Consumer complaint received 2018-04-06
Company: LOBEL FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MO
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Loan balance remaining after the vehicle is repossessed and sold

Complaint:
Back in XXXX, I got my first car from a place that was known as XXXX XXXX XXXX - I believe they are either closed or changed their name now. It was located in XXXX XXXX and was a used car lot. The car I chose to get was a XXXX XXXX XXXX. The loan I got was financed through Lobel Financial in XXXX, CA. I had a warranty on the car that lasted about a month or so and about a few days after I got the car it began to mess up. I brought it to the car dealership and they claimed nothing was wrong with it. A few days later the problem consistently got worse - turns out there was a terrible transmission problem ; I would have never figured it out if I didn't take it to another shop for them to look at it. Once I got that information, I brought it back to the place I bought the car they told me they would fix the problem so they kept the car for a few days ( I was left with no vehicle ). When I went back to pick up the car it seemed fine for about a week but then the problem reoccurred. So I brought it back to them once again and this time they said they would fix the problem so again I trusted them to fix the car and they gave me a loaner car, I believe this time around it took them about a week or two to return the car to me. It seemed they would keep the car longer and longer each time I brought it to them but the car was always returned to me with the same problem. 

During the time I had the loaner car I told them that if they would agree to take the XXXX back I would gladly take the car they loaned me as my own even though it cost less than the XXXX. They refused and told me that they for sure fixed the problem my car had so I took the car back. By that time my warranty was used up. The car continued to have problems I got it serviced as I should and went to other mechanics for help. I had to get a new transmission for the car and could not afford to pay for that as well as the monthly payments which were about {$320.00} so I called Lobel Financial and made them aware of the situation, they were not very helpful, I even made sure to pay my installments as best as I could whilst doing all I can to continue driving a car I thought would last years. Eventually, it became too much to constantly pay to get the car fixed and my monthly payments ( by this time I had missed probably two payments ) and I always made sure to let Lobel Financial know what the situation was. 

One day I woke up and the car was gone which surprised me because I made sure to stay up with my payments. They never even contacted me about taking the car. When I found out where the car was they never once said I was able to pay for the car again for it to be returned to me, so I went and got my belongings from the car. I have no idea what happened to the car after that. Lobel Financial had not contacted me about rather or not the car was auctioned, I do not find it fair that I was never informed about being able to get my car back. Time had passed and I assumed that everything was solved regarding the car because even though they never said anything about an auction I was told that is what usually happens when a car is repossessed. Sometime later I began getting harassing phone calls from Lobel Financial. Since they took the car back in XXXX they have consistently updated my account saying that I made payments, etc. I checked my credit report yesterday, they state my last payment was made in XXXX of XXXX at {$420.00}. I have not paid on that account since they took the car in XXXX How is that even legal? They have also threatened a lawsuit against me and called me so often that I had to change my number. 

All in all, I was sold a lemon and according to California Lemon Laws if " 2 attempts or more have been made by the manufacturer to repair a warranty problem that could result in death or serious injury, The manufacturer has attempted to repair the same warranty problem at least 4 times, The car has been out of service for 30 days or more for repair to warranty problems, problems with the vehicle are not the result of abuse by the owner '' I am owed either a replacement vehicle, or a refund for the vehicles purchase price - which they denied to do. All in all, I was left between a rock and hard place trying to pay to fix a vehicle I had for less than a year while making payments on it.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation