A DRIVER has claimed they are having to pay back a huge loan after selling two cars to bankroll a dealership’s mistake.
A number of customers have reported issues from the same car dealership.
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The dealership in question, Waynesboro Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, is now under investigation by Georgia’s attorney general.
There have been a rise in complaints against Georgia car dealerships failing to pay off liens on trade-ins.
Video footage and audio recordings show multiple calls and visits to the dealership from customers trying to resolve the issue.
Among the 10 individuals named in an investigation by the Burke County Sheriff’s Office is Midville Police Chief, C.J. Green.
Green got stuck with three car payments including two on vehicles he had traded in and the dealership had sold.
He traded a Silverado and Durango for a new Ram last November but he’s now paying about $1,800 a month on loans.
He said: “That’s where the late payments come in because I couldn’t continue to pay on the Durango – I mean, who could?
“I’m on a police salary.”
Maegan Meyer’s veteran father paid Green in cash for the Silverado he traded in at the Waynesboro dealership.
She said: “There are no words.
“Something that was supposed to be so simple for my father to do because he was excited to finally get his VA benefits and this is the first purchase he wanted to make – his first vehicle in years.
“When my dad purchased this for cash for $31,000 with all the extra stuff they added to it – they never gave him a title.”
To make matters worse, the dealership shut down in April.
A couple of days before, a customer had told a deputy that if they didn’t get the vehicle, “they’re going to make it disappear.”
Vice President of Jim Hudson Lexus, Bill Gibbs, has been in the business of selling cars for the past 40 years.
He said: “It sounds like they didn’t pay their trades off and the floor plan lender shut them down.
“So when you get out of trust with your lender, they come in and take over.”
C.J. Green later reached out to an attorney who told him they didn’t have anyone to sue “because that was locked into a corporation.”
Green later filed a police report with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.
The owner of the dealership had claimed all the money from the “trade in and then sold” vehicles went to the operation of the business, according to the investigator’s case notes.
The investigator wrote it “proves theft by deception and theft by conversion.”
That owner then received an ultimatum: pay up or be prosecuted.
The owner chose the former, at least in Green’s case.
Green then met Maegan Meyer’s father to hand over the now-clear title to his trade in.
She said: “I was so excited, I was like ‘Yes, we finally got this title, we can finally register it’.
“And then we go to register it and they’re like, ‘No, sorry’.”
The tag office told Meyer and her father the now-closed dealership had a pending electronic tag on the Silverado.
She said: “Now he is stuck in this situation with a $31,000 yard ornament, and there’s nothing we can do.
“We’re helpless.”
Meanwhile, Green now finds himself at the mercy of the bank to clear his credit.
He had never missed a payment and had been working on his credit score since he was in high school.
Meyer later added: “There should be some sort of fraud or criminal case to bring against them for this.”
The Burke County Sherriff’s Office sent out a news release on April 23, stating: “Investigation into Waynesboro dealership results in positive resolution.”
But last Wednesday, another update was provided announcing the case is active and others have come forward.
