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Filed under: Car Buying, Government/Legal, Crossover, Chevrolet


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.

That $5,600 seems awfully cheap now.

The lawsuit says Sawyer originally purchased a blue Traverse on May 7, but took the SUV back the next day for a black one. The dealer's sales manager made the swap, allegedly without saying anything about a price differential between the two. Either way, Sawyer signed a final contract for around $34,000 when the vehicle he took home had an actual price of closer to $39,000. On June 15, Sawyer was taken into custody by police, but the Commonwealth dropped the charges after finding insufficient evidence to pursue the case.Chevy dealer sells car for wrong price, apologizes after having buyer arrested originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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[Damian]

Easy money.

[Vettezuki]

The dealer fucked up pretty bad twice. But the customer is being a bit greedy about it now.

[Damian]

Everyone wants to make a quick and easy buck.

[Shaolin Crane]

Originally Posted by Vettezuki

The dealer fucked up pretty bad twice. But the customer is being a bit greedy about it now.

Nah. Its fucking stressful as it is being stopped by police. Much less being arrested, hauled back to a station, finger printed, photographed and help in a cell until "someone" works out the situation. He will still need to explain for the rest of his life why he was arrested for GTA wether convicted or a mix up. Its still there, finger prints and booking photo are still there too. I hope he wins cause i'd be pissed too.

[Vettezuki]

Originally Posted by Shaolin Crane

Nah. Its fucking stressful as it is being stopped by police. Much less being arrested, hauled back to a station, finger printed, photographed and help in a cell until "someone" works out the situation. He will still need to explain for the rest of his life why he was arrested for GTA wether convicted or a mix up. Its still there, finger prints and booking photo are still there too. I hope he wins cause i'd be pissed too.

He was arrested on a false charge. 1) the dealer should be in fairly deep shit for making the false claim of theft 2) it can be fully expunged from his permanent record and never show up on any background check, cuz False charge!

[Shaolin Crane]

Originally Posted by Vettezuki

He was arrested on a false charge. 1) the dealer should be in fairly deep shit for making the false claim of theft 2) it can be fully expunged from his permanent record and never show up on any background check, cuz False charge!

Not true, i had my record expunged. And guess what? An agency can still see it, anyone can. It shows that certain items were expunged, which means dick. Same thing for me of the false charge, charges were dropped and it's still on my record after my expungement. He deserves it, and I hope he wins.

[BADDASSC6]

I agree with Guy. I went down this road in 2005 and I am still paying a price for it.

I don't feel he is being greedy at all. I think dealers regularly take advantage of customers. 2.2 million is a lot of money even for a dealership. That is the point though. They did something intentionally wrong. These are not children. I promise that they sat there and threatened the buyer with going to jail. They lied to the authorities. I'm surprised the Police haven't gone back and arrested the General Manager.

[Vettezuki]

Dealers take advantage of customers precisely to the extent customers don't advocate their own interests. I'm not saying they aren't a bit slimey or tricky sometimes, but caveat emptor is still in effect. Anyway, that's not the issue here and isn't a relevant claim. It's not like cosmic justice for the times people got raked over the coals.

An expunged record means judicially erased. There maybe have been a failure to erase a record, and there may be time lapses between issuance and completion across all agencies, but expunged means gone legally. Period. Otherwise it would be an irrelevant concept. That's why people who have their records expunged run a pre-check BEFORE applying for a job where it will be checked, etc. Confirm.Confirm.Confirm.

But I am surprised the popo didn't go back to the person who made the false allegation. That's a serious nono.

If it makes you feel better he'll probably get the claim (minus the who knows how much attorney's fee). This is America. And if there's one thing we're good at other than spending money we don't have and blowing shit up, it's suing the shit out of each other and winning major "awards."

[BADDASSC6]

Ben,
Your previous post said nothing. You don't agree, but dealerships do take advantage of people (false arrest is pretty slimey). He will probably get paid. Blah blah, fancy words, blah.
CNJ