Chevy dealer sells car for wrong price, apologizes after having buyer arrested

[SurfsUP]

Dealership apologizes for error, customer arrest!!!

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/09/dealership-apologizes-error-customer-arrest-0

A Virginia man spent four hours in jail after purchasing a Chevrolet Traverse from Priority Chevrolet in Chesapeake, VA. The dealer's sales staff accidentally sold the SUV to Danny Sawyer for $5,600 less than they should have, and when Sawyer refused to sign a new, more expensive contract for the correct amount, the dealership called the local police alleging the buyer had stolen the vehicle. Law enforcement then picked Sawyer up and held him for four hours before getting the situation straight.

Dennis Ellmer, president of Priority Chevrolet, says he owes Sawyer an apology on behalf of the dealership, and had intended to do right by the buyer by letting him have the vehicle at the agreed-upon price. But Sawyer's lawyer says it's a little too late for saying, 'sorry.' The briefly-incarcerated owner has filed two lawsuits against the dealer, accusing the business of malicious prosecution, slander, defamation and abuse of process. All told, the suits seek a total of $2.2 million in damages, plus attorney fees.

That $5,600 seems awfully cheap now.

The lawsuit says Sawyer originally purchased a blue Traverse on May 7, but took the SUV back the next day for a black one. The dealer's sales manager made the swap, allegedly without saying anything about a price differential between the two. Either way, Sawyer signed a final contract for around $34,000 when the vehicle he took home had an actual price of closer to $39,000. On June 15, Sawyer was taken into custody by police, but the Commonwealth dropped the charges after finding insufficient evidence to pursue the case.

Wow I can't even believe the cops went along with this stealers, oops dealers scam. I think the law-enforcement should bring charges for whoever called the cops for making a false report for so called stealing the car. Does this mean I can call the cops when I purchase a vehicle for over the msrp for dealer markup saying they stole my money?:wink:

I don't feel one bit sorry for this dirty dealer. Everyday this $h!t happens but the other way around. People buying a vehicle for more than the retail msrp and not knowing it. What can you do, nothing!

 

[gsr-nsx]

Wow, I can't believe the initial sales price of $39k for the Chevy Traverse!

 

[blue_myriddn]

reparations are appropriate, but 2.2 million is obscene

 

[TURBO2GO]

reparations are appropriate, but 2.2 million is obscene

I agree. something... but 2.2 mill? he didn't get a brain injury...

 

[Hard Five]

If he asks for $10,000 this gets no publicity, which is what the attorney wants to pressure the dealership into settling. What you ask for is irrelevant, if this went to court the award doesn't have to be all or none.

 

[blue_myriddn]

If he asks for $10,000 this gets no publicity, which is what the attorney wants to pressure the dealership into settling. What you ask for is irrelevant, if this went to court the award doesn't have to be all or none.

Well put, I can't find fault with that logic.

 

[EuroBoutique]

I agree. something... but 2.2 mill? he didn't get a brain injury...

The 2.2 million is "asking" price, totally different from sale price

Anyways, I can bet that guy is mad - just imagine you were dragged to sit in jail for the same issue, I bet you want 1 billion dollars! :wink:

 

[Vega$ NSX]

The 2.2 million is "asking" price, totally different from sale price

Anyways, I can bet that guy is mad - just imagine you were dragged to sit in jail for the same issue, I bet you want 1 billion dollars! :wink:

Perhaps he should have asked for $2.2 million o.b.o. :smile:

 

[passline]

"CHEVY runs deep"

 

[jaybird]

Local story in this area. Dealership has multitude of makes under its name among many different dealerships, and generally has a good reputation. Some idiot in charge allowed this to transpire however - not good - believe the "Manager" has been removed, and suspect the dealer will settle (as it should) with a decent sum of $$. Really unbelievable that it happened. Can't believe the local police actually put the guy in the "gray bar motel" on this

 

[SUNEDAZ]

Wow, I can't believe the initial sales price of $39k for the Chevy Traverse!

Vega$ NSX "Perhaps he should have asked for $2.2 million o.b.o. "


These are the funniest things I've read all day, thanks for ending my night with a smile! :tongue:

 

[KSXNSX]

He deserves every penny if not more.

 

[LoveNSXs]

Wow, I've been to that dealership before.... it's close to where I used to live. Crazy that something like this would happen!

Nice read though. I hate cops in VA, period. They all sucky sucky. Doesn't surprise me they responded the way they did.

 

[Ritesh]

Crazy story..... What I don't understand is why did the cops arrested the guy? I don't see anything criminal. I see a disagreement between 2 parties.

 

[Aero]

From what I read the dealer idiots went before a judge/magistrate and said/swore he 'stole' the car so the judge issued a warrant for his arrest. At that point, the cops didn't have a choice but to serve the arrest warrant.

