Consumer complaint received 2024-09-10 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Repossession — Deficiency balance after repossession
Company: Automania, Inc
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
I purchased a vehicle from Automania in approximately XXXX XXXX XXXX. A dispute arrose over a warranty on the vehicle and I stopped making payments. Automania attempted to repossess the vehicle for several months. After being unsuccessful in locating the vehicle, Automania emailed me a notice they were seeking a warrant for my arrest alleging that I interfered with lien holder interest. I went to court and Automania advised me if I returned the vehicle they would drop the criminal charges. I returned the vehicle a few weeks later. After returning the vehicle, Automania never sent me a redemption letter and began reporting to the credit bureaus an outstanding balance of {$15000.00}. I disputed the balance several times, but Automania kept verifying the balance. Since returning the vehicle Automania has reported the vehicle repossessed 23 times, giving the impression I have 23 repossessions on my credit report. They have also reported he account as open, after telling me the account was charged off. Automania claims the vehicle was financed by XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. but Automania is reporting on my credit report. In court records Automania has lied about reporting on my credit report, denying they claiming they are not reporting to any credit bureau. They advised me the finance company, XXXX, sold the car back to Automania for {$3500.00}. I found the new owner the vehicle was sold to and she advised me she purchased the car for {$13000.00}. XXXX and Automania are 100 % owned by the same person. They are suing the two companies to defraud customers and the state of Georgia. Automania sells the vehicle, XXXX supposedly carries the financing. In a default situation, XXXX supposedly repossesses the vehicle and Automania buys it back. Automania then repeats the entire process over and over. No public auctions, and no redemption letters to customers. Automania a/k/a does not send redemption letters because it would deny them the ability to falsely resell the vehicle back to themselves. It should also be noted that XXXX XXXX finance is neither a licensed car dealer, not a licensed loan/finance company. Automania is using threats of arrest to wrongfully repossess vehicles. After the repossession, they are defrauding the customers by XXXX allowing Automania to act as a straw purchaser paying a fraction of the vehicles value, and then selling the vehicle for XXXX as mush. The person that bought the car after me, had the same problems I did. They never fixed the car. When she stopped making payments, they threatened her with arrest. The claimed she was hiding the car. The car was eventually towed and impounded from the address she gave on the Automania contract. Both she and XXXX were notified the vehicle had been impounded. Even after being notified the vehcle was in impound, Automania had a warrant issued for her arrest. She was arrested on XXXX XXXX with her daughter in the car. She spent XXXX in jail and her daughter spent XXXX in XXXX XXXXy. I eventually file a lawsuit. Automania in their answer, lied, claiming they have not been reporting an account on my credit report. Automania is not only defrauding their customers, they are defrauding the state of Georgia by lying about the price they are paying for cars. In addition to violating the FCRA and the FDCPA.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief