WIXOM, Mich. – A dealership has left a Livonia woman in financial limbo after its sudden closure.
The Livonia woman went to get a car at a dealership in Wixom. She drove away with a new set of keys, but she also drove off with a surprise: $3,445 worth of charges she wasn’t expecting.
Then, the dealership suddenly shut down.
Penny Walsh, 64, reached out to Local 4’s Kyla Russell for help, and now the owner says he’ll pay her.
It all started in October. Walsh’s previous car was 17 years old and breaking down, so she made an appointment at Wixom Motors.
She showed up and ended up deciding to buy a car.
“So they brought another car out, and I test drove it, and I liked it,” Walsh said.
Five hours later, she pulled off the lot in a used Kia Soul.
Instead of a clear paper trail, she says she got the runaround: no copy of the paperwork. She came back to the dealership to get it.
When she had the papers, she spotted something that made her stop.
“They had gone and included a warranty and an insurance policy that I never said I wanted,” Walsh said. “They mentioned it, and he said, I highly recommend it, but I did not agree to it.”
She acknowledges she’d signed the paperwork.
“My blood sugar was dropping because I hadn’t eaten in like five hours, and so I thought, ‘I am just going to get through this.’ It’s something I have never done in my life,” Walsh said.
She says she fired off emails right away, trying to cancel both the GAP insurance and the warranty. Days turned into weeks, but she finally got a response.
“On November 6th, he says, ‘yes, I can get that handled for you,’” Walsh said, referring to an email she received from someone at the dealership.
“The dealership is responsible to get a paperwork going and that I would sign that paper and nothing came of it,” she said.
She tried calling almost every day.
“We’re sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is currently not in service,” the voicemail for the dealership’s number says.
She also checked their website.
“Disabled. Website is currently disabled,” the site says.
Walsh said she has a word for it.
“Talk about being ghosted,” she said.
Local 4 found the owner and called him.
He says the dealership went out of business around the time Penny was emailing because it was bankrupt. The owner says his workers at the time were contractors and did not loop him in on what was occurring.
Local 4 confirmed there are four previous complaints about Wixom Motors filed with the state.
The Michigan State Department says Wixom Motors was on OIS probation for previous consumer complaints.
The owner says Penny’s warranty was never canceled and asked Local 4 to put him in touch with Penny.
He told her he’d help fix it. He says it will take six to eight weeks for Walsh to get a check.
“Tell me what a missing three thousand, almost $3,500, does for you?” Local 4 asked Penny.
“Devastating. Not only that, it was included in the finance portion, which is 7%, so it’s even more than that,” Walsh said.