Posted on 07/31/2006 5:12:40 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
LOL. Glad you made it out alive.
Exactly.
The post-dating is irrelevant. If properly written and endorsed it's a negotiable instrument, even if the number amounts and the wording amount differ, as the words control over numbers.
I absolutely LOVE dealers like that. Of course I am an honest car salesman....and no that's no BS. I'll get you the very best price possible. I don't even have to deal with a sales manager. I write my own deals. That's why I move 40-50 units a month and send them all over the country! If a Freeper needs something, Freep mail me. I know shameless self promotion here is wrong but I am different. 90% plus of my business is repeat customers.
So you can see very well why I love stories about thieving dealers!!
Other clues of a dishonest dealership are additional charges for scotchguarding the seats, adding those little rubber door trim things, and etching the VIN # on the windows. If I see that, I leave immediately. There are honest car dealerships out there. Why do business with a crook?
I've heard several stories like this about Bill Heard before. It doesn't surprise me one bit.
BTW Bill Heard has something like 10 or more big Chevy lots thorughout Middle Tennessee and North Alabama. I have never bought a vehicle from them.
BTW, as to the thread topic, whether the dealer thought he was ripped off or not, taking the car out of someones driveway when you don't have a lien on it is pretty dangerous. It sounds like it's already cost him a bundle with the negative publicity, and he should have pursued legal options. He's a big target, and criminal charges of auto theft sound likely. Civil suits, keep it on the front page, more lost business. I sure wouldn't want to be the rookie salesman that made that sale.
May the "Blue Genie" tinkle on their tires.
I've been in the car business, in one way or another since 1977 and the old saying is that the sales department sells the first car and service sells the rest of them (to that customer). Service truly makes or breaks the dealership.
In my time, I've run across some really terrific dealers that care about their reputation and are scrupulously honest and don't put up with any nonsense. Some will push the envelope all the way to the edge. Only a few are really crooked and don't care what they have to do to make a buck.
If this dealer is in a large metro area, he probably doesn't care because there are always enough new customers that the ones who are pissed don't matter much. What's really bad about that is that they also attract the same type of salesman and the good ones avoid them like the plague, so you really get screwed.
I paid a utility bill and forgot to sign the check and the bank processed it.
Buzzzzz... Wrong answer. The deal is final when both parties sign the contract of sale. The dealership stole this truck and should be prosecuted like anyone else that steals trucks.
They have 12 or 13 dealerships in Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, Tennessee and Georgia. The corporation accounts for almost 15% of Chevrolet's annual sales, and they all seem to operate in about the same manner as described.
A few years ago there was a big blowup with Bill Heard over false newspaper advertising in Georgia. The state compliance officer that was bringing the charges against them retired soon after one of the Heard representatives attended a fund raiser for our current governor. All the charges were settled out of court. The compliance officer took a new position doing the same job for the State of Tennessee. I wonder if he is still there.<
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