I hate to be the internet hater that everyone loves to read, but this is it, the final straw. My beloved car Blinky was repossessed by these bastards, less than two weeks after the payment was due ( My payment was 13 days overdue). Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah stranded me and my two young children on the sidewalk far away from home, and I was not given any opportunity even to retrieve their car seats, or my belongings from the car. So my children have had to ride unsafely in a taxi, and in friends and families cars until I could make the trek to Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah to retrieve them.
I was on my way to my children's school to do a "school portrait" photo shoot, and so literally all of my cameras and photography equipment were in my car. At the school, all the kids were dressed up and had their hair done just for the portraits and we had to reschedule it and I had to live with the idea that all of my cameras, equipment and my laptop were under the dubiously safe possession of these grifters and charlatans at Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah.
So let me tell you about I-Financial. I-Financial is the "in house finance company" for Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah. You won't really find out much on the internet about these shady firms because neither of them have a website and you certainly won't find out anything about the business practices of I-Financial until you are more than a day late on your payment. In which case, you'll be royally screwed.
So after I figured out what the hell was up with my car basically disappearing in the middle of a crowded parking lot in the middle of the day within the few minutes that it took me to get lunches for my children, I made a call to Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah and then to I-Financial.
When I called the "gentleman" Edgar who is apparently the "manager" of the I-Financial place which authorized the repossession, he basically told me that even one day past the due date is considered to be "in default" which I also could not find a reference to in my contract documents at all. So basically, I-Financial feel that they can take your car whenever and however they want, so be warned if you read this and you are oh so foolish to give I-Financial or Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah your money, as I did. I wish someone had warned me!
Edgar at I-Financial also mentioned that one factor in the repossession was the fact I had disabled the GPS on my car! Oh wait, you mean the one you didn't even tell me I HAD??!! I looked through my contract documents AGAIN and there is NOTHING mentioned about a GPS unit on my car. There is also nothing mentioned about tampering with the GPS unit either. So not only were they tracking my movements without informing me (hello privacy laws?) they then wanted to charge me for the GPS unit (that I wasn't even aware of!) to be "reinstalled" to the tune of $250!
Apparently, when I had a new stereo unit put in last month, the installers somehow disconnected the GPS unit. So did they call me up and say "Hey, what's up with your GPS that we never told you about?" Oh hell no! I-Financial just assumed that I deliberately disabled their probably illegal tracking device! The first time I ever heard anything about a GPS unit was after my car was repossessed.
So not only will Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah sell you a used car at grossly inflated prices, if you have poor credit they will graciously allow you to take a loan out with I-Financial which has an astronomically high interest rate (mine was 24.99 percent), and THEN I-Financial will also track your movements without you even knowing about it and then Five Point Auto Group will yank it away from you at the slightest wrong move on your part. Then when you call I-Financial up they will demand not only a huge repo fee, but will also demand "extra" just because they can. Yep. Even if it's thousands of dollars. Because HA HA the joke is on YOU! You trusted that Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah and I-Financial are in business to you know, offer a great car and good service in order to cultivate repeat customers! Then I-Financial and Five Point Auto Group want you tell their friends how awesome they are so that in turn your friends will come to Five Point Auto Group and buy their cars, so that they will have even more money! You are so silly! How could you ever think that way? Don't you know, they have all the power and of course, your car! You have to just suck it up and give them your money! Because that's what life is all about sisters and brothers! SHOW ME THE MONEY right?
Well I have news for Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah and Mister Edgar at I-Financial. I'm a very unhappy customer. I'm appalled at the treatment I've gotten from you, and I'm spitting mad at the way you stranded me and my kids and took my car (which I loved so much) away from me, over something so trivial as this. I loved my car enough to accept your inflated interest rate and even though I have successfully paid off TWO previous car loans over several years, you had the nerve to treat me like this.
So on Monday, I'll call everyone I can. I will call the Utah BBB, the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, The Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement division. I'll call a lawyer, I don't know who or what else I will call, but I will find out. Because I've only got 10 days, according to Mister Edgar, to get my car back, and I only have three business days left before we leave for OZ. I admit freely that I didn't pay my payment on time, and that I was operating under the impression that I was dealing with actual human beings as opposed to retarded slimy bastards. However, my past three months worth of payments were also made on a very similar timeline, coming in on the 17th, 13th and 14th respectively. I'm late but consistent, but this is the first time I've had something on this level of aggressively stupid happen to me in regards to an auto loan.
So if you want to help, I'd appreciate advice, contacts and anything else I can get. Also you can link to this story, share it on Facebook and generally help push this along the intertubes so that others can be warned. If you would like to contact them to tell them what you think of their horrible business practices and how you'll never recommend them to anyone you know, please be my guest.
Here are their numbers:
I-Financial
(801) 430-1499 (Edgar)
My final news for Five Point Auto Group in Layton, Utah and I-Financial is: "Hey, guess what? I may have crappy credit but I'm neither stupid nor helpless. I know how to work this Internet thing that you guys find so mysterious, and this is not the last you'll hear of me and my story." And you can quote me on that one.
