doing bussiness.they sold me a lemon, if anyone have any suggestions for me please contact me.they are crooks and rip off people that are struggling with they finances.thats not right and by the way they are overcharging for theses bad sucky cars.

Everybody please take heed to what I am about to say about dt corp. first of all it's a lose lose situation and it's not meant for you to win I was young and had no credit and dt corp will get you in a car but with a high interest rate and high mileage, and when they tell you to never be late you better not be late my warranty was over and my car gave me some problems and i couldn't use it any more so i told dt corp i was not gone make a payment to them until i can get my car fix they offered to put five of my payments at the end of the loan without telling me that it was gone be drawing even more interest so my loan was up in January 2010 but those payments they put at the end of my loan extended my payoff to April 30Th 2010, when that day came i thought i was done but oh no i had to pay the 2059.00 more from the interest i was upset because i thought I had paid every thing on the car, OK so now i don't have the money and they were only giving me 90 days to pay the whole amount or my car was going to be charged off and it was still occurring interest, it was a lose lose situation but i fooled them baby i got up the money and paid they *** off and them ### didn't even congratulate me but i was cool and now it's over and next time i purchase a car from anywhere I'm gone do my research, best thing you can do is stay away from DT corp.

I purchased a Jeep from Drive Time. I paid all payments on time. The vehicle was stolen 7months after I purchased it. My insurance company informed me that Drive Time accepted the offer to write off the vehicle (it was totaled when found). I did not think much of it at the time. Drive Time called me to purchase another vehicle. Because I thought that it was a bad company to work with, I decided not to purchase from them again.

Now it is time for me to purchase a car and I check my credit report and Drive Time has on my credit that I failed to pay for the car and that they had to write it off as bad debt. I am trying to get this issue resolved but they will not return any of my calls. I cannot purchase a vehicle with a good rate without this information from them.

What can I do?

