Chevy dealer sells car for wrong price, apologizes after having buyer arrested
10-02-12, 09:01 PM
#1
Chevy dealer sells car for wrong price, apologizes after having buyer arrested
Chevy dealer sells car for wrong price, apologizes after having buyer arrested
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.
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/10/02/c...-after-having/
10-02-12, 11:09 PM
#4
Lexus Test Driver
Not to the tune of 2.2 million. For 4 hours? They would definitely be wise to settle this case. You would think the dealership would be wise to blame the sales staff.
10-02-12, 11:44 PM
#5
Damn car stealers, sorry dealers!
I hope this guy gets all the money he is asking for. I don't think you would be too happy if you had to sit in jail for 4 hours.
I don't feel one bit sorry for this car dealer. Imagine it the other way around and the customer was charged $5,600 more. I don't think you would of heard about it cause you couldn't do $h!t about it.
I hope this guy gets all the money he is asking for. I don't think you would be too happy if you had to sit in jail for 4 hours.
I don't feel one bit sorry for this car dealer. Imagine it the other way around and the customer was charged $5,600 more. I don't think you would of heard about it cause you couldn't do $h!t about it.
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10-03-12, 08:30 AM
#9
Lexus Test Driver
Damn car stealers, sorry dealers!
I hope this guy gets all the money he is asking for. I don't think you would be too happy if you had to sit in jail for 4 hours.
I don't feel one bit sorry for this car dealer. Imagine it the other way around and the customer was charged $5,600 more. I don't think you would of heard about it cause you couldn't do $h!t about it.
I hope this guy gets all the money he is asking for. I don't think you would be too happy if you had to sit in jail for 4 hours.
I don't feel one bit sorry for this car dealer. Imagine it the other way around and the customer was charged $5,600 more. I don't think you would of heard about it cause you couldn't do $h!t about it.
Basically the precedent set here would not be sustainable, if the customer was awarded 2.2 million. I believe the dealership should be punished, more so the staff involved, but as sue happy as folks are these days, goodluck collecting on judgements if the sums are this large
.
10-03-12, 09:07 AM
#10
Lexus Fanatic
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.
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-03-12 at 09:11 AM.
10-03-12, 09:45 AM
#11
I would not be happy and I believe that the customer should get some damages recovered. However, if you believe that 4 hours in jail (holding cells none the less) is worth 2.2 million($550,000/hr), there are a lot of innocent people who have a lot more money coming to them. Lets really think about this, if that is company policy to force customers to sign contracts, then yes the dealership is responsible. If it is a bad decision made by certain staff, they should be fired and civilly liable (maybe even criminally). The question is rather like say police officers the company is responsible for actions of employees?
Basically the precedent set here would not be sustainable, if the customer was awarded 2.2 million. I believe the dealership should be punished, more so the staff involved, but as sue happy as folks are these days, goodluck collecting on judgements if the sums are this large.
Basically the precedent set here would not be sustainable, if the customer was awarded 2.2 million. I believe the dealership should be punished, more so the staff involved, but as sue happy as folks are these days, goodluck collecting on judgements if the sums are this large
.
10-03-12, 10:00 AM
#12
I would not be happy and I believe that the customer should get some damages recovered. However, if you believe that 4 hours in jail (holding cells none the less) is worth 2.2 million($550,000/hr), there are a lot of innocent people who have a lot more money coming to them. Lets really think about this, if that is company policy to force customers to sign contracts, then yes the dealership is responsible. If it is a bad decision made by certain staff, they should be fired and civilly liable (maybe even criminally). The question is rather like say police officers the company is responsible for actions of employees?
Basically the precedent set here would not be sustainable, if the customer was awarded 2.2 million. I believe the dealership should be punished, more so the staff involved, but as sue happy as folks are these days, goodluck collecting on judgements if the sums are this large.
Basically the precedent set here would not be sustainable, if the customer was awarded 2.2 million. I believe the dealership should be punished, more so the staff involved, but as sue happy as folks are these days, goodluck collecting on judgements if the sums are this large
.That's the entire point of limited liability - the corporation is liable, the person is not.
10-03-12, 10:07 AM
#13
The police arrested him because the dealership said he stole the vehicle. And that he didn't steal the vehicle. Seems like a pretty factual example of abuse of process, not to even mention knowingly lying to the police.
I hope an example gets made of this dealership. Far too often they feel they can dominate any interaction with consumers - the widely known instances of not honoring auction bids is just one example.
10-03-12, 10:24 AM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
I hope an example gets made of this dealership. Far too often they feel they can dominate any interaction with consumers - the widely known instances of not honoring auction bids is just one example.
10-03-12, 10:41 AM
#15
I would agree with you on the large amount, but still this dealer needs to learn the hard way that playing dirty when they got the bad end of a deal. The law-enforement here should bring charges for whoever made the call for false arrest of the poor fella for so call stealing the car.
Does this mean I can call the cops when I buy a vehicle for over the msrp for dealer markup, saying they stole my money?
Does this mean I can call the cops when I buy a vehicle for over the msrp for dealer markup, saying they stole my money?
I can't believe they lied and said he stole the car
