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View Full Version : New way for a dealership to make money. Sell you a car, then arrest you for theft!



spikerS
10-04-2012, 01:17 PM
Insane that this could happen in the way it did. I seriously hope the guy wins this lawsuit.

Can any of the beyond law gurus shed some light on the transaction, and the likely outcome?

source (http://jalopnik.com/5949009/dealership-has-customer-arrested-for-getting-too-good-of-a-deal?popular=true&utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow&post=53233653)


We've all seen those signs in shop windows that snarkily remind us that all sales are final. If you decide you don't like the color or something, tough titties. You bought it, now it's yours.

So what if a retailer sells somebody something, then decides that it wants to take back that item and re-sell it for more money. Sounds crazy, no? Well, the truth is stranger than fiction my friends, because that's exactly what happened at a Chesapeake, Va. car dealership.

Priority Chevrolet decided after the fact that it had sold a Chevy Traverse for $6,000 short of its actual value. When the buyer refused to return it, they tried to have him arrested for theft. He answered that challenge with the biggest "fuck you" an American can utter. A $2.2 million law suit.

It all started in May, when Danny Sawyer, a 40-year-old registered nurse, decided it was time to trade in his 2008 Saturn Vue for something a little fresher. Continuing down more or less the same path as his previous four years of crossover ownership, Sawyer chose a black 2012 Chevrolet Traverse as its replacement.

Now here's where it gets complicated, according to court documents posted online by the Virginian-Pilot. Sawyer came in the morning after the trade-in and asked if he could have a blue one instead. Priority's sales manager, Wib Davenport, said ok, and wrote up a contract for $33,957.55. Sawyer drove his new blue Traverse home, thinking that was the end of things. Only it wasn't.

He left for a cruise the day after buying his blue Traverse, and returned to a barrage of voicemail messages from Davenport, who said that he'd made a mistake. The blue Traverse was allegedly worth $39,000. Whoops, Wib!

In essence, Sawyer said "a deal's a deal," and wouldn't allow welching of any kind. He kept the car, despite Priority's repeated calls for him to return it. By the middle of June, Davenport had grown frantic enough to call the police, and Sawyer was arrested on June 15. He got out on bail, but didn't have a car and had to walk five miles to get home.

A deal is a deal, and a contract is a contract, so the charges were dropped. But dropped charges or no, Sawyer seems pissed. The $2.2 million lawsuit he filed against the dealership — which he said kept trying to get him to sign a new contract even after the charges had been dropped — Sawyer accused Davenport and Priority of fraud, negligence, slander, and violating the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, among other things. He said that he has lost sleep, wages, and reputation as a result of the ordeal.

ercchry
10-04-2012, 01:21 PM
as far as ammuurican lawsuits go this seems pretty solid

Cos
10-04-2012, 01:23 PM
.

spikerS
10-04-2012, 01:24 PM
Originally posted by Cos
:rofl: dont give my dealership any ideas.

Or mine for that matter! LOL

FraserB
10-04-2012, 01:36 PM
Just make sure the cops come to arrest you at work and make a massive scene.

DeleriousZ
10-04-2012, 01:42 PM
hahaha WOW. now not only is the dealership out that 6g because of their fuckup, they now look like giant retards to the general public, AND might be out 2.2m+lawyer fees.

That's pretty amazing.

JRSC00LUDE
10-04-2012, 01:53 PM
:facepalm:

No word of a lie, about ten minutes ago I found a mistake I made on a part of a job. It hasn't even been billed out but they've been given a quote so guess who's going to eat the $500.00? My mistake, my problem. Some people....

Tik-Tok
10-04-2012, 02:06 PM
Originally posted by spikers


Can any of the beyond law gurus shed some light on the transaction, and the likely outcome?


I'm no law guru, but a case like this looks pretty air tight (for the car buyer), and most of this kind of thing is settled out of court for much less than asking amount, but more than enough to make a guy happy (which is why the initial lawsuit amount is always so high)

spikerS
10-04-2012, 02:25 PM
see my biggest question is as such: "how can the police arrest him for theft, when he would have a bill of sale, and titled registration for the vehicle?"

and the way the article writes it, his new SUV has been repo'd...I don't understand how it could all happen...

DeleriousZ
10-04-2012, 02:31 PM
Originally posted by spikers
see my biggest question is as such: "how can the police arrest him for theft, when he would have a bill of sale, and titled registration for the vehicle?"

and the way the article writes it, his new SUV has been repo'd...I don't understand how it could all happen...

Sketchy repo company did it for them maybe? And the dealership probably just had to report the car stolen and say they saw the guy take it and where he most likely lives/works/whatever.

I can't imagine the cops would stop when the guy said he legally bought it and had a bill of sale etc etc, otherwise everyone would say that when they were getting arrested!!

Altho why he needed to post bail is a mystery to me.

D'z Nutz
10-04-2012, 03:32 PM
I feel sorry for the next 6 people who have to pay $1000 non-refundable deposits for test drives.

zipdoa
10-04-2012, 03:57 PM
Fucking dealerships :rofl:

Such a greasy business.

lilmira
10-04-2012, 04:09 PM
Yeah, I don't get why the police arrested him based on the info from the dealership only unless the car hasn't been registered yet. Something funny is going on if he hasn't registered the car for more than a couple weeks at least (May-mid June).

Other than that, it's another one of those WTF just like that roadkill restaurant.

dumplings
10-04-2012, 04:21 PM
He answered that challenge with the biggest "fuck you" an American can utter. A $2.2 million law suit.

:rofl:

kvg
10-04-2012, 05:16 PM
Signed sealed and delivered and............

What a load of :bullshit:

se7en
10-04-2012, 05:46 PM
Originally posted by D'z Nutz
I feel sorry for the next 6 people who have to pay $1000 non-refundable deposits for test drives.

no one else saw this?!? Fucking love it.

OU812
10-04-2012, 09:23 PM
Could be wrong but I am pretty sure there is a clause for this on the rear small print on a bill of sale.

Basically the stealership is always protected in the case of a pricing error

I think its Karma biting their asses