‘Sign of good faith’: Wichita car dealer agrees to fine, remedies complaints, DA says
An east Wichita used car dealer has agreed to pay a $2,000 civil penalty and take other steps to ensure customers are fully aware of problems with vehicles before they’re sold, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said.
The Office sued Marco Abraham, owner of Wichita Auto Plaza, earlier this year after two customers complained that they weren’t told about defects on vehicles they bought — including one deemed “unsafe and not road worthy” by a repair shop that inspected it.
The DA’s Office, in a news release announcing it had reached a consent judgment on Oct. 4 that settled claims in the case, said Abraham “denied he intentionally sold the vehicles with structural damage” and “took immediate steps to remedy the situation” by giving one customer a $15,000 refund and another a different vehicle at no additional cost.
Abraham also agreed to change the dealership’s business practices so all vehicle buyers are given a CARFAX report, a list of open vehicle recalls and copies of any announcements about a vehicle’s condition provided at auction, where Abraham originally got the cars at the center of the DA’s case. He claimed he didn’t know about the damage when he bought them.
Abraham’s efforts were “a sign of good faith,” the DA’s news release said, adding that his goal going forward “is to prevent any defects being inadvertently undisclosed.”
“Based on the voluntary actions, the Consumer Protection Division (of the DA’s Office) dismissed many of the original allegations as part of the settlement. Abraham agreed to a $2,000.00 civil penalty along with payment of court costs and investigative fees.”
Wichita Auto Plaza is located at 5927 E. Kellogg, near Woodlawn.
This isn’t the first time the DA’s Office has investigated Abraham over his car selling practices. In 2020, he agreed to pay $77,800 over allegations he sold cars in 2018 and 2019 that weren’t in the condition promised and needed repairs never disclosed to buyers.
The next year, after more car buyers complained, the DA’s Office demanded Abraham and the dealership “properly disclose all material issues with vehicles they offered for sale ‘including conditions you can reasonably become aware of.’”
The alleged failures persisted into 2022, when a Wichita veteran over the age of 60 paid $15,000 for a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado truck without being told about structural damage so bad it was later deemed unsafe to drive. Abraham also sold a 2016 Ford Mustang to a woman for $20,682.80 last year but didn’t tell her it had structural damage and was missing its airbags — a defect the woman learned of only after she was involved in a hit-and-run collision.
This summer, when The Eagle called Abraham for comment about the allegations for a story, he said the DA’s Office had “canceled” its latest case against him after meeting with him because “they found no violation.”
When contacted by The Eagle about the previous case in 2020, he also denied being dishonest with buyers.
Car dealers selling vehicles for normal use must meet certain conditions, including being in “reasonably safe” condition, without defects that would make them inoperable and “perform up to the level reasonably expected of cars of the same age, mileage, and price,” according to the DA’s news release.
The DA’s Office encourages potential buyers to check for safety recalls at www.safercar.gov/vin and also consider having a trusted mechanic inspect a car before sale.
For more information about how to file complaint about a consumer transaction in Sedgwick County, go to www.sedgwickcounty.org/district-attorney/consumer-protection-division.
