Wixom, Mich. – A Novi mom of five has been without a car for months after she says her signature was signed electronically on a contract she’d never seen and the terms of her loan were quietly changed.
It’s the latest chapter in the growing stack of problems Local 4’s Kyla Russell has been tracking with now-closed dealership Wixom Motors.
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“I would just tell him how disgusting he is and how it is totally unfair that you feel like you can take the easy road by scamming people and taking advantage of people,” Toria Clay said when asked what she would say to the owner of Wixom Motors.
Clay spoke to Local 4 on Saturday in a driveway that should’ve had a family SUV, but instead, sits empty.
Clay reached out to Local 4 after seeing earlier reports on Wixom Motors and realizing her story wasn’t the only one.
“Seeing all the people comment under the story about how they have been taken advantage of by them and seeing the couple, how they signed their name too. It’s ridiculous,” Clay said.
This all started in August last year.
“Football season was starting for my boys, so I went to Wixom Motors because I saw some decent cars on there,” Clay said.
On the 16th, she ended up deciding to buy a 2019 Chevy Equinox for $14,000.
“Within about a month, I noticed a little sound,” she said.
Before long, that “little sound” turned into a loud warning. She took it back to Wixom Motors to be checked out.
“Pretty much told me it was in my head,” Clay said when asked what the dealership told her the issue was with her car.
After some back and forth, she had a bigger issue.
“Well, all my brakes went out one night while I was going to pick my daughter up from work with two of my other children in the car,” she said.
She called them again for help. That’s when she realized the dealership had closed and the website was wiped away.
The owner of the dealership previously told Local 4 that they closed in November due to bankruptcy.
“So, I called the financing company,” she said.
The financing company told her they didn’t even know the dealership had shut down and sent her a copy of the contract they had on file.
The numbers didn’t match.
The loan amount had been changed. It was about $5,000 more than what she agreed to and she says she never signed that contract.
“My name is signed with a computer,” she said.
This paperwork, filled with sheets Clay had never seen, is dated Aug. 19. That’s three days after she bought the car and signed her paperwork.
“The contract isn’t signed,” Clay said Saturday. “By Michigan law, it’s not legal. It’s not binding. There’s really no loan on my end and then with the contract being forged, there’s no contract, so, with the car having all the brakes out … I decided, well, it’s not really my car anyway, so I had them come and get it.”
The fallout has been constant and costly.
She’s missed games, meets, and moments she can’t get back, including parts of football and wrestling season.
“When he went to district, I just didn’t have a way because it was far too expensive to get to Salem from here in an uber and I’m just like, that sucks,” she said.
Clay does not want this to happen to any other person or family.
According to records from the Better Business Bureau, the same owner owns Brighton Motors and Grand Lake Automotive. They are currently operating and listed under the same address.
Local 4 reached out to the owner for this story, but did not hear back.