Car lot that demanded bigger down payment twice after sale slapped with $23K fine
A local used car lot that repossessed a customer’s vehicle after a salesman twice went to her house to demand more money down will pay $23,003 in fines and costs associated with the ill-fated transaction.
A Sedgwick County judge last month signed off an agreement between the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office and Auto Depot LLC that penalizes the company and bars its owner and a salesman from engaging in bad business practices in the future.
A man who answered a phone number posted online for the dealership refused to comment for this story. He would not give his name.
Court records allege the car lot, which operated at 231 S. Hydraulic but is now closed, sold a salvage 2011 Ford Taurus to a local woman last spring for $5,625 without having proper dealer licensing. The dealership also didn’t check for safety recalls, didn’t turn over the car’s title within 60 days and then repossessed the Taurus without giving the woman proper notice, they say.
About 12 days after the woman bought the car on credit with a $2,500 down payment, the salesman — Fontaine Williams — showed up at her house “asking for additional money down,” according to court records.
Williams returned again about a week later, demanding she pay more or give the car back.
He later repossessed the Taurus without giving the woman a “notice of a right to cure,” which tells customers how they can catch up missed payments, court records allege.
The woman filed a complaint with the DA’s Consumer Protection Division last fall, which prompted the office to sue the dealership for violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.
Williams and Auto Depot’s owner, Lorenze Kearney, agreed to give back the woman’s $2,500 down payment and pay $20,000 in civil penalties. The pair, which are subject to a yearlong probationary period, will also pay $197 in court costs and $306 in expenses the DA’s office incurred investigating the case.
The district attorney’s office announced the agreement, called a consent judgment, in a news release Monday. Judge Deborah Hernandez-Mitchell approved it on July 28.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 3:42 PM.
