[4] It uses a proprietary credit scoring model to finance car purchases at its dealerships in-house,[5][6] including subprime lending.

Approximately 8 percent of cars bought at auction do not pass the inspection process and are not sold through its dealerships.

[13] DriveTime ranked 3,793 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies after posting $2 billion in revenue and adding 1,192 jobs in 2014.

Ultimately, Ugly Duckling filed for bankruptcy in 1989;[15] Ernest Garcia II, who studied business at The University of Arizona in Tucson, and a convicted felon for his role as a straw borrower in the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association collapse,[17] formed Duck Ventures, Inc. in 1990 and bought Ugly Duckling's assets.

Ugly Duckling also tried an experiment in Gilbert, Arizona, selling newer and more expensive cars, but ultimately sold that dealer in 1995.

The company had a new source of income—buying installment contracts from other dealers, still considered subprime, but from customers more affluent than Ugly Duckling usually had.

[20] By this time, the company had gained regional fame; William Gibson, an analyst for Cruttenden Roth, said in Investor's Business Daily in 1996, "You go to Tucson or Phoenix and people know The Duck.

For $26.3 million, Ugly Duckling bought some assets of E-Z Plan Inc. of San Antonio, Texas.

A greater percentage of the company's income came from financing, and the November 11, 1996 issue of The Washington Post said Ugly Duckling was "a bank masquerading as a used-car lot.

At the same time, Ugly Duckling was developing its own software, and CEO Gregory Sullivan said this company was the only one buying car dealers in 1999.

[21] Ray Fidel, DriveTime's former president and chief executive, started working with Ugly Duckling in 2001 as it prepared to go private again.

[26] The company operated 76 dealerships in eight states[24] as DriveTime sought to expand across the U.S.[22] O'Leary and Partners took over advertising in May 2003.

[29] Federal judges credited them for pleading guilty and helping convict Charles Keating, who ran Lincoln Savings and Loan.

[29] The company announced plans on November 2, 2004, to expand from 75 to 100 locations over two years, mostly in the Southwestern United States and in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.

[30] By 2005, DriveTime had added Austin, Texas and Norfolk, Virginia and planned sites in Charlotte, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee.

[31][non-primary source needed] As the company expanded, Auto Dealer Monthly and AutoTrader.com recognized Fidel as top independent retailer.

DriveTime general counsel Jon Ehlinger denied the accusation and said the company would "vociferously" fight to clear its name.

The new company began in 2011 as a DriveTime division, offering subprime retail financing, before becoming its own business.

[4] In 2013, DriveTime introduced Carvana as an e-commerce used car dealer run by Ernie Garcia Jr. in Phoenix.

[36][37] The U.S. government's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau levied an $8 million civil penalty against DriveTime for its debt collection practices in November 2014.

[38][40] The agreement also included close supervision of DriveTime's collection and credit reporting by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for five years.

Cox Enterprises, which owns online marketplace AutoTrader.com and Kelley Blue Book, the car valuation and research company, bought a stake in GO Financial.