- Two Florida buyers accuse dealerships of selling used vehicles as brand new.
- Toyota dealer allegedly sold SUV with 5,000 miles as new for nearly $100,000.
- Another dealer sold a used Jeep as new, disqualifying it from federal tax rebates.
Car dealerships don’t always have the best reputation, and stories like these don’t help their cause. Beyond aggressive sales tactics, junk fees and questionable markups, some Florida dealers are facing serious allegations of misrepresenting used cars as new.
That information doesn’t just come from folks complaining on social media either; it’s in legal documents related to two separate lawsuits. Let’s break them down and figure out what we can learn from each one.
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In the first lawsuit, Lilly Althauser-Benson claims that Jerry Ulm Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram sold her a Jeep Wrangler 4Xe under the impression it was brand new. While court documents don’t show the mileage on the vehicle at the time of sale, they do say the dealer wouldn’t produce the title. Althauser-Benson alleges that the dealer refused because it didn’t want her to know it was technically owned by a leasing company.
A Factory Sticker and a Missing Title
Why would she think it was new to begin with? According to her account, the dealer had the original factory window sticker on the car, and she expected to get the $3,750 EV tax credit that a new 4Xe would’ve qualified for. The lawsuit argues that the dealership deliberately misled her to believe the vehicle was eligible.
Her attorney, Joshua Feygin, of Hollywood, Florida, told AutoNews: “The mileage wasn’t the issue. The title was withheld from examination to prevent the consumer from seeing that the vehicle was previously titled to another owner. The act of withholding the title and making mileage disclosures on documents other than the title itself with intent to defraud is a violation of the Odometer Act.”
The $98,000 Typo?
Then there’s Shawn Crowley, who bought a 2024 Land Cruiser from Sun Toyota. Paperwork obtained by Carscoops shows mileage for the vehicle in question listed in numerous places as ’10.’ In fact, those same documents claim the vehicle is ‘New’.
Despite that, Crowley says that less than two days after taking ownership the car’s service light went on and said that it needed an oil change. Evidently, that led him to check the odometer himself for the first time. It read almost 5,000 miles. Note the photo below showing the “delivery mileage” to Crowley and the mileage when he brought it back in for that oil change.
The complaint says that Sun Toyota offered to “work something out regarding the excess mileage,” and claimed the error was simply a typo. That sounds pretty rich because Crowley paid some $98,719.40 for his SUV. That’s right, almost six figures for a vehicle that starts at a little over $56,000 as of this writing. Just for good measure, I went to Toyota’s website to try and mimic this build, and it doesn’t seem possible.
Even with every single item, and we’re talking the tiniest stuff you’d never add, like Toyota’s optional $89 ball hitch, the Land Cruiser costs just over $72k. Granted, it could be that we’re dealing with a 2024 First Edition, which starts at around $76,000. We don’t see that on any of the paperwork, but it’s possible. That said, it all makes Sun Toyota’s claim that this was just a typo seem dubious.
What Buyers Can Learn
In both cases, we get a lesson in checking out every detail. For Crowley, simply looking at the odometer himself could’ve helped alleviate some of this. One would think that a purchase of this magnitude would warrant that. In Althauser-Benson’s case, requiring a look at the title, which the dealer should’ve had and been ready to produce, would’ve solved the issue as well.
These lawsuits serve as reminders that even routine purchases can go sideways fast. A few extra minutes of due diligence can help keep your next car deal from becoming courtroom drama.
