We all know what happens if an auto dealer manages to talk you into a bad sale, but what’s the scenario when a customer walks out of a showroom with a truly good deal?
Well, it depends, but in the case of Danny Sawyer, the 40-year-old man was arrested and placed in jail for four hours before being released on bond!
Sawyer’s strange story begins when he traded his 2008 Saturn Vue for a black 2012 Chevrolet Traverse on May 7 at Priority Chevrolet of Chesapeake, Va. The next day, however, he changed his mind and returned to the dealership to exchange the black Traverse for a blue-colored example of the same car.
The dealer didn’t have an issue with the request and sales manager Wib Davenport agreed to cancel the sale on the black model and make a new transaction for a blue Traverse.
Sawyer left the dealership happy and took the car home before he set off for a cruise. Upon arriving back from vacations on May 15, he found numerous letters, messages and voice mails from the dealer’s staff.
When he called back, Davenport informed him the dealer’s staff had made a mistake and that the blue Traverse was actually worth some $5,000 more than the $33,957.55 black crossover he had previously exchanged .
Sawyer claims that the sales manager told him to come back to the dealership to sign a new and costlier contract that reflects the regular price of the vehicle, something that he declined to do saying that he had already paid the car’s price in full.
The owner said he continued to receive calls from the dealership for several weeks until the police showed up at his house on June 15 and arrested him after the dealer had filed a police report alleging that the SUV had been stolen!
Now, even though the charges were dropped, Sawyer has filled a $2.2 million lawsuit against the dealer (plus legal fees), alleging, among other things, malicious prosecution defamation, abuse of process, negligence and fraud.
Priority Chevrolet President Dennis Ellmer eventually admitted that his company was wrong. “I owe Mr. Sawyer a big apology,” Ellmer told the Virginian-Pilot. “It is my plan to let him keep the $5,600 and to make Mr. Sawyer right. I can’t tell you how I plan to fix it, but it is my intention to make it right.”
However, an apology is not sufficient for Rebecca Colaw, Sawyer’s attorney, who said that while she appreciates Ellmer’s response, he will have to do more than that…
Story References: Time & ABC News
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