There are dealerships that promise to get you into a car no matter how poor your overall financial picture and no matter how low your credit score. In fact, some dealers even claim to FIX your credit through their lease programs.
Are these programs right for some people? And what do you need to know before you sign up?
Believe it or not, customer Patrice Collette was getting career counseling from her car dealership.
"They want me to keep my vehicle so they're helping me find a job," said Patrice.
Patrice tells Action News when she fell on hard times, Drive Here in Conshohocken offered the help instead of repossessing her vehicle.
"I think it's wonderful," said Patrice. "I never heard of that before."
Danielle Byard thought Drive Here was wonderful, too.
"They guaranteed they would get me into a car. I told them how much I had and they told me no problem," Byard said.
People visiting the Drive Here website might hear something like, "You may not be in the financial place you want to be yet, but we are going to help you establish your credit and our mission is to put you behind the wheel right away."
"Go and check it out. How many dealers are helping people with 350 credit score?" asked Pablo Martin, Drive Here General Manager.
Martin also says every car comes with a warranty.
So why does Drive Here have an F rating with the Better Business Bureau?
"I went to turn the heat on and I smelled burning and it was just a loud clunking, crashing noise," Byard said.
Danielle says in 19 months, her 1998 Acura CL has needed about 10 repairs. She's paid for almost half of them out of her own pocket, about $1,500. That's on top of the $500 she put down, and the $240 she pays per month.
"By the time they're done with the lease, traditionally these people might be paying $7,000, $9,000, $10,000 for a car that at the beginning of the time of the lease may have only been worth $2,000 or $3,000 or had virtually no blue book value in it whatsoever," explained Andy Goode from the Better Business Bureau.
A Carfax vehicle history report shows Danielle's car is worth about $2,000. Her lease with Drive Here is costing her $9,689 before turning it in three-and-a-half years later.
Baltimore Finest Auto Sales in West Philadelphia has a couple things in common with Drive Here. Every car also comes with a warranty and the dealership also has an F at the Better Business Bureau.
"It was horrible," said customer Felicia Hall. "They're right here in the city taking people's money."
Hall says her car started smoking minutes after she drove it off the lot.
"He gave me a rental car," said Felicia. "I had the rental car for two months; the rental car broke."
Felicia sued Baltimore Finest and got a judgment for $3,000.
Carole Smith sued and won after her car had problems, too.
"You know some people you can't please no matter what you do. You can bend over backward, kiss whatever, but some people you can't make happy, but 90% of our customers are happy," said Yusif Amenra from Baltimore Finest.
Consumer advocates do caution.
"You need to check with the Better business Bureau, check the rating obviously, but they also need to do things like pull the Carfax report," said Goode.
One Carfax is $35, but you can get five reports for $45.
A Carfax will show you if a car's had an accident and whether the odometer's been rolled back.
Also, before buying or leasing a car, review the warranty and have your own mechanic inspect the vehicle.
Most reputable used car dealers will let you take the vehicle to have that done as long as you put a little money down.