We live in Phoenix Arizona. On May 20, 2006, we traded in a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity as our sole form of "downpayment" at the DriveTime dealership at 2143 W Camelback Rd in Phoenix, towards a 2003 Kia Rio Cinco, a small station wagon. We went to DriveTime only having been turned down by all the other major dealers in and around Phoenix; we needed a car that had working A/C, and the Chevy also had a mysterious "leak" that we couldn't figure out. We had been paying for a child to be in private school 1500 miles away, and didn't have any cash to hand over as additional downpayment. As of yesterday, June 23, 2010, the lien on the title was released. We took a loan from relative to pay it off; we took a Cashier's Check for just over the current quoted balance the previous Thursday, to their corporate office, their headquarters in Mesa, AZ.
Clearly, the pieces of paper we signed back in 2006, should have told us that these people are loan sharks! The "sticker price" on our car, before we took it off the lot, was $11, 329.00. As of right now, at the original mileage of 47, 272, this vehicle is valued at $5730. At an interest rate of 29.90%, our total finance charge was calculated at $8442.45 for this loan. The last department store credit cards I had, had carried a maximum interest of approximately 14%, less than half that rate! But we needed to have a car with working A/C & less than 200, 000 miles on it, and we weren't qualified anywhere else, where the interest rate would have been more reasonable. So of course, we accepted the loan at their terms.
Just over 2 years into owning the car, when it had achieved just over the 65, 000 mile mark, the timing belt broke. This caused us to need to replace the engine entirely. Had it happened before the 60, 000 mile mark, it would've been covered by Kia's bumper-to-bumper warranty. And of course, it wasn't covered even remotely by DriveTime's "limited warranty". But when our mechanic looked at it & quoted us a price of about $1500, we called DriveTime to see if there was anything we could do through them, since they had their own repair people. We had about $600 to pay out for this repair, and our personal mechanic couldn't sit around & wait for the rest of it. DriveTime told us about their no-interest repair program, Repair Tracker. Their mechanic got the car & quoted us about $2000. We had to come up with half up front, so we emptied my husband's small 401k to pay the first $1000. My mechanic would've had the car done inside 1-2 weeks; DriveTime's "authorized repair facility" had my car for 6 weeks! And every time I called to ask for an update on my car, they either got caught in some "red tape" something with DriveTime when trying to get approval for a necessary part, or they had been busy with "paying customers' repairs"! And when I finally got my car back, DriveTime willingly took off several hundred dollars from our financing payments, due to repairs my own mechanic had to do. He basically "cleaned up" the mess left behind by DriveTime's repair facility. Among issues we paid our family mechanic for, the engine mounting bolts hadn't been tightened, and the same day we picked the car up, I drove it home, then to the family mechanic's shop. As it turned out, the fuel injectors in the new engine were shot; I went back over to the repair shop that had replaced the engine & asked if they still had the old engine & parts. They sent someone out to collect the original fuel injectors. 3 out of the 4 that were in the new engine (not brand new; rebuilt, with 30, 000 miles on it), were useless. Only 1 fuel injector out of 4 in a rebuilt engine, was working! And the mechanic who had posession of my car for 6 weeks didn't think to check if they were working! And when I asked him why my mechanic had been forced to tighten of all things, the mounting bolts, and replace 3 out of 4 fuel injectors, he said "I was only paid to put in the engine"! Apparently that doesn't include tightening down the mounting bolts or checking to make sure the thing works! And of course DriveTime was willing to pay all the repair charges associated with the work done by their "authorized repair facility"; several months later, he lost his repair contract with DriveTime. I submitted complaints on the facility to the Better Business Bureau of Central AZ, as well as submitting a [redacted] on the facility.
We will openly admit to having more than 1 or 2 late payments, but it was normally no more than a week late. Twice in 4 years, it was a month late. But even when we called them to explain the situation causing us to be late, they would call us anywhere from 1-7 times per day, until the account was made current! Recently, I paid 2 payments that had been late plus another payment that was being made over a week early. About a week to 2 weeks after I made this payment to get us ahead, we started receiving collection calls again. I went in to the local dealership to ask why, and they were calling us for about $25 in late fees! And their customer service agent when I made that $603 payment couldn't have told me about that $20 some dollars why? Nobody could tell me. When we called to find out the payoff amount (the total amount due to have the title released), I was told that only the office in Mesa could give us the title, and was told the amount. A few days later, I called to verify that when we handed over that Cashier's Check, the title or something that released the title from the lienholder, would be given to us when we delivered that check. The representative this time also told me to take the Cashier's Check to Mesa, that the home office did all the title work & they would give us what we needed. We drove close to 30 miles one way to deliver that payment, to find out that DriveTime didn't have physical posession of the title! They had to go through MVD to get the title released, then have it signed & notarized and send it off to us! Their "senior level account representatives" didn't know this? Clearly, communication between the different departments at DriveTime, and general customer service knowledge, are not priorities for DT Credit Corp! And they were wrong again, telling us we would receive "the clear title" in the mail! What we received was an MVD Lien Release, signed by the appropriate person(s) at DT Credit Corp, and notarized. We still have to take this release, accompanied by our registration, to our local MVD office and pay them $4 and THEN we'll be handed a "clear title" to this vehicle!
In short, we would love to find out if we qualify to join your efforts to put these people out of business. As a general summary, they are loan sharks with crappy customer service skills, whose collection attempts border on harassment, and they utilize substandard repair facilities that charge you through the ### for work you can get done at better quality, in less time, at reputable repair facilities, for a lot less money. They prey on those with little or no downpayment and poor credit ratings, making us feel as though we have no choice but to accept their ridiculous interest rates & exorbitant payments on horribly overpriced vehicles because nobody else will give us credit. I put these people at the same level as payday loan providers, and our family agrees that DT Credit Corp needs to be put out of business, as DT, as Ugly Duckling, as whatever other names they might hide behind!

Sincerely,
Holly K. Wooldridge & Stephen J. Wooldridge