Consumer complaint received 2017-07-27
Company: United PanAm Financial Corp.
State: CA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Lender trying to repossess or disable the vehicle

Complaint:
To Whom it May Concern, On XXXX XXXX XXXX, my XXXX XXXX XXXX was involved in an accident where the driver of the other vehicle was at fault. Our insurance company paid off the loan & gave us an additional {$2000.00} for a down payment to purchase another vehicle. After looking @ different options, we ended up @ XXXX XXXX XXXX used car lot, where we looked @ many vehicles, but finally chose the XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, we signed the paperwork from the used car dealership & the loan company. In XX/XX/XXXX, we had a headlight bulb go out & were having some difficulty replacing it ourselves, so a friend of ours, who happens to be a mechanic, was kind enough to offer to replace the bulb for us. While he was replacing the bulb, he happened to notice something. He informed us @ that moment, that our vehicle had been in an accident @ one time. We were dumbfounded because if we had known @ the time of the purchase that the vehicle had been in an accident, we would have never followed through with the purchase. Of course, the used car dealership had never disclosed this to us @ the time of the purchase ; or any time before that ; that the vehicle had been in an accident. Once I found out about the possibility that the vehicle was in an accident, I ran my own XXXX & sure enough, there it was. The accident occurred in XX/XX/XXXX but was not reported to XXXX till XX/XX/XXXX ; nearly a year later. The used car dealership did provide a XXXX that was ran in XX/XX/XXXX ; four months after the accident took place ; but it was not on there. Our friend the mechanic told us that sites like XXXX are not terribly reliable & that they should not be used to replace a title search and/or simply having a qualified & reputable mechanic perform a bumper to bumper inspection which would have revealed that the vehicle had been in an accident @ one time. I have attached a copy of the XXXX that the dealership provided as well as the XXXX that I ran in XX/XX/XXXX I also found out that based on what my mechanic friend could tell, the monetary damage to the vehicle appeared to have been in the thousands, possibly more than {$2500.00} & that in his opinion, the repairs were not performed by a reputable body shop because of what he found that told him that the vehicle had been in an accident ; as you can see by the attached photos. Under the hood on the driver side, you can see by the photos the crumpling of metal which ; if repairs had been done by a reputable body shop ; that crumpled metal would have been replaced but clearly in the attached photo, that did not happen. I have also attached a photo of the passenger side to show what the metal under the hood on the driver side should have looked like if the repairs were performed by a reputable body shop. Secondly, if you look @ the photos provided of the driver & passenger side of the vehicle, you will be able to see that on the driver side of the hood, there is no gap, but on the passenger side of the vehicle, there is clearly a gap of @ least a quarter of an inch, which means that the hood was not properly reinstalled, because if it was, then there would be no gap, again showing that the work done on the vehicle was not done @ a reputable body shop. Because the repairs were not properly done, my friend expressed concern regarding my safety because he feels that the safety of the vehicle in the possibility of an accident would be compromised, because the repairs were not properly performed. If I am in an accident, I could either be seriously injured or killed. When I did find out about the fact that the vehicle had been in an accident, I hired a lawyer who has been unable to locate the owners of the used car lot. Apparently, they sold the used car lot sometime after we purchased the vehicle but he is still working on it. Another issue that I found out during this nightmare is that because the vehicle had been in an accident that resulted in damage that costs more than {$750.00}, XXXX XXXX stated that the true value of the vehicle back in XX/XX/XXXX was actually {$8000.00} & not {$11000.00} that I was charged. Based on the math that I have done, the price of what I should have been charged + the interest that I was charged, the amount that I have paid over the last 26 mnths has been more than fair to the loan company & that they have been fairly compensated for the purchase of the vehicle & so in XX/XX/XXXX, I discontinued payments because I felt that I had compensated the loan company fairly, not to mention the fact that the contracts that I signed for the used car dealership & the loan company were signed based on fraud & that both contracts should be voided. In the last 5 mnths I have been contacted by the loan company by e-mail & text & have spoken to them 4 times, but unfortunately the first & second times that I spoke with them, I can not recall the dates, but I did  inform them of the issue, that I had hired a lawyer, that this was fraud, that I was grossly overcharged for the price of the vehicle, that the contract should be voided, & I gave them my lawyers contact information but they did not care, was not willing to help, & threatened me. On XX/XX/XXXX & XX/XX/XXXX I spoke to two separate individuals, both who were very aggressive, I as well, but only after I felt that I was not being heard, that I was being marginalized, that my situation was of no interests to them & that all they cared about was their money. I informed them that I would be more than happy to return the vehicle if they would just simply refund me my money. Of course, they refused, & instead threatened me, intimidated me, harassed me, threatened to garnish our wages, & to repossess the vehicle. From the time of purchase till now, as a consumer, I feel I have been terribly treated. I have been lied to, my life has been put in jeopardy because of poorly & inadequate repairs to the vehicle that compromises my safety, I have been grossly taken advantage of by being grossly overcharged for the vehicle, I have been bullied, threatened with garnishment of wages & repossession, marginalized, intimidated, yelled @, talked over, & been treated with little to no respect whatsoever. I was also told that it was my fault that I did not have the vehicle inspected before purchasing it, which really set me off, & I told them that I am not required as the buyer, to do that & that it is the responsibility of the dealer to perform those safety inspections. They have shown me no empathy or understanding whatsoever, have not apologized for the situation that I am in, & has shown that they have no interests in helping me to find a fair & equitable resolution to this nightmare of a situation that I have been placed in by unscrupulous human beings. They have refused to work with me regarding this situation. I am willing to compromise on this issue by either returning the vehicle as long as they refund all of my money or I am willing to keep the vehicle, of which I will have the repairs properly performed, they close my account showing paid in full & the title of the vehicle is turned over to me. Besides the attachment of the XXXX & the photos, I have also attached all the paperwork that pertains to the vehicle. Thank you so much CFPB for being willing to assist me in this horrible situation that I have been placed in by no fault of my own & I look forward to working with you to assist me in finding a compromise that both parties can be comfortable with. Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation