The DriveTime return policy gives you five calendar days from the date of purchase to bring the vehicle back and unwind the sale. It’s a voluntary dealer guarantee, not a legal right, and it comes with conditions: the car has to come back in essentially the same condition it left the lot, with no new damage, no body modifications, and no excessive wear. A mileage cap also applies, and DriveTime’s published materials confirm the restriction without pinning down a universal number, so verify the exact limit with the dealership where you bought the car.
Five days means five calendar days, not business days. Weekends and holidays count against you. If you’re already unsure about the car on day one, treat the clock as short.
How to Return the Vehicle
Call the dealership where you bought the car as soon as you decide. Tell them you want to exercise the 5-Day Return Guarantee and ask what to bring and when to come in. Schedule an appointment rather than showing up unannounced, because a representative needs to inspect the vehicle before the return can be processed, and walk-ins risk being turned away.
Bring your paperwork with you. At a minimum, that’s the original purchase agreement, your driver’s license, and both sets of keys if you received two. Any documentation showing the car’s condition at the time of sale, like the inspection report or the window sticker, helps head off disputes about what counts as pre-existing versus new damage.
At the appointment, the dealership will check the odometer reading, look the vehicle over for new damage, and confirm it matches the condition it was sold in. If the inspection clears, they process the return and begin reversing the transaction. If the car exceeds the mileage cap or has damage that wasn’t there at sale, the return can be refused.
What Happens to Your Financing and Down Payment
Most DriveTime buyers finance, so the big question is what a return does to the loan. When DriveTime accepts a return under the guarantee, the sale is canceled and DriveTime refunds the lender directly, which satisfies the loan. The deal is treated as if it never happened.
This is not a voluntary repossession, and the difference matters for your credit. A voluntary repossession is what happens when you can’t make the payments and surrender the car; it gets reported to the credit bureaus as a derogatory event, sits on your credit report for seven years from the first missed payment, and can leave you owing a deficiency balance if the car later sells for less than the loan. A return under the dealer’s own guarantee, by contrast, closes the loan as paid and unwinds the purchase.
Your down payment should come back to you as part of the reversal. Ask the dealership for a specific timeline and for the form the refund will take, whether that’s a check, a reversal to your original payment method, or a direct deposit. Get the answer in writing.
Sales Tax, Fees, and Insurance
The purchase price and the loan aren’t the only money on the table. A car deal carries several other costs, and how much you recover depends on your state and on how far the paperwork has already moved.
- Sales tax should be refunded as part of a voided transaction, but the mechanics vary by state. Some states let the dealer pull the reversed sale out of its next tax filing; others require you to apply for the refund yourself. Ask the dealership how it works where you bought the car.
- Dealer documentation fees, sometimes called doc fees, may or may not come back depending on the dealer’s policy and state rules. Check what you paid on the purchase agreement.
- Registration and title fees get harder to recover once DriveTime has already submitted the paperwork to the DMV. Some dealers hold registration filings until the return window closes for this reason. If your paperwork has already gone in, recovery depends on your state’s refund policy.
- Auto insurance does not cancel automatically when you return the car. Call your insurer as soon as the return is finalized, send them the return documentation, and ask for cancellation effective the return date. Most insurers will prorate any prepaid premium. If you wait, you keep paying to insure a car you no longer own.
What the Return Guarantee Is Not
The 5-Day Return Guarantee is a policy DriveTime chooses to offer, not something federal law requires and not something most states require either. Because the dealer sets the rules, the dealer can change them, so read the return language in your purchase agreement before signing and keep a copy.
The return window is also separate from the warranty. Every DriveTime vehicle comes with a 30-day or 1,500-mile limited warranty administered by SilverRock, and optional extended coverage called DriveCare is available for purchase.1SilverRock. Coverage Warranty coverage repairs a covered problem; it does not give you the car back to the dealer. If you want out of the vehicle entirely, that’s what the five days are for.
If DriveTime Won’t Honor the Return
If the dealership refuses a return you believe qualifies, or if you think the sale involved deceptive practices or misrepresentation of the vehicle’s condition, you have several places to file a complaint.2USAGov. Where to File a Complaint About Your Car
- Your state attorney general’s office or state consumer protection agency handles complaints about deceptive dealer conduct and has direct authority over dealers licensed in the state. This is usually the most effective first stop.
- The Federal Trade Commission takes reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC doesn’t resolve individual disputes, but it uses complaint data to identify patterns and bring enforcement actions.3Federal Trade Commission. How to File a Complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
- The Better Business Bureau creates a public record and prompts the business to respond. It carries no legal weight, but companies that care about their reputation often engage.
For disputes that involve a written warranty breach or significant financial harm, a consumer protection attorney is worth a consultation. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act lets courts award attorney’s fees to consumers who prevail in warranty cases, so some lawyers will take these matters on contingency.4Federal Trade Commission. Magnuson Moss Warranty-Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act