Finance company shut down my car beacuse of an error they made

[Llj13]

I bought a car from "buy here, pay here" place who later slld my contract to another finance company. Now with this company, everytime I make a payment I must call it in so they can set some signal to my car so it doesn't get shut off. Well my car has been shut off TWICE! Now I have ALWAYS made my payments on time. my car payments are bi-weekly and due on a Monday. So the first time it was shut off I made my payment on a friday before it was due and was unable to call it in until Monday because their call center was closed for the day. Of course I wasn't worried because it wasn't due until Monday anyways. Unfortunately my car was turned off on Sunday, and because of that i missed my daughter's scheduled surgery at 5 am on Monday. Now the second time, I paid it on the due date AND called it in. The lady I spoked to said she sent the signal. But yet again, my car was turned off last night. And again i missed an appointment. Is there anything i can due to keep this from repeating itself? I have done nothing wrong, it has all been because of an error someone at the call center has made. I just feel I shouldn't be punished for paying on time. Or be put in danger for their error. Because luckily my car has been shut off everytime i'm at my mom's but what if it would have gotten shut off somewhere else?

 

[ElleMD]

Pay the bill and call it in before the last minute it is due. I've never heard of being able to disable a car remotely, but if you know waiting until the last minute to pay and call it in results in the car being inoperable, I'd pay at least a few days in advance.

 

[txls]

Elle it's pretty common(probably within the last 5 years or so) for buy here pay here lots to install a remote shut off feature. To the poster, Elle has it correct, don't wait until the last minute. You can try to talk to someone there and ask for a day or two "grace period", or ask if they can call you before a shut off, but I wouldn't count on it. You are one of many and it may be a completely automated process.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Buy Here, Pay Here - It's remarkable what invasive products have come out onto the marketplace thanks to the growth of technology and its imposing presence affecting minute details of our lives. I expect it to only become more intense. Every time you use your phone you are probably tracked (yes, Apple users too.) It makes sense that a device would come out for automobiles that are leased or purchased on financing to keep purchasers / lessees current on payments.

Apparently Buy Here, Pay Here is a "best option for customers who have no credit or bad credit." That should say it all - you are going to have the hammer held above your head, waiting to drop the moment you give the debtor a reason to believe that you might default on your loan. As a result of the sub-prime mortgage and Wall Street scandals, the "disabler" device was invented to meet an industry need for high risk auto loans. This disabler mechanism is apparently known as the "Buy Here, Pay Here" experience, as described as early as 2009 in the Wall Street Journal. In addition, the agreement for Buy Here, Pay Here also includes the installation of a GPS device which would make it much easier for vehicles to be located and repossessed.

I'm very sorry to hear about a difficult experience with the device. The easiest practical method of dealing with the situation is to be just a little earlier with payments to avoid issues. Using the law will prove to be a much more challenging, costly and time consuming method.