News10 reports that Solano (CA) County Sheriff's Deputies hit Vacaville Ford yesterday, seizing 66 vehicles (the entire inventory) and all the dealership's spare parts. The Solano County DA did the deed at the behest of the Blue Oval Boyz, who haven't been paid jack in quite some time, apparently. As you might expect from the written version of a local TV news story, pithy quotes abound. "'The dealership was very surprised when we showed up,' said Solano County Sheriff's deputy Seth Garcia." Saying that, props to reporter Cornell Barnard for not jumping the gun, fact wise: "It remained unclear if the dealership would reopen for business Thursday." And also not making that old journalistic faux pas of putting two and two together. "Unrelated to the repossession, a D.A's office spoken said the office had been investigating the dealership for alleged fraud, claiming the dealership took in vehicle trades with outstanding payments, but allegedly never paid the balance off before reselling the car. Authorities said more than 200 potential victims have contacted the District Attorney's office."
[Thanks to Factotum for the tip.]
Well, one down.
If they could find 1,000 more franchises like this (plus the entire Lincoln/Mercury sales system) this whole surplus dealer issue would disappear!
the dealership took in vehicle trades with outstanding payments, but allegedly never paid the balance off before reselling the car
Wouldn’t it have been the responsibility of the customer trading in their to car to make sure the party owned money on that car is paid off?
I’ve never sold a car that was owned money on. But I can’t for a minute fathom why I would trust a buyer to “take care of it” for me.
In California, and I’m sure other states are the same, the lien holder of the car is on title, and must also sign off on the title when it is sold. How did they get around this?
Had heard about these clowns and their trade-in scam in the local news. Glad to see that FoMoCo and the law stepped in to (hopefully) shut ’em down for good.
Heh…
I keep picturing William H. Macy’s character from Fargo working there. “Aw geez…”
Exact same thing happened at South Shore Ford/Chrysler/Volvo in Marmora, NJ (South Jersey, 15 miles South of Atlantic City) in May 2006. The dealership didn’t pay off the remaining balances on traded in cars, but sold the vehicles, leaving customers with 2 car payments and 1 car. FoMoCo swept in at midnight with about 2 dozen car carriers, took all the FOrd’s and Volvo’s, and shut the place down (unsure of what happened to the Dodges/Jeeps/used inventory).
Of course, I bought my Ranger from them in April 2006, but fortunately my trade-in was already paid off.
Dishonest car dealers? Today? Really?
Whoda thunk it?
They did the same thing to a Ford dealership close to where I live in the north end of Toronto. At night! I was coming home from work late, and the car haulers were just showing up. I went out for dinner a while later and half the cars were already gone. By the time I finished up and ran an errand the dealership was picked clean save for a handful of the most tired used cars (more trouble than they are worth). What a surprise it must have been for all concerned when they showed up in the morning to a dealership stripped bare. My automotive friends tell me that the local Chrysler dealer is in it’s death throes and may soon face a similar fate. Time to ‘make them an offer they can’t refuse’. Speaking of which, is it ‘safe’ to buy a car from a dealer in financial trouble…what precautions should one take?
I test-drove a Mustang GT 5-speed at this dealership in 2004. As if I weren’t already glad I didn’t buy…!
Yes, the car owner is responsible for making sure that any open loan is paid off when it is traded in, but very few people do so. Normal practice is for the dealership who takes the trade to send the money to the loan company. 99.9% of the time there is no problem, then you have things like the Vacaville fiasco.
Even more common is the employer who never sends your withheld taxes to the state and federal governments. Guess what, if your employer deducts taxes from your paycheck, as required by law, and then never sends the money in then are still responsible for those taxes. I wouldn’t be surprised if some Vacaville Ford employees discovered that they have that problem to face as well as being out of work.
I Love It!!! Back in 2000 thru 2002 My wife and I lived in Vacaville and tried to trade in a 1999 Mustang at Vacaville Ford for a 2002 Ford F150 Supercrew. They let me take the new truck home and I had it for 3 or 4 days untill I woke up one morning and found the truck gone from my driveway.
I called the Sheriffs office to report it stolen but they told me that Vacaville Ford had repo’d it. I called them to find out what the hell was going on, and they told me that they couldn’t get me financed. So I asked if was too much for them to just simply call me and tell me that and ask me to return the truck. Of course they couldn’t give me a straight answer. But that was only half the story. So I asked for my 1999 Mustang back and they proceeded to tell me that my finicial instution had came and repo’d it also. I called them to ask them why they repo’d my car and they stated that the used car manager at Vacaville Ford told them that I had abandoned it and that is why they came and picked it up. I had to pay the repo company to get my property back and the repo fee’s to get my car back. Pay-backs are a bitch.
I am glad that they finally had to pay the piper…They tried to get me when I traded in my old car. I was 4 days away form being delinquent, and It had been 2 months since I signed trade in contract. I was in there every day until I was able to get it resolved. All I can say is, good job Ford Motor Company.