Going to jail for getting a good deal at car dealer
 

The president of Priority Chevrolet apologized Wednesday for the arrest of a customer in June whom the dealership mistakenly undercharged for an SUV and who resisted the company's efforts to get him to sign a new, costlier contract.

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/09/deal...tomer-arrest-0

There shouldn't have been a police report in the first place. It's a civil matter. It's not even our job to help the dealership find it for a repo.

Hope they get what's coming to them! Freaking hate car dealerships... scum of the earth, many of them are. Even though it looks like I'm going to have to go back for another stint and make some quick cash if I can't find a job, *shivers*

You can't trust anything a dealership says, even if it's in writing. They will do anything they can to back out of an agreement.

One of the many examples I have is I test drove this guy in an Expedition and the rear diff I think was bad on it, was making a groaning noise upon turning. We wrote the deal up to be closed with the condition the noise was fixed, at another service dept.

Client was supposed to come back in 3 days when the car was fixed to sign the paper work and go.

Came into work that day, and the car was parked nose out, straight shot out to the street.

I was instructed by the general manager to tell the client the car was fixed and the bill was $1k and everything was fine. I took it upon myself to go test drive the car myself, same noise. Asked the service manager what the deal was. He said GM got the estimate, told them no deal on the repair. Told him to park the car backwards so as soon as he rolled out of the lot, made that turn, and heard the noise, the car was his. "not our ****ing problem anymore".

Called the client myself and told him to stay away. Car went to auction the week after.

me thinks that customer will be handsomely rewarded by the dealer's insurance carrier.

Oh Hell!

I'm supposed to pick up a new car tomorrow. I guess I'll look over the paperwork twice after this!

Had similar happen to me.

A dealership forgot to add in the sales tax on the contract THEY wrote up and we signed. (~$750)

A month or so later I have a message on the phone that went something like: "You shortchanged us the car you bought. Send us a check for $750 NOW or we will ruin your credit rating"

If they had been polite and said "Hey, we made an error could we please discuss this" I would have worked with them.

Then they sent me a letter that literally said the same thing, and had a section attached that I was suppose to sign that basically said that I was a thief and owed them money.

I went to an attorney who looked it all over, and said I had a legal and binding contract, and that I should write them a letter telling them that I had a legal and binding contract, and if they had any problems with that, they could call him and he would explain the law to them. .

Never hear another peep outta them. . They were relying on pure intimidation to get the money from me, to correct their error.

I hope he collects every penny.

:cool:

The undercharge might not have been a mistake. Giving a buyer a very good deal, then calling them and saying there was a mistake and they owe more money is a fairly common car dealer scam. The dealer will often threaten to trash the buyer's credit or have them arrested if they don't pay the extra money. Dealers have even been known to offer a free car wash/detailing, or say they forgot to install some minor optional equipment, then when they get their hands on the vehicle they refuse to return it until you pay whatever they want. The whole thing could have been a scam that they took too far and it backfired big time. Even if it was just a mistake, it was the dealer's mistake, and the buyer was under no obligation to pay the extra $5,600.

I agree the dealeer should pay but I'm not quite sure it should be 2.2 million. :rofl:

EVERY PENNY OF 2.2 MILLION. they have harmed his credit, and if he decides to become an NP and work in a hospital, the arrest can very well be a deal breaker for credentialling to practice in the hospital setting. So yes, every red cent of the 2.2 mil.

I would think the dealer could contact the credit bureaus and have his credit fixed, and also get the arrest removed from his record. I'm not sure though.

He won't get 2.2 million, usually the lawyers want to set the amount high, then negotiate a settlement for a fraction of the original amount. Even if he does end up getting 2.2 million, he is a nurse that now has an arrest on his record, it's possible he lost his job over this, if he didn't it will almost certainly affect his future career prospects. Getting the arrest expunged/sealed is going to take time and money, assuming he can get it done at all. Taking into account possible loss of future income for the next 20-30 years, and his time and attorney's fees trying to fix this whole mess, actual damages could run well into the 6 figures. Then there's punitive damages, if this case doesn't qualify then I don't know what does. The dealership falsely reported the vehicle stolen, and knowingly had the buyer falsely arrested. They used the police and legal system to falsely imprison a man in an attempt to extort money from him, either as part of a scam, or in an attempt to cover up losing their employer money by screwing up the contract. The employee's involved in this mess should be facing charges.

The dealership will pay. Not sure the insurance will cover this act.....intentionally reporting a car stolen to have it recovered?

Me thinks the attorney will have this resolved in the not too distant future, especially since the suit has been filed and amended to reflect current events.

Sawyer, the plaintiff, will be driving a very nice car for many years to come and have lots of spare $$$ in their pocket.

I think $2.2 mil is appropriate; arrested...now a record...endangering their job....using On Star to tack the vehicle (On Star might be a exposed here to for providing non-public information to non-authorized 3rd parties).....the public humiliation....The attorney for Sawyer will also see a nice payday.

:wavey:

red

They could possibly have his credit fixed, though the article says he payed for the vehicle in full, so I don't think his credit would be involved, as there was no default/repo, or even credit to begin with. They cannot, however, remove the arrest from his record, once the arrest is part of the public record it stays there whether the complaint is dropped or not. The only way for it to be removed is for the person to go through the long and expensive process of getting the record expunged or sealed.

Screw them assbags. I hope he scores big!

Easy to give away other peoples' money, eh?

Whose pocket is the 2.2 million going to come out of? It's not going to be the pocket of the employee who made the mistake, I'll tell you that much.

Why wasn't the dealership charge with Grand theft? The man had all signed paperwork and paid cash for the car. The dealer had no ownership over the car. So that would make a Repo, theft!

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

Not for $5600, it's not.

Is the owner not responsible for the actions of his salesman?

It will come out of the pocket of the company whose employee made the "mistake". It was their employee, acting on their behalf. I don't see why they shouldn't be financially responsible.

Sounds to me like the buyer knew the seller made a mistake, and did everything he could do to capitalize on it. Why else would he have immediately gone and gotten a cashier's check to pay off the entire balance when he signed the new contract.

The dealership screwed up twice, once on the initial mistake, and the second time by getting law enforcement involved in what is really a civil issue. But for buyer to prevail, he has to come to court with "clean hands", and I don't think he has them.

The dealer's insurance will most likely pay the damages, and the employee/employees involved should be fired and facing false imprisonment charges. I find it hard to believe that one employee did all this without anyone else having some idea what was going on. If the insurance doesn't pay the damages, the owner of the dealership hired the employees and authorized them to act on his behalf, legally he's responsible for their conduct while on the job. If the dealer does have to pay he could probably sue the responsible employees, though it's doubtful he'd ever see any money. Are you saying the buyer shouldn't be compensated for being falsely imprisoned and given an arrest record in an extortion attempt?

Why not? If you can afford to pay cash, in essence, then why finance? Why have another monthly bill to worry about? You logic fails severely in this case.

The buyer might have suspected something was off, or he could have thought they were giving him a good deal to make the sale. Either way, the dealership signed the contract and accepted his money, they screwed up and it's their problem. The buyer's actions might have been morally questionable, but legally he owes them nothing.

They certainly should be financially responsible. The question is, did they do $2.2M in damages?