Henrietta Howard believed she was dealing with a private seller when she agreed to buy a Kia Amanti. She was really purchasing the car from Fort Myers Motors Ltd. on Fowler Street. And now, she said, the company won't give her the title.
Howard found the car on Craigslist and the man she believed was the owner, met her in a Walgreens parking lot to show her the car.
The Fort Myers woman is on disability and had been saving for a car. She finally found one she could afford and, even though it was 10 years old, it looked beautiful.
Instead of making the deal there, the seller said they needed to go over to his friend's car dealership, so she could sign the papers. That's how Howard ended up in a deal with Fort Myers Motors, the company listed on the bill of sale.
Howard received a temporary tag for the car, but no title. Soon things started to go wrong with the car. Over the next two weeks, Howard put $695 into repairs. But she still had no title from a sale made June 20.
When she went to the dealership, she said the owner wanted a "dealership fee," Howard said, before he turned over the title.
"He doesn't want to turn it loose. I cried and I cried," Howard said, but the owner demanded she leave the property.
Howard filed a complaint about Fort Myers Motors with Florida's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
The department wouldn't talk about Howard's complaint because it is under investigation. This will be the sixth time this year the department has responded to a complaints about Fort Myers Motors and the 10th complaint on record.
Two are open, but in the other eight the department found violations including false advertising, misuse of dealer license and tags, not providing titles and violations of odometer disclosure. Despite these violations, the company's dealer license was renewed in April.
LINK: More investigations and consumer reports from Melanie Payne
I called the dealership and on my second try reached a man who said Howard doesn't want to pay the tax on the sale of the car. He took my number and said his office manager would call me. She didn't.
Howard's bill of sale shows the car was $2,900 and the tax of $174 was paid. The dealer processing fee, tag and title fee are listed as "N/A" and the balance remaining is $0.00.
Another problem with Howard's car is that the odometer reading, according to the bill of sale, is "exempt." The car, when it came to auction just a few days before Howard purchased it, had 126,286 miles. The car also had been in an accident a few years ago and the airbag had deployed.
Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association, said dealers should have the title when they sell the car and they should also post mileage and give an odometer statement. Dealers are required to produce a title in 30 days.
Many dealers do charge a processing fee, he said, for inspecting, cleaning and processing sales documents. But if it wasn't charged at time of sale, and the tag and title fees are listed as "N/A" on the bill of sale, a dealer can't come back later and demand those fees.
Granted, Howard didn't do her due diligence. I knew the mileage and that the car had been in a crash because I ran a CarFax report on it. She should have done that, too, and had a mechanic check the car before she bought it.
Most of all, Howard should have walked away when her private-party seller took her to the dealership on Fowler. That was an indication things weren't on the up-and-up.
Under an unlisted number Fort Myers Motors uses, I found 16 CraigsList ads for "cars and trucks by owner." The photos showed the cars parked in driveways, parking lots and on the street. This would lead people to believe, as Howard did, the sale is being made by a private owner and not a dealership.
Fort Myers Motors needs to stop its misleading advertising. The owners should give Howard her title or give her money back. And the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles needs to put the screws to these yahoos and make them clean up their act or shut them down.
