- A Georgia-based dealer chain is accused of remotely disabling vehicles for no reason
- U.S. Auto Sales faces a lawsuit, and is being investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- The outfit went bust a couple of years ago, but a federal court earlier this year ordered it pay US$40 million in damages for similarly shady behaviours
A bankrupt car-dealership chain in the American deep south, already on the hook for allegedly cheating patrons, is now coming under fire from regulatory bodies – and facing down a lawsuit – for using immobilizers to remotely kill the engines in thousands of customers’ cars — even when there was no reason for doing so.
If you’re not familiar with the uniquely American concept of the so-called “buy here, pay here” dealer model, you’re lucky. The premise involves having the selling dealer finance the transaction through their own in-house finance arm instead of through traditional lenders. This permits the facility to take on risky customers that banks might not touch.
As you’d expect, they don’t do this out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather as a vehicle for making major profits off enormous lending fees and interest rates. Since the car’s title is often held by the dealer until the car is paid off, some places install immobilizers to remotely disable a car if its owner falls behind on payments. Sadly, it is some of society’s most vulnerable who tend to require services such as these.
Investigate reports are accusing dealership chain U.S. Auto Sales of using these immobilizers at will and without cause, with some customer claiming to be fully paid up on their loans but still walking out to their vehicle in the morning to find a fist full of no-go.
According to local media, the dealer network “accidentally” disabled vehicles on over 5,000 occasions, even when bills were paid in full. That’s not to mention the 1,000-plus times this was done after the dealer had apparently promised the customer it would not. And those figures are what the company’s admitting to—who knows what the real number may be.
That alleged abuse of the tech eventually led to a lawsuit, and, more recently, the company’s practices coming under the scrutiny of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The entire house of cards came crashing down in banktruptcy some spell ago, with the abrupt closure of operations and ditching of all employees. Earlier this year, a federal court also ordered the defunct company to pay over US$40 million in damages to customers for a litany of bad behaviours, including wrongful repossessions and over-billing. It is unclear if victims will ever see a penny.
It wasn’t the end of the road for everyone, however. Bob Andersen, the former CEO of U.S. Auto Sales and the same man who emailed everyone in the company on a Sunday in April 2023 to tell them they were all out of a job, has since surfaced in a comfy role as the National Pre-Owned Director of Group 1 Automotive in Texas.
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