Man Jailed by car dealer over price error.

Some guy got a great deal at a Chevy dealership and the dealer decided it was too good of a deal and had the cops come out and arrest him.

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.

Autoblog

Of course, There's more to the story than just that. The guy bought his car at the dealership and, as is usual for Chevys, he had problems with his brand new car just days after taking it home. He took it back to the dealership and they swapped him out of the junker brand new car for another brand new car of the same model. He drove it off the lot and went on vacation thinking everything was OK.

When he got home he found a stack of mail and a ton of missed phone calls from the dealership. They said the car he drove off with was worth $5600 more than the one he originally bought and they wanted him to come in and pay the difference. He told them to stuff it.

A few weeks of legal wranglings by the dealership later and one of the managers reported the car stolen to the police and had him arrested. The owner claims this was a mistake and that it should have been handled through civil litigation but, what's done is done and now they have one pissed off customer and a REALLY bad reputation.

One of their compeditors even made a parody ad claiming that they will put you in a car instead of getting you incarcerated like Priority Chevrolet. Dammit! I can't get this video to embed which has a really funny parody ad in it. Click this link to see the vid.

First of all, wtf? i already had plenty of reasons of never buying a car from a dealer again, but i never figured id get arrested for getting a hell of a deal. Lol one time i came home with a nice car, told my then gf...hey i just stole a car! Lets go for a ride! lol....

This guy has a fine reason for suing. But not for 2 million. Thats just as stupid as what the dealer did to him. Car should be free, thats it, no cash. Was he tazed? Then he should get enough noney to buy a couple more cars.

reply to post by phroziac


You have to remember; every time this guy applies for a job, he's gonna have to check off "yes" in the box asking if he's ever been arrested. A lot of employers won't bother to look any further than that on a job application, especially when the arrest was for Grand theft auto.

This guy has a permanent criminal record, regardless of whether the DA threw out the charges and the dealer apologised and offered to let him keep the car at the original price.

What was done to him was needlessly excessive, embarassing and probably resulted in him having to hire a lawyer to fight the charges (which ain't cheap). 2.2 mil sounds like a reasonable asking price IMO, especially when you consider that his lawyer is probably gonna get most of it on a contingency basis.

reply to post by phroziac


I don't have a problem with 2 million against a car dealership. I would award it. Those are punitive measures to help ensure any other 'manager' ignorant of the law and civil liberties does not also try to use the police against citizens in an abusive way.

This is like those attacks where people are calling the police and reporting a murder taking place at the home of a conservative blogger. The people involved should end up in jail and all of their assets forfeited.

A judge in America ordered Iran to pay $6billion for 9/11, this guy will have absolutely no problem getting his $2.2million He should open a rival car dealership next door with the money.

reply to post by FortAnthem

You have to remember; every time this guy applies for a job, he's gonna have to check off "yes" in the box asking if he's ever been arrested.

There's no box for "arrested", only "convicted"

It won't even show up on a background check. He'll be fine as far as that goes.

LOL! We were talking about this the other day. Looks like the dealer shouldnt have made a false police report and lied. They want everyone to be held to a contract.. just not themselves. Bet the owner really wishes theyd taken that few grand hit cause this guy will get a little more than that in a lawsuit.

If I were the guy, Id have been a happy cat in that jail cell.

reply to post by Zarniwoop


A lot of places I've applied to do have that question. Some follow up by asking if you were convicted, others do not.

I guess it all depends on what company you are applying at.

Still, whenever cops run his criminal record, they will see that he has that arrest on his record. It may mean the difference between him getting off with a warning for a traffice violation and the officer issuing a citiation.

A criminal record, even without a conviction, can hurt a person in numerous ways.

See why GM motors needed a bailout, and it seems nothing has changed.

Now they send the cops after you for their screw ups auto's are overpriced to begin with.

I'd would have sued to.

I hope he gets 2.2+ million, record expunged and a trip to Farrell's for ice cream. Those tools at the dealership decided bully tactics could remedy their incompetent contract negotiations and now have another thing coming.
Cool story Fort!

I worked in the auto industry for some of the biggest dealerships at the time and I can tell you that the managers in the tower and almost every one in sales and finance departments is crooked. Yes there were some good people in the service departments but the departments involved with sales are built up on fleecing people for the most amount. I would have not lasted as long helping those people do their jobs if I couldn't go hide in the server rooms away from all the shafting going on.
On the flip side if you go buy a car from a dealership then it is on you.

reply to post by FortAnthem

I guess it all depends on what company you are applying at.

It appears to be more about what state you are in...

Most states specifically bar employers and prospective employers from getting access to records of arrests that did not lead to convictions. In fact, a growing number of states forbid employers from even asking job applicants about such arrests.

Source

But you are correct that some places allow research into arrest records.

EDIT to add:

Unlike most people with arrest records, he has a handy URL to link to explaining his story for him, showing how he got screwed.

reply to post by FortAnthem

All told, the suits seek a total of $2.2 million in damages, plus attorney fees.

REALLY? 2.2 million? That's the crime here. Sure, that guy deserves something for his troubles, but 2.2 million? That's insanity.

Good for him 2.2 Million.

He earned it.
Greedy car dealerships have been screwing people forever. It's about time somebody put them through the wringer.

Spits.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Good for him 2.2 Million.

He earned it.
Greedy car dealerships have been screwing people forever. It's about time somebody put them through the wringer.

Spits.

The thing for me is.. they signed a contract with the guy for the price. They tried to force the guy to sign another contract. They filed a false police report when they didnt get their way. Thats about as crooked as you can get, really.

Dont spit.. its rude.

Wow, they make a mistake and one guy benefits from it and they punish him because they're greedy pos.

This is entirely what's wrong with this country.

I'd press charges against them and sue them for anything I could.

reply to post by neo96

Shouldnt he be suing the police as well?

I realize that most police are high school flunkies or GED graduates but how difficult would it be to understand that the man bought a car and was given another one in exchange?

reply to post by gladtobehere


The police are not paid to think.

They take orders and that is it.

Also, they shoot to kill if anything should not go according to their world view.

Originally posted by HandyDandy
reply to post by gladtobehere

 

The police are not paid to think.

They take orders and that is it.

Also, they shoot to kill if anything should not go according to their world view.

I hope he does go after the police as well. They should have gotten their facts strait before making the arrest and made sure an actual crime had taken place.

A contract dispute is not a crime. If the dealership really wanted their car back, they should have sent out a repo man to do their dirty work. Using the cops to settle a contract dispute is dispicable IMO. The cops being dumb enough to make the arrest on such shaky grounds should be criminal as well.

Originally posted by gladtobehere
reply to post by neo96

 

Shouldnt he be suing the police as well?

I realize that most police are high school flunkies or GED graduates but how difficult would it be to understand that the man bought a car and was given another one in exchange?

edit on 5-10-2012 by gladtobehere because: (no reason given)

The police are the ones who sorted it out for the guy. The police should charge the idiots for filing a false police report.