Central Ohio car dealership accused of scamming customers
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – They thought they were getting a luxury vehicle from a central Ohio used car dealership. Instead, a Florida couple said they got scammed by Lux Auto Depot.
When realtor Stephen Jayne saw a white 2019 Lamborghini Urus on CarGurus.com, he also saw a business opportunity.
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“Some people in my real estate office actually rent their vehicles out — normally higher end vehicles — and make money that way,” Jayne said.
Jayne contacted the dealership, listed as Lux Auto Depot in Powell. He spoke with a salesman, agreed on a price, and wired a $30,000 deposit. Jayne said he was told that the car would be transported from its location in California to his Orlando home.
That was in June. Jayne still does not own a Lamborghini.
“Every day there was a different story,” Jayne said. “‘The car’s coming from California,’ ‘The truck carrying it broke down, ‘The driver– we fired (them).'”
Jayne’s wife, Jackie, said she and Stephen have tried multiple times to get their money back from Lux Auto Depot. But those requests were only met with demands for more money.
“He then told me that he would be missing out on his commission, and how much money could I give him to in order to get the deposit back,” Jackie recalled. “Then he’s like, ‘Well, I do have this better one for you, but it’s going to cost $10,000 more,’ or whatever.”
According to Jackie, the dealership eventually cut off communication with her and her husband.
Consumer attorney Ron Burdge, who often deals with cases stemming from used car sales, does not recommend purchasing a car over the internet.
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“You have to know the vehicle, which means research it. You have to know the people you’re buying it from, which means you research them. And you have to touch the metal,” Burdge said. “Besides, if something goes wrong, you can drive over to the dealership, walk in the door and start complaining face to face.”
Using the VIN number for the Lamborghini the Jaynes thought they had purchased, Burdge investigated the vehicle’s whereabouts.
“I see where it was advertised for sale in Florida. And I see where it was advertised for sale and apparently sold several times– or maybe not — going through auction yards in California several times. And I see where it was advertised in several different locations in Ohio,” Burdge said. “So where that vehicle really is, I can’t tell you from anything I can determine at this point.”
Burdge also said wiring the deposit wasn’t the best move.
“You’re sending your money into a rabbit hole and you’re hoping the rabbit comes out,” Burdge said.
While the odds of owning that exotic car are not on the Jaynes’ side, Burdge said the law is.
“If the dealer never delivered the vehicle, then the dealers got some real serious legal problems,” Burge said.
Ani Venkatakrishnan, who identified himself in his email signature as the owner of Lux Auto Depot (a different person is listed as the owner on the Better Business Bureau’s website and records from the Secretary of State’s office show that Venkatakrishnan transferred the business to another owner in 2022), referred all questions to his attorney.
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The attorney, Charley Hess, called the Jaynes and asked for wiring instructions. The Jaynes declined to provide bank account information for a refund via wire transfer.
“Because that’s how this whole thing started,” Stephen said. “I’ve never seen a vehicle or the money back in several months. So yeah, I would rather do it by check.”
When NBC4 spoke with Hess, he said the Jaynes had not received their refund because they were “uncooperative” with the business. When asked whether a check would be an acceptable alternative to wire transfer, Hess said yes.
The Jaynes said they’ve since spoken with Hess and provided their mailing address for the check.
Lux Auto Depot is a licensed car dealership in Ohio, according to records kept by the Office of Motor Vehicles.
The dealership has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau. According to the BBB’s listing for Lux Auto Depot, its BBB accreditation was revoked because it failed to “fulfill all contracts, commitments and representations,” and did not respond to consumer complaints in a manner that met BBB standards.
31 consumers, including the Jaynes, filed complaints against the dealership with the Ohio Attorney General.
NBC4 spoke with two other out-of-state customers with stories just like the Jaynes’: they ordered an expensive vehicle online, wired a deposit and didn’t get the car. They even dealt with the same salesman.
The two other customers said they were made whole after directly confronting Venkatakrishnan.
After being contacted by NBC4, a spokesperson for CarGurus.com said the company’s integrity team is reviewing possible violations by Lux Auto Depot of the site’s dealer pricing and marketing policy, which prohibits dealers from listing vehicles that are not in their possession.
“We are committed to providing shoppers with the tools and information needed to discover their ideal car match and make an informed decision with confidence and ease,” the spokesperson said. “While we aren’t in a position to offer guarantees over dealership practices (as outlined in our terms of use), we have several measures in place to help protect our users and maintain a marketplace where prices are transparent, dealers are legitimate, and transactions conducted directly on our platform are free from fraud.”
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The CarGurus spokesperson said dealers and listings can be removed from the site for policy and terms of use violations.
Via email, Burdge sent a list of things to keep in mind for those car shopping:
1. Never put money down on a car sight unseen; the chances of a rip-off go up exponentially.
2. If you have to put money down, find out if it is refundable and what conditions apply, before you pay it.
3. Buy in person and from a local merchant wherever possible; later you can complain face to face.
4. Avoid buying big ticket items over the internet from distant sellers.
5. Don’t just buy online, use your phone and make a diary of everything said.
6. Before you buy something online, print off everything the seller says about their business or the product you are buying; websites change, so do dealer promises.
7. Never sign a document online/over the internet; have them send you the contract, make a copy and then sign it, fax-email-mail it back. E-signatures are easy to transfer on to all sorts of legal documents without you even knowing it is happening.
8. Before buying a car, check out the dealer’s reviews and get several online vehicle history reports, and then get a National Motor Vehicle Title Information System report too, then google the vehicle VIN (it is surprising to see the same car advertised by different dealers all over the place).
9. When buying online, look at the dealer’s website(s) carefully, then check their Facebook page and other social media, then look at the street view on a map website so you can see the actual dealership premises; now compare them to be sure there really is a “brick and mortar” dealership location (some may be just a guy sitting at a computer terminal somewhere who is buying and selling other dealers’ inventory as though it were their own).
10. Always ask for a warranty (at least three days) in writing; and make sure any purchase document you sign has on it the words “seller warrants this car for three days” (any warranty at all automatically includes a four year implied warranty from the dealer, whether the dealer says it or not).
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