Consumer complaint received 2020-07-02
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan — Loan balance remaining after the vehicle is repossessed and sold
Company: FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO. (CA)

YOUR COMPLAINT I purchased my vehicle XX/XX/XXXX with the hopes to have something that was not only new, but reliable and somewhat good on gas. I mentioned to the salesman that it was important that I have a reliable car because I commute to the XXXX XXXX  for work. I also mentioned some of my concerns regarding rumors i have heard about FORD vehicles and he reassured me that FORD recently put money back into their own brand and the new models where up to par. After two years of taking my vehicle to the same dealership i purchased it from for routine maintenance i found myself on the freeway one night with no warning lights and my car suddenly losing power. I was almost hit on the freeway and had to suddenly pull over. I took the car back to FORD just to be told that it was an internal defect regarding metal shavings in the engine and it would cost me XXXX or more to fix because i just ran out of warranty. I immediately knew then that I was robbed and taken advantage of. How do I take my new car to the dealership I purchased it from and I experience something so sudden? How did Ford not see any signs of transmission problems during all those times I took it to them. I discussed the issue with the manager and even tried to reach out to FORD directly just to be told to follow up with the dealership themselves. This occurrence was the start to my vehicle nightmare. They failed for several weeks to come up with a plan to assist with this issue and i ended up spending a significant amount of money on rentals which they did not reimburse me for. They did eventually give me a loner for the last week they were working on the vehicle, but i was already out of thousands of dollars. When my car was returned it never ran the same and no matter how many times I communicated this nothing was done. In XXXX of XXXX I experienced more issues with the car and a financial hardship and explained this to FORD credit to see if they could offer me any assistance with a lower payment since i could not keep up with the payment and the repair cost and they failed to assist me. I even attempted to get my mother to take over the loan but due to her credit she could not. Nevertheless, during this the transmission started to go out again and when i communicated this to FORD they advised that there was no warranty and nothing i could do to get assistance and advised me to contact FORD credit which i did and they also advised that they could not assist. I advised them that there was a possibility i would need to do a voluntary repossession and they communicated that this would effect my credit drastically. At this point i was backed against the wall. I had a car that was nearly new with a bad transmission and i could not afford the work or handle the stress of it. I tried to obtain a cheaper vehicle from another dealership just to find out that FORD placed a repo on my vehicle even though i was not behind on my payment at the time. They were rude and caused great anxiety to the point i gave up called them to pick up the car and kept the car parked until they picked it up which took a long time. I dont think i should be responsible for the remaining balance due to the fact that I paid way more then what the care is worth XXXX for trash and they still want XXXX for a lemon.Also, I have discovered that FORD has a number of lawsuits out pertaining to the role they played in manufacturing purposeful harmful defects to implicate the life and functionality of the transmission. 
The attached documentation would show you that after consistently bring my vehicle to FORD at no point in time did they ever indicate that there was an issue that would result in my transmission going out.