HOUSTON (WKRC) – Customers said they’re paying for two vehicles after trading in their cars just before a dealership’s abrupt closure.
According to The Sun, two customers of a La Porte, Texas-area dealership said the business failed to pay off the loans on their trade-in vehicles, which has left them in a tight financial predicament.
KPRC reported that Bayside Mitsubishi abruptly closed its doors just over two weeks ago. The station reported that the business was gated up, with most of the cars gone off the lot at the time reporters visited the property.
Two customers, identified by KPRC as Autyana Hodges and Lucia Sufentes, said they never received their vehicle registration or license plates, further alleging that the business never paid off the loan on their trade-ins.
“We did a trade-in. They have not paid off our trade-in vehicle,” Sufentes told KPRC.
“They frauded me. They defrauded me,” Hodges said, when speaking to the station’s reporters.
On December 12, reporters with KPRC spoke to Bayside Mitsubishi General Manager Kenny O’Kane, who said the bills haven’t been paid, adding that customers have every right to be angry.
“I understand totally why they would be angry. Absolutely. I would be,” O’Kane told the outlet. “I would be pissed off too. Definitely would.”
O’Kane told the station that money mismanagement was to blame for the business’s problems, adding that he himself hasn’t received a paycheck since September. O’Kane placed the blame on the previous general manager, who he said spent money frivolously and failed to keep a close eye on the bank account, which was under $1,000 at the time of the interview, per KPRC.
O’Kane told the outlet that Hurricane Beryl was the last nail in the coffin for the business.
“That was really the icing on the cake to throw it in at the turmoil that it was in,” O’Kane told the outlet. “Then the other guy that was here totally mismanaged the funds. It’s just too far gone.”
Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) responded to the situation, telling KPRC that its franchise agreement with Bayside was terminated back in October, which meant the business was no longer an authorized Mitsubishi dealership.
MMNA added that it was not involved in the loans entered by Bayside or any of the loans involved in vehicles that were used as trade-ins, the outlet reported.
When speaking about the customers who were left with two car payments, O’Kane told the station he was confident that Alex Sinno, the principal owner of A&F Holdings LLC, the company which owns Bayside, would ultimately make things right.
“That that’s a legal obligation that the owner needs to take care of and he’s going to take care of it,” O’Kane told KPRC. “He’s in the process of trying to sell the property and he will take care of that. He’s got to take care of that. I think it will happen otherwise I probably wouldn’t be here. And I believe in the owner that he wants to take care of it, wants to do the right thing.”
According to the station, A&F Holdings, LLC is being sued for $4.4 million by the company that financed vehicles sold at Bayside, Nissan Motor Acceptance Group. KPRC noted that Mitsubishi and Nissan work together on financing.
