Buy Here Pay Here Car shut offs (Lansing: work, hospital)

[downthathighway]

Is it just my imagination?
I seem to remember Mel Farr had a big business selling buy here pay here cars with a remote kill switch that shut off cars if payments were late. And was promoting that evil system to other dealers as a 'distributor' of that system.
And justice. Those dealerships closed not long after all the lawsuits.

Anyways, I replied to a question in general US thread- Autos to this topic. Some felt, no this can't be true! Internet links and stories are not always accurate, but it really did happen, right?

[Zorya]

I remember hearing about it too, so I did a quick search. I found the following article from the New York Times on how it worked.

Auto Dealer Has an Offer for Drivers With Bad Credit, but There's a Catch

[tcb]

I remember hearing about it and seeing commercials.

[KenD005]

Yes, it was true-It happened in Arizona also. Didn't last long, fortunately.

Besides being just plain mean, the problem was that they would kill the cat without warning-IE in the middle of rush hour, on the way to the Hospital, etc. instead of giving a 24 hour warning.

[KenD005]

OOPS-Kill the CAR, not the cat..

[malamute]

Originally Posted by KenD005

Yes, it was true-It happened in Arizona also. Didn't last long, fortunately.

Besides being just plain mean, the problem was that they would kill the cat without warning-IE in the middle of rush hour, on the way to the Hospital, etc. instead of giving a 24 hour warning.

But wouldn't the warning be that the buyer knew ahead of time if he didn't make the payments that this could happen? Or do they think they should just be given a car?

[KenD005]

Without warning meaning someone either forgot to make the payment (Happens) or the payment WAS made, but they did not reset the car. No way do I advocate having a "Free" car.

In theory, it was a good idea out here because of all the illegals picking up a car and heading straight to Mexico with it, to be resold.

I think what finally stopped the practice was someone heading to the hospital in the Phoenix area and the car was shut off. I forget if the person was OK or not, but a lawsuit followed..

[malamute]

I guess the other option is just not to sell at all to someone who has bad credit and shows little ability to pay.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by malamute

I guess the other option is just not to sell at all to someone who has bad credit and shows little ability to pay.

Oh sure play the logic card . I was thinking the same thing.

Before anybody gets all defensive and holier-than-thou, yes I have been in that situation before. You get what you can if nobody will loan to you, then work hard to fix what is wrong with your credit. If that means driving a $200 beater with no heat all winter, you do it (lived in the SOO at the time). If you think you can pay $50 a week, then you can cough up some in a month or two to get a POS that gets you where you need to go. Until then you walk or bum rides from friends.

[chance2jump]

Originally Posted by downthathighway

Is it just my imagination?
I seem to remember Mel Farr had a big business selling buy here pay here cars with a remote kill switch that shut off cars if payments were late. And was promoting that evil system to other dealers as a 'distributor' of that system.
And justice. Those dealerships closed not long after all the lawsuits.

Anyways, I replied to a question in general US thread- Autos to this topic. Some felt, no this can't be true! Internet links and stories are not always accurate, but it really did happen, right?

Yes, I know of a dealer that sold buy here pay here with a cutoff switch in the car... Paradise Motors out of Lansing, and the manager told me he had sold / given the info how to acquire the same systems to Sundance Chevy in Lansing. And yes, they did shut off the cars. However... the shut off was a signal generated to not allow the car to start back up once the engine was turned off. For instance, if the signal was sent out while the car was turned on/being driven, the engine would stay on until it was actually physically shut off. After that point, it would not turn back on. And, if I remember correctly, the system did send out a warning tone when it was getting close to being shut off to give the driver ample warning that the payment was due and engine going to be shut off soon.