The dealer guys will be probably be in more trouble for basically lying to the judge.

He's definitely due some damages. I read the full complaint and they did quite a bit to harass him.

 

[naaman]

If I were the president of this dealearship, I'd make a sweet offer that anyone would be a fool to refuse (for example, I'd take the Traverse back refunding his down payment, etc and give him to a Tahoe for free and service AND repair it for free for the life of the vehicle). It doesn't come close to $2.2 million, but it's a heck of a lot better than, say, $10,000 cash which is probably what he could realistically stand to gain. I'd also try to make that offer before any lawers got involved.

Oh well...

 

[RedWings]

Sounds like Dennis Ellmer, president of Priority Chevrolet is going to have a negative line item on his balance sheet titled: Stupidity

The attorney is probably after their insurance company.
I'd certainly have some sort of policy that guards against stupid employees

-

 

[Meeyatch1]

This reminds me of back in 2003 when I ordered a brand new 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII after seeing their U.S. debut at the Detroit Auto Show.

The pricing was not finalized at the time, but after calling dealers literally all over the country that we charging from $5,000 to $10,000 ABOVE MSRP, I struck a deal with Ray Skillman Mitsubishi in Indianapolis (ironically, I did not live in Indy at the time, but I do now). The 'deal' was that I would pay the MSRP once they knew what it was, and pay for the car as soon as that number was delivered to them from Mitsubishi. Evidently the 'cash in hand' aspect of the deal is what allowed me to get it at MSRP, since I paid before the car arrived. This is an important detail.

Also, I had ordered the car near the end of January, beginning of February, with the agreement that I would only buy if they could GUARANTEE as part of the deal that the car would DELIVERED TO ME no less than ONE MONTH PRIOR to the start of the 2003 One Lap Of America event that I had entered the car in. I wanted time to do a proper break in and learn how to drive it properly before jumping into the event. Bottom line, they failed. Kept telling me they did not know where my car was, and could not track it, blah-blah-blah. Eventually 2 WEEKS BEFORE THE START OF THE EVENT, I still had NO CAR, and took matters into my own hands. I called Mitsubishi Corporate, and within 1 DAY had found out that my car was sitting in Portland, Oregon, and had been for several weeks, and that the dealer could have tracked this at any time over the past 8 WEEKS. So either they did not want to, or they knew and lied. So I ended up with the Regional Sales Director out of Chicago, explained my situation to him, and he had the car moved to the front of the line and shipped 'HOT' to their port in Chicago, and then put on a truck to Indianapolis. He said that if I had not called, the car would not have arrived until AFTER the One Lap Of America. Grrrr.

Where am I going with this? The car finally arrives (after I called the dealer, told them that I found and arranged shipping of my own car, and they damn well better have it ready within 24 hours of it getting on their lot), it has long been paid for, and I have to argue with them to let me take the car home! They insist if I do not watch the 'product video' on the car, I cannot take it. WHAT?? After a short argument, and an hour and a half of video watching and paperwork (no kidding) and I take delivery of my car and start a frantic rush to break it in properly with barely 2 weeks before this huge event. Well, these clowns at Ray Skillman Mitsubishi call me over a week later and say, 'Mitch...this is XXXXX from Ray Skillman Mitsubishi. We just noticed that we sold you a car with a sunroof at the non-sunroof price, and there is around an $800 price difference. Would you like for us to put that on a credit card, or how would you like to pay for it,' to which I laughed. I tell him we have a signed agreement for a certain price, I paid in full before my car's arrival, and that they could essentially stuff it because they dropped the ball at every possible point of the deal. They tried to say things like 'if your conscience lets you live like that,' and other things, then made impressions that they would sue. I said, 'Go ahead. You failed at every part of this deal and our agreement, and your conscience did not bother you when I was asking where my car was and you LIED constantly'. Needless to say, I never heard from them again on the matter. Damn dealerships.

 

[EuroBoutique]

^wow Mitch what a story! You sure had a lot of patience....I would have blown up at them during the paperwork process.

Why not buy it from the Portland dealer and not reward your dealership with the sale? I'm sure you could have easily got your money back.

I buy cross-country all the time and ship to my house bypassing local jerk-off dealerships.

 

[Meeyatch1]

^wow Mitch what a story! You sure had a lot of patience....I would have blown up at them during the paperwork process.

Why not buy it from the Portland dealer and not reward your dealership with the sale? I'm sure you could have easily got your money back.

I buy cross-country all the time and ship to my house bypassing local jerk-off dealerships.

Thanks. Patience has always been a strong suit for me.

The car was not at a dealer in Portland, it was at the actual port where all of Mitsubishi's cars come into the United States, just languishing around with a few thousand other cars. This is when the Evo VIII first came out, so there were not really any sitting unsold at dealerships anywhere from what I could find.