Consumer complaint received 2024-06-24
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Problem with paying off the loan
Company: Dario Auto Sales (TX)

I would like to shed some light on the buy here pay here auto lots.  I feel there is not a lot of protection from a consumer aspect.  They seem to be able to play by their own rules and they get away with it time and time again.  I have heard horror stories from plenty of people that either had to go this route due to credit or they come across a vehicle that they have been looking for an it is sitting on one of their lots.  I now have first hand experience and have to say that I am beyond appalled that there really is not a lot of regulation as far as their practices and what they are held to vs. purchasing from a reputable dealing and obtaining traditional financing.  Let me explain my experience with Dario Auto Sales that is out of XXXX XXXX XXXX.  My husband came across a XXXX XXXX, which are hard to find in good condition.  We purchase the auto for XXXX on XXXX.  We put XXXX down and them paid an additional XXXX a couple of weeks later for a total of XXXX down with monthly payments of XXXX.  Now mind you  we did not receive payment coupons via mail, email, text, or anything.  We had online access, however half the time it worked- the other half not so much so it was a challenge at time to make the payments online, so we would call in.  They are also reporting to the credit bureaus as well.  Now rolls in XXXX  and I had a death in the family and had to travel to XXXX XXXX to attend.  Obviously with all of the emotions and stress that go into losing a XXXX, things fell through the cracks.  We fell behind by 2 months, which no calls, emails, etc. to remind of a payment being required.  I am not justifying the fact that payments were missed, as I am taking ownership in part of the issues with non-payments, but as everyone can attest- life happens and things do get forgotten.  I work from home due to being XXXX, so I am always home during the weekdays. My office is in the front of my home and my desk sits in front of a window that looks out on the front of my property, which is fully fenced in and secure by an electric gate.  One day I am sitting on a training call, which I am leading, there is a white truck that pulls up and two men get out and one climbs up on the gate and leans over to attempt to take the pin out of my gate in an attempt to gain access to my property.  My dogs were out and of course ran up t the gate, which made the man jump down and get off the gate.  My phone is ringing with a number that I am not familiar with and I cant really answer as I am hosting a training call for my job.  I then hear the car alarm go off on the XXXX  and then I get a text message from the people that were at my gate alerting me to the fact that they were from Dario and the payment was past due on the XXXX.  I had to pause my training call and go out side in an attempt to get my keys out of the car to shut the alarm off, but to my surprise they locked the doors as well, so I was at their mercy.  I would not approach the gate, because I am home alone and these are two larger men, so I am not 100% sure of what is exactly going on.  I told them that I would not give them payment, but I would call Dario and get this sorted out.  They kept attempting to get me to come to the gate by saying oh now we have some paperwork for you, come get it.  And then the man said oh no we have your payment receipt  dont you want to come and get it so that you can have it for your records, but yet you just told me the reason that you came here was to collect?  I am not sure of what their intentions were to get me to the gate and I was so very upset by that.  Then they left and did not unlock the car, and my keys were locked in the vehicle, so I have no way to go and pick my kids up from school.  I contacted my husband and told him what had happened and I was just done with Dario as this was very shocking to me that the men had behaved in this manner and were attempting to get me to come to the gate the entire time they were here.  My husband called them and paid them the XXXX for the two payments and they had to drive all the way back to XXXX where I live to unlock the vehicle doors.  Things were fine again, until life dealt more issues with my husband having issues with his job and not getting paid, so we did unfortunately fall behind again.  My husband was out with one of his relatives running some errands and the two men came upon him while they were out and approached him in front of his cousin and told him that the truck payment was delinquent, and it needed to be paid or they were not going to leave unless they got the payment or the truck.  My husband called me in a panic and we paid it in full and the men finally left.  That was in XXXX.  Now jump forward to XXXX- we have been asking for a payoff, which we could never get an actual answer.  Per our estimations we had maybe around XXXX left on the vehicle, yet we get XXXX statements and no online access to actually see the balance.  When we asked it was always well make a payment and we will see, or well it will all depend on the interest rate for the day, or maybe it is around XXXX, or maybe maybe maybe.  We could not get anything in writing or definitive as to what the actual payment was.  We asked over and over again for the  pay history and the contract.  We finally got the pay history and after asking several more times we got the contract.  My husband called and talked with them after we got the information and asked questions in regards to the pay history, etc. and when asked specific questions they could not give us answers.  At one point they hung up on him and would not respond.  When he called back he was told that a manger would call him and that call never came.  We sent the information over to an attorney to look at to ensure that we were not being over charged and trying to figure out exactly what our payoff would be.  The initial attorney referred us over to send a complaint to the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner.  We sent them the information, and they reached out to Dario for a response and did not get a response.  My husband was in contact with Dario at this time and we were not going to pay a dime until we got answers to our questions or an actual valid payoff, which we never did.  The OCCC had to contact Dario a few times due to their lack of responsiveness.  During this time, yes, we did not make payments because we were ready to be done and get an actual payoff amount in writing to ensure that once the payment was made we were not told that was not enough to pay in full.  One night around XXXX I was woken up by a car alarm going off and my phone ringing over and over again from a blocked number.  Being woken up and being out of sorts, I did not realize that it was the alarm on the XXXX.  My husband went outside and ran them off.   We were still waiting on that call from a manager at Dario and/or an actual payoff.  Then I started to get flyers from attorneys in the area in regards to being sued by a debt collector.  I had no idea what was going on and we reached out to our attorney that handles our business issues and then all of a sudden a XXXX  shows up on my doorstep serving me papers that he was there to take possession of the vehicle.  The day that he appeared my husband had the vehicle and was not there.  The XXXX  was adamant that it did not matter that I had an attorney and he had the right to take the car.  My husband was working in XXXX  and would not be home until after XXXX, which the XXXX  informed me was just too late for him and he was off on Tuesday, so he would be back Wednesday to get the car.  Per our attorneys direction we did not turn over the car, because that would probably tack on another few thousands of dollars making it impossible to ever get the auto back.  We now that the car is something that they want back because they can take it and probably resell it for at least another XXXX or so.  After paying these people almost XXXX for the car there is no way we were going to let it go without a fight.  The XXXX  showed up on Wednesday and no one was home- my husband called him and told him we were not turning the car over to which he replied that he would just go and get a warrant for my arrest so one way or another the car would need to be turned over or I would go to jail.  My attorney had reached out to theirs and they are not willing to do a payment plan or anything- they want the full amount with all of their fees, the car, or we take it to court and see what happens.  The amount that came back from their attorney was over XXXX  the actual payment amount, their attorney fees, and then court filing fees.  I would love to know why this is allowed- you let people get all the way down the road- almost to the finish line and then if it looks that you can swoop in and get a valuable car back and shine it up and put it back on your lot and make even more money from it that is the route you take.  I understand that we fell behind and did not help the matter, however to me their lending practices and collection practices seem very shady and not legal.  I am not alone in these types of scenarios and I have heard plenty of horror stories like this, but I feel there should be more rules and regulations set for these types of lenders.  I am so tired as a consumer being bullied and taken for everything that I have from people like this.  I am glad that I have an attorney that can help, but for people that are unable to hire council they are just out of luck and the big guys with the money always win.  When will this change?  When will the consumer have actual protection and due process for matters like this?