Priority Chevrolet in Chesapeake, Virginia is facing a $2.2 million lawsuit from a more than disgruntled customer, after the dealership had him arrested in his own yard.
The scenario begins back in May, when customer Danny Sawyer decided to trade in his 2008 Saturn Vue in for a new 2012 Chevrolet Traverse after test driving a blue one. Pay attention to that detail as we move forward.
After purchasing a black Traverse on the lot, Sawyer seemed to have caught a case of buyer’s remorse, as he returned to Priority Chevrolet and asked to trade his black Traverse in for the blue one he originally test drove. The sales manager on site agreed to the trade. But according to the lawsuit, Sawyer was left unaware that the blue Traverse was roughly $5,500 more than a black one. Predictably, the sales manager disagrees with the claim, saying Sawyer verbally agreed to the $39,000 price for the blue Traverse when he traded.
Despite what the manager claims, the final contract Sawyer signed for the new blue Traverse was for around $34,000 — several thousand under what it was supposed to be — which was paid for with a cashier’s check.
Here’s where it gets dicey. The dealership realized it had made a mistake on the contract and asked Sawyer to return to the dealership to sign a new contract. Sawyer refused, and then stopped answering the phone calls. After several unanswered attempts, Priority Chevrolet radioed the fuzz and reported the Traverse stolen. Quickly after, Sawyer was then arrested on his front lawn, and taken in front of a judge, where he was released on bond after spending four hours in jail.
After the drama, Police dropped all charges after concluding that there wasn’t enough evidence to press charges on Sawyer. Needless to say, Sawyer is pretty steamed about how the whole situation, and has motioned to sue Priority Chevrolet for $2.2 million plus legal fees.
Enter Dennis Ellmer, president of Priority Chevrolet, who told the Virginian-Pilot “I owe Mr. Sawyer a big apology.” Ellmer admits that his staff made a mistake when they charged Sawyer $5500 less than they should have, and of course again when they called the police.
Ellmer said he’ll let Sawyer keep the $5500 difference and patch things up by sitting down and having a conversation with him, but Sawyer’s lawyer said that more than an apology is needed.
“I can’t tell you how I plan to fix it, but it is my intention to make it right,” Ellmer said to the Pilot.
Perhaps a fleet of blue cars.
Comments
this kind of service manager is one reason why i will never work in GM dealership again. all the ones i have encountered only cared about numbers and money. corrupt is all i can say. they think they are untouchable. still a hardcore GM fan tho 🙂
Good job sue their asses of!!!!!!! they deserve it, dont negociate nothing with them, a minute in jail is hell let alone 4 hours!!! i will sue them for more!!!!!!!!
Cadillac dealership I took my CTS to when it still had free semi-annuals (I do all my own service, repair, maintenance otherwise) are awesome. Same goes for the GMC and Buick dealership that is beside them (they have different show rooms and lots).
A family owns a Chevy (original brand ) and now a Hyundai, and Acura dealership and they are great too.
The big GMC dealer in town owns a Mazda dealership as well and they are top notch (my brother bought a 2012 Sierra from them and got a call a month later from the salesmen saying whats up and asking how he liked the truck).
Basically what I’m getting at is the 8 or so GM brand dealerships here are all great, maybe not 100% of the time, but no dealership ever is.
Before I bought my CTS I went to a Bimmer dealership to look at a 335 and got treated like shit. Mind you I was 21 at the time, but even still, I showed up in a sparkling clean Avalanche and well dress with my hard earned money to buy it outright.
I had already made up my mind with a CTS so it wasn’t a deal breaker, but still was a brutal encounter.
Salesmen I bought my CTS from was Phil Carington, older guy basically retired. Still remember him 3 years later. Absolute awesome not only salesman but person in general.
Point of information for you story. It’s Chesapeake, Virginia. You might want to double check all you facts and sources.
Really Ellmer? He can keep the 5500 difference and youll have a conversation with him? Like he wants to talk to you.
The first thing I would have done is made the Traverse free immediately, then sent a big gift basket with a written apology with an offer to come pick up another free car at the dealership. Then apologized again and made maintenance on both cars free for life.
The dealership will probably not have pay as much as 2.2 million, but im sure if they lose itll cost much more than the less than 100k it would have cost to do the above.
This is the kind of thing that will stick in peoples minds when they are shopping for a car. With hundreds of dealers out there it’s easy to go someplace else. Hopefully the sales person that called the police has been fired. The dealership should have given him the car for free after this major f up. Although I do think 2.2 million is a little high. $250k would be a more realistic number.
2.2 million is not enough for the embarrasment and the spend time in jail. Nobody deserves that so good job to his lawyer!!!!!
Mr. Sawyer sounds like a long GM customer and after this hopefully after this GM hasn’t lost customer but I’m sure the dealer has. Sounds like Mr. Sawyer didn’t nothing wrong except not studying the options list before buying. The dealership handle this all wrong, they messed this up at first and I’m sure the owner knew about this (probably told subordinates to fix it), lost a repeat customer, and created negative community view ( I’m sure it hit local news big time). How many of us have went to a dealership and was looked down on, dismissed as irrelevant, or harassed to the point you chose a different brand all together, I have. The dealership and / or owner had a chance to fix this before the arrest or surely right after but that opportunity has passed. Maybe if Chevrolet or GM corporate could straighten this out but I doubt it at this point. Good luck Mr. Sawyer because you deserve it.
