Criminal charges may be pursued against the owners of an Akron auto dealership that is accused of abusing customers’ trust by not following through on sales and services.
Dozens of customers of Phoenix Indoor Auto Sales — which has since gone out of business — say that the used-car dealership failed to complete the auto titling process after selling and buying vehicles and refused to uphold warranties on vehicles it sold.
Without titles, customers had no formal proof of ownership and therefore no means to complete vehicle registration with the state. When stopped by police, a Canton man, who said he purchased his car from Phoenix, faced criminal charges because he did not have a title to the car he was driving.
Earlier this week, a Maple Heights-based used car dealership moved into the Tallmadge Avenue building formerly occupied by Phoenix.
Many customers say Phoenix’s owners — Dave and Lisa Severy, of Peninsula — will not return phone calls. Their son, general manager Austin Severy, told a Beacon Journal reporter last week that his parents were missing and he couldn’t help people who never received their auto titles.
Kate Hanson, a spokesperson for the Ohio attorney general’s office, said criminal charges against the owners may be pursued, but no action has been taken yet. The attorney general’s office does not have the authority to bring charges on its own and would have to work with Akron police.
She said customers with complaints have options other than contacting the dealership.
“The state has a program called the Ohio Title Defect Rescission Fund,” she said, “which is money that car dealerships pay into with the purpose to assist retail purchasers who are having trouble getting titles.”
Hanson said consumers are urged to contact the attorney general’s office at 800-282-0515 if they have not received a title after a month. If they have not received the title within 40 days, the customer is eligible to apply for reimbursement through the rescission fund.
“But some people want to keep the vehicle,” Hanson said, “and we want to help customers get what they want.”
She said if customers want to keep the vehicle they purchased, the attorney general’s office can help them obtain temporary tags until a title is provided.
Hanson said the reimbursement process can be lengthy, but it’s the customers’ best bet in cases like these.
“It’s not necessarily a quick fix, but we are trying to help,” said Hanson, who could not provide an estimate on how long the process takes because “each case is different.”
Lengthy dispute
While some customers who are struggling to obtain auto titles have attempted to get help, others had no idea where to turn.
One such customer, Shareele Bell-Waiters, said she and her husband, Victor Waiters, purchased a 2006 Chevy Impala from Phoenix for $8,000 in 2014. The couple, of Canton, also purchased a warranty for about $1,500 to cover vehicle repairs.
“There’s been something wrong with this car since day one,” Bell-Waiters said. “We tried to take it back for repairs, but they wouldn’t honor it.”
In addition to repair issues, she said she struggled to obtain the auto title for six months before receiving it.
“But in that time, my husband was pulled over by police and accused of driving on fraudulent plates and driving a car that doesn’t belong to him,” she said. “But it was our car, and we couldn’t get new plates because we didn’t have the title.”
Her husband was charged with a fourth-degree misdemeanor in Canton Municipal Court. The charge was dismissed shortly after it was filed, according to court records, because Phoenix failed to transfer the title to Waiters.
Bell-Waiters said she and her husband intend to file with the attorney general’s office because their car has been sitting, unused, for over a year because it needs repairs that weren’t honored by warranty.
Other allegations
The accusations against Phoenix are not the first. There have been 20 other complaints filed against the dealership since 2011, primarily regarding failure to uphold warranties. Additionally, Dave Severy was convicted of passing bad checks in 2008, according to Summit County Common Pleas records. He also was charged with several offenses involving motor vehicle titles, operation or sale of a motor vehicle without certificate of title and other charges, but those charges were dismissed.
Currently, Severy faces a lawsuit filed Dec. 24 by Akron Auto Auction, which did business with Phoenix. The auction alleges Phoenix made a deal in March to pay $400,000, but still owes $338,254 plus interest.
New tenant at site
The building Phoenix leased, 903 E. Tallmadge Ave., has since transferred occupants.
Kevin Homrock, co-owner of Maple Heights-based KNH Wholesale, a used-car dealership, said the owner of Phoenix’s former building offered the space to KNH because Phoenix broke the terms of the lease agreement.
“We’ve been in discussions for a while,” he said. “We’re not affiliated with Phoenix in any way.”
He said if customers come to KNH with problems, KNH will point customers to the attorney general’s office.
“We’re going to try to take down people’s information as they come in and we’re going to forward it on to the appropriate authorities,” Homrock said. “We’ll do our best to get their information to someone who can help them. I don’t really know what happened, but I don’t want these people to suffer.”
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ.