Consumer complaint received 2016-02-20
Company: Americas Car-Mart, Inc.
State: OK
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle loan
Issue: Taking out the loan or lease

Complaint:
I purchased a vehicle from Car-Mart on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I was advised that my pay history would be reported to my credit monthly, and it has not been. I bought a one year warranty for the vehicle that was offered to me from Car-Mart due to the vehicle being used. The vehicle was a XXXX XXXX XXXX. In the year and one month that I had the vehicle, my payments were always on time. I was only able to drive the vehicle half of the time I had it due to it being in the shop so often. I had several meetings with the Car-Mart staff and each time, they assured me that they fixed the problem. I told them each time that I brought the vehicle back to the shop that when the vehicle fills up with gas, it shuts off, typically while I am driving down the road. They tried to make it right at first by what I thought was a discount on the car loan, but it turns out that they were just modifying the loan and pushing payments further. I asked for follow up phone calls from management at Car-Mart and never heard anything. I talked to the Service Manager, XXXX, who advised that they really were n't sure what the problem is and that they just keep throwing parts at the vehicle to see if that fixes the problem. I 've been going through this nightmare for an entire year and having to get alternate transportation while my XXXX was being worked on. I was never offered another vehicle to drive and kept paying {$50.00} for a deductible each time the XXXX went into the shop for the same reason over and over again. I had several conversations with XXXX and XXXX at Car-Mart and they were uninterested in finding a solution to this issue. I finally talked to XXXX, the finance manager, last week when she called because I told XXXX I still had n't heard from XXXX or XXXX as promised. She asked what we could do to rectify the situation. I advised that at this point, I would just like to have a clean slate, give the XXXX back and not have to pay for a broken vehicle anymore. She asked again if there was anything else they could do and I said no. She said she would try to come up with something else by the time I came in, but that it was okay to give the XXXX back with a clean slate. When I walked into Car-Mart to get my personal items out of the vehicle, they had voluntary repossession paperwork that they said I had to sign in order to get my stuff back. I advised that I will not be signing the papers due to this not being a voluntary repossession and it being that they sold me a lemon vehicle and that XXXX had advised this would be a clean break. They said that this had to be signed in order for me to get my stuff. I said no and they wrote on the paperwork that I refused to sign the documents. I asked for a copy of my file and XXXX advised that the paperwork was Car-Mart property and that I would get my " notice. '' The tone in which it was said was threatening as if I would face financial or credit-impacting consequences for releasing the jeep. It is my opinion that Car-Mart is fraudulently selling cars to people that are trying to get back on their feet that are damaged and not in good working order and charging fees ( warranty deductible ) to incorporate more revenue into their business.

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