My Grandfather was a home building contractor. He always said and I quote … “Measure twice and cut once” meaning if you check yourself twice you usually won’t make a mistake. Now, he will lose this lawsuit. Why? He knew the Blue vehicle sold for more than the black vehicle. The buyer took advantage of the situation. In all honestry the Chevy Sales Mgr over reacted by having him arrested. Something like the dealership owner like giving the buyer the balance is all as a Jury member would allow as the buyer brought this on himself. As *Grissom always said follow the evidence, and act on it.
i am sure ‘Brad’ THAT IF IT HAPPEND TO YOU, YOU WOULD OF DONE THE SAME!!!!!!! HE IS SUING FOR THE TIME IN JAIL AND NEVER THE LESS, WHEN YOU SING A CONTRACT AND THEN YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND ., THEY DONT CARE IF IT WAS AN HONEST MISTAKE!!!
Prove it! He had a SIGNED CONTRACT. For you to “CLAIM” he knew the difference is ridiculous. Again, PROVE he knew of the error.
I live here in Virginia Beach and followed this story. There was no excuse for the way Sawyer was treated. According to the complaint Priority Chevrolet used GPS tracking and Onstar to follow him and contact/harras him. Even when the case was thrown out of court, the manager was still trying to get him to sign a new contract (walking out of the courtroom). Priority first denied they ever reported the car stolen when confronted by the Virginian-Pilot (local newspaper), but later said it was true when teh police showed their reports that were actually filed. Apparently Priority Chevrolet hid the contract and bill of sale and all documentation that Sawyer had signed when making the complaint to the police (according to court records).
I think Sawyer should get every penny he is suing for. To my knowledge, Priority Chevrolet still hasn’t fired the manager or the salesperson associated with this mess.
I work for a GMC Dealer in another state. Just for your info, Dealer can not use Onstar to track the customer because the Traverse report it sold to Mr. Sawyer, The Dealer has all your SS#, address & phone # they dont need to track you. The dealer did a major f..up the should eat the $5500 and the Sale MGR should FIRED
First off the dealership should loss their hat for this. What a disrespectful, ignorant, rude and blatantly stupid way to treat what appears to be a long standing customer with the company.
Second the manager should be fired. An apology and a little talk? Is that going to cover the 4 hrs this guy spent in jail with the rest of the losers, not to mention he is probably now fingerprinted, photographed, etc depending on how busy the day was. The legal fees – as he obviously has a lawyer – for the judge and then continuing with the lawsuit.
The law of the world is CYOA – cover your own ass – if the dealership is run and hires morons then they should pay up.
OK. The dealership should not have called police, had him arrested, and make Sawyer look bad. That is completely wrong. If the blue vehicle was $5500 more it is up to the manager to make sure the finance office has the correct paperwork in order to collect the right amount of money from the customer.
BUT……Mr. Sawyer likely first chose the black one because after driving the blue one, realized it may be too much money with the higher price tag and opted for the cheaper unit. Then upon realizing he shoudl have spent the extra, traded the black for the blue. No one can tell me that Mr. Sawyer did not know the blue one was more money. No doubt he sat in complete silence while doing the paperwork all the while knowing there was a mistake. Non-guilty by ommission of knowledge is not an excuse.
That would be like me buying a house from someone who forgot to verify their moving date with the moving company, so when I moved in and found all their stuff still there, I said too bad, it’s mine now even though I know the purchase agreement did not include house contents.
Should he be compensated for the arrest, etc? Yes. But not anywhere near $2.2 Mil. In reality, he should likely be refunded the amount he paid for the vehicle so in essence, gets his car for free.
But anyone who believes Sawyer didn’t know the blue was more money or that the dealership made a mistake is only fooling themselves or has a hatred for car dealers.
Ok Yes, Im sure Sawyer knew the price difference and kept quiet, however, thats a moral argument, legally a contact between the dealership and the buyer was signed for the blue car for the 34k.
A customer cant be expected to know everything about contracts, the dealership can, the responsibility of ensuring that the contract is correct falls on the dealership.
Imagine if it had been the other way around, a customer has thought he was buying a car for 31k but actually the contract was for 35k and he signed it, could he have demanded the dealership pay him 4k?
And if it was all the customer’s fault(which it wasnt, at best it was equal fault), getting someone arrested is not the way to solve the problem, not to mention that the grounds for the arrest was the completely false charge that he stole the vehicle.
I think doing what I mentioned in my above post would have been a viable solution. 2.2 million is ridiculous, he should probably just get a few hundred grand, which is still alot of money for 4 hours with the police and some legal hassle.
Just the sort of thing that kept me buying Saturns here in Arizona. May just keep the one I have and never deal with the GM dealership network again.
