Down Payment Felonies at Car Dealership

Down Payment Felonies at Car Dealership

If a car dealer calls you and says your financing fell thru and you have to return the car, be suspicious. If they say you can't have your deposit back, you may want to call the cops.

That's what happened at a Carl Gregory car dealership in Albany, Georgia. Gregory's lots include a Chrysler Jeep store, among others in Georgia.

The dealership General Manager Joseph Martin was called the mastermind of a deposit-grabbing scheme, assisted by a salesman, Ken Kennedy, who apparently had a long criminal record. Apparently the dealer owner failed to do a thorough background check.

According to local radio station WXFL, Martin and Kennedy would take down payments from unsuspecting buyers and then let the customers drive home thinking they had a deal. Later they'd call the buyer up and say that their credit fell through and they had to return the vehicle to the dealership. To top it off, they also told the buyers that they had to forfeit the down payment money for using the car they thought they had bought.
What no one knew was that Martin and Kennedy were pocketing the down payment money all along.
Six felonies and four misdemeanors later, Martin is under arrest and Kennedy is on the run.

How much deposit money was ripped off? No one is saying for sure.

Part of what made this scam believeable in the first place is the car dealer practice of "spot delivery" where the car is delivered to the buyer before the dealer ever really gets financing approval. All too often the whole thing is a scam. A few states made this practice illegal but more need to.

Meantime, if a car dealer calls you and tries to pull this scam on you, call us right away. Odds are, they are violating the law.

Don't let a car dealer rip you off. If they do, call us right away at 1-888-331-6422 Toll Free, or email us for help by clicking here.

Burdge Law Office
Because life is too short to put up with getting ripped off.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.