Family Claims Classic Car Dealer Owes Them Big Money

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Yet again a classic car dealership, this time in Florida, has been named in a lawsuit for allegedly owing a family big money for consignment sales. These types of cases are anything but unique, serving as a warning to anyone wanting to sell their classic car through a dealer to exercise caution before proceeding.

Your classic car could one day be seized.

In this case, a well-known collector in the area died and left a rather impressive collection to his widow and children. A few of the vehicles were consigned to a dealership and they were sold. However, the family claims the money, minus a ten percent fee for the dealer, wasn’t turned over to them.

The total amount the family claims the dealership owes is over $240,000, so it’s not exactly a small quantity of cash. After the late collector’s son filed suit for the proceeds of one of the sales, the two parties allegedly reached an out-of-court settlement.

Sadly, if you consign a vehicle with a specialty dealership, you’re taking a risk. We’ve seen those businesses go under, declaring bankruptcy after they owe dozens of customers money, ducking paying them back.

But it sounds like in this case the family might get at least a portion of the money owed to them back. They’re lucky and that’s the unfortunate truth.

If you do want to sell your classic car and don’t want to deal with buyers yourself, which is understandable, do more than just a little research before signing anything with a dealer. A good dealership has marketing and the ability to reach buyers you can’t, making the fee more than worthwhile, but that’s only if you get paid after the vehicle is sold.

Usually, dealers that have problems passing money on to the owners of cars also have a string of complaints against them. We’ve even seen social media groups created for perturbed ex-customers of some dealerships, but you might have to dig around to find this information. Check with the Better Business Bureau, the state regulatory agencies where the dealer is based, etc. before moving forward. While that’s no guarantee against problems, it’s better than just blindly trusting a classic car dealership.

Source: Vero News

Image via Quinn Mcco/Facebook Marketplace

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