Plain & simple, have the correct VIN number on the Buyers Order & have the buyer sign it. If he/she signs for a vehicle, that’s the vehicle they own. Having a signed Buyers Order is a much more defensible position in court.
How many times if you heard of somebody leasing a car and think they are buying it because they didn’t read the contract. Now a dealer accepted a signed contract gets a cashiers check the car is paid for in full. And then they filed a false police report saying the car is stolen.
For those who doubt he’ll get his $2.2 million, google Eddie Bauer Lawsuit. It’s legendary in the retail world. The victims got $1 million each for false imprisonment, defamation,and lack of training of staff. And they were just held at the store for a short while by security guards, not thrown in jail. Adjust for inflation, filing a false police report, and the fact they had the signed contract right in front of them when they choose to try to scare this customer, 2.2 million sounds like a bargain.
A signed contract takes priority over any printed or spoken word. I know it’s been a while but the last time I bought a new car you just didn’t talk to the salesperson. You discuss deal with salesperson who then takes sign order to floor manager for approval he comes in try to get more money out of you then you go to finance manager who checks it over then goes out to talk to sales manager then try to get more money, if I remember right I think it took me a couple of hours till I got keys and a congratulation on your new car. Seems like someone would have noticed.
I’ve read a large number of articles on this to get as much info as possible. This version leaves out the fact that the buyer wasn’t answering his phone because he was away on vacation. On a cruise. I house and dog sit for a couple that take a cruise every year. They don’t get much reception when they are out on the ocean.
You need to read the actual lawsuit. Not only did the dealership file a “false police report” and try to turn a civil matter into a criminal matter – they refused to file the proper paperwork with the Virginia Motor Vehicle Department resulting in this guy ending up getting his driving priveliges suspended over insurance issues. He has been arrested, harrassed, and been suspended from driving. He had to buy another vehicle because the Traverse cannot be registered because the dealership will NOT forward paperwork to DMV. I am usually pretty conservative, but not on this one. I think Sawyer should OWN the dealership! Do some research and see what all Priority has done to this guy. GM should step in.
I cant believe this. The entire vehicle only costs gm about 10,000$ to build and ship and they plan for a raping proffit and they call the police becuase a guy got away 5 less. I really hope this guy gets his 2.2 million. The dealerships are getting out of control everywhere. I bought a brand new kia soul and got laid off 3 months later and tried to trade it in for a small car and was only offered 50% of the original value i had also bought other cars from this dealership lupient Kia of brooklyn park mn in the past. i was so upset. A random ford dealership gave me 65% of the orignal value which was the best i could get. I lost 7000$ for having the vehicle 4 months.
The older person knew because it was passed down from father and others. When you drive that new car off the lot or off the showroom floor you lost half of the purchase price of the car. It was just accepted.
Dave……..the reason you lost $7000 is because now the dealer has to sell you old car as a used vehicle that a buyer must finance at a bank rate. If a buyer came in and could buy a new one at 0% financing for $x per mth, why would they pay the same payment on a used on at say 6-7% interest? That interest rate over a 5yr term adds about $4500 in interest so your car must be at least that much less than a new one to make up for the interest (and that is not including the amount it should be less because it is a used car).
Try this, go to autotrader and look at the price difference between a new car and a “slighty” used one. You are correct, once a car is titled, even if driven for LESS than a mile, it is considered used. But by the same token, The dealer WILL NOT give it away for a song.
Manny, Time for a follow up I think
Peoples arguments against Sawyer is that he knew the price difference and didn’t say anything while signing the contract……so what? This isn’t an issue of morality, this is an issue of legality. The dealership screwed up big time and I hope Sawyer gets every bit of money he is suing for and then some.
Priority Chevrolet is a business that is clearly looking out for their bottom line profits. My husband received a call from their Customer Service Manager, Liz who listen very nicely and once my husband explained his issues, she apologizes and tells him their Labor prices are competitive in the area. Well, we drive miles to get to them almost 80. I have asked my husband to stop dealing with them after going their for free oil changes that the charges are as high as $1700. Well Dennis and his son must live awfully well !! I will make it a point to tell everyone that I know Go to Hall or any other place. Don’t fall for the free stuff.Its a scam!
Beverly, let me take the other side of the coin. I do not work for a dealership or as a mechanic but use to be a service writer. What do think a oil change entails ? Just dropping the oil and filter, refilling, and maybe greasing on modern cars one or two fittings. A proper oil change is to find small problems before they become major or life threatening issues. On a modern car some examples leaking water pump ( stranded on the road, warped cylinder head), cracked / leaking brake hose , worn brake pads, low brake fluid ( loss of brakes, possible crash, possible injuries), worn steering parts, CV boot torn ( loss of steering, possible crash), manual / automatic transmission ( low fluid, burnt fluid, needs checked out), exterior lights, tires,belts and suspension parts worn. How many miles does this car drive ? just to store and bank or thousand mile trips. As a car ages, more use, lack of proper maintenance adds to bill. But bottom line he received oil change then was told about added / needed service he agreed, could have thought about it and returned, gotten second opinion from a different shop, or asked a trusted family member on their opinion.