Consumer complaint received 2015-06-23
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: MA
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2015 my husband and I leased a XX/XX/2015 Jeep Compass from XXXX. We put $XXXX cash and XXXX trade XXXX down on the Jeep, and were to make monthly payments, with the XXXX payment due XX/XX/2015 In XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX we made our payments (Plus a little extra) to Chrysler Capital on time through the Chrysler Capital Website. On XX/XX/2015 my husband was driving home from work, when a woman blew through a stop sign, and smashed right into the side of his Jeep. The airbags failed to deploy. XXXX, and the woman was cited by police for running the stop sign. On XX/XX/2015 I sent a complaint to the XXXX about the airbags possibly being faulty, and failing to deploy. I was told to also contact Jeep and report the failure, which I did. On XX/XX/2015 the appraiser declared the Jeep a total loss, and our insurance company XXXX contacted Chrysler Capital for a payoff amount. On XX/XX/2015 XXXX contacted me to let me know that the payoff amount was XXXX and the MSRP was XXXX so they were going to send us a check for XXXX. On XX/XX/2015 I contacted XXXX to let them know that the actual XXXX was XXXX because the version of the vehicle I had was one with DVD, rear view camera, remote start, etc. It was not the base model. I then contacted the dealer, who informed me that I was correct, and the number they were giving me was too low. That, if anything they should use the number of the sticker that came with my Jeep. That number is $27,880. Arbella said they would look at the supplied information, and get back to me. Last week sometime when speaking to Chrysler they informed me, "any money sent to Chrysler becomes property of Chrysler, and we don't send money back to the customers" Last night I was notified that my Chrysler Account was past due, I logged into my account. and low and behold somehow my account is now showing a past due balance of $XXXX, and it states that my last payment was XXXX on XX/XX/2015, I called to ask why it was saying that when they had gotten payments, from my checking account in XX/XX/XXXX. She told me that it shows a past due balance of over $500, and would I like to make a payment. I told her it was wrong, and I had already made all my payments, and she told me I needed to send proof, by fax before XXXX last night. So I printed out my bank statements, and I brought them down to the dealer and asked the dealer to fax the forms to Chrysler Capital for me, which he did. I called back, and she informed me that they had gotten my papers, and they were going to put them in the system. Today I got a phone call from XXXX informing me that Chrysler is demanding they get the FULL MSRP amount, and not the payoff amount, that they are entitled to keep not only my XXXX, but also to get the full insurance proceeds, and leave us with NOTHING. No vehicle, no money to get another vehicle, absolutely nothing. I was beside myself. When talking to the dealership, they said there was GAP built into the lease, and we should be getting the difference on what is owed (which now they are claiming is $XXXX, because of "unpaid payments") and what it is worth. So I sent a message to Chrysler online, and they responded that they don't own the vehicle, the dealership does, and the money goes to them, and if I wanted the terms on the back of my lease that we "agree to accept a reasonable substitute vehicle of similar value, condition, mileage, accessories to replace the original vehicle" I would have to get the dealership to give it to me. The dealership absolutely denies this, and told me Chrysler owns the vehicle, and they get nothing from this. This is my husbands vehicle to get to and from work, he will lose his job if he cant get there. We have XXXX children, one with developmental delays so I need my van for him.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation