A dozen employees at a Nissan dealership in Shelby North Carolina are collectively facing more than 400 charges following a state department of transportation investigation into their used vehicle sales practices.
Among the allegations, the North Carolina DOT is charging the employees with failure to inspect vehicles prior to being offered for sale, failure to deliver title, failure to disclose damage, improper use of temporary markers, making false statements about date of sale, and more.
The investigation was launched after the agency started looking into the process used by the dealership to rebuild the titles of salvage vehicles, but was expended after investigators found more and more evidence.
Sam Kazran, the dealership’s former general manager, faces 110 counts of failure to inspect vehicle prior to being offered for sale. However, he told WBTV that since he is “not a technician or license(d) to inspect motor vehicles,” and that the specific rule on which the charges are based does not apply to him.
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Some customers say they’re pleased that charges are being filed against dealer employees. One, Lucinda Ross, told QC News that she is “relieved, but I am still concerned about what happened to me and possibly other people.”
She traded in a vehicle for a used 2021 Nissan Rogue Sport. She claims that six months after the trade, the dealership called her in to tell her that she owed them money. She called her finance company, who told her that she did not have to pay more money.
In addition, she claims that her crossover had issues that the dealership refused to fix. WBTV reports that its investigation found that dealer employees sold totaled and flooded vehicles to unsuspecting customers.
However, Martin Del Castillo, the chief operating officer of Auto Gallery, which owns Nissan of Shelby, said that accusations against its current and former employees are incorrect, and will be dismissed.
“I can tell you that we’ve gone through all of the records along with DMV and we have signatures in every one of the documents where it has been disclosed, when it was a flood vehicle or any type of vehicle, it was signed by the customer,” Castillo said.
On Tuesday, the same day that the charges were publicized by the North Carolina DOT, Nissan of Shebly’s new general manager, George Ewing, told customers who had questions to reach out to him personally.
Customers who would prefer to reach out to authorities can do so through the Department of Motor Vehicles’ License and Theft Bureau, by calling 828-782-9640.
