Out of business

By KRYSTAL J. CARMAN

“Making customers for life” was the motto of Claremore Zebra Auto Sales before they shut their doors nearly two weeks ago.

With several complaints lodged against the business at the Claremore Police Department, the State used car commission and a petition via a Web page, it seems, instead, the business has made some disgruntled customers for life.

As of Friday afternoon, formal charges had not been filed against Claremore Zebra Auto Sales owner Kelly Rose, of Broken Arrow.

Rose and Seth Knighton were noted as co-owners of the dealership opened in December 2005 according to business stories printed in the Daily Progress as late as March of this year.

City Police Investigator Chuck Goad said information his department has been collecting will be handed over to the District Attorney’s office.

“We have received about eight to 10 complaints on Zebra Auto Sales, but we’re not sure if it’s criminal or civil at this point,” Goad said Thursday. “We are finishing the reports, and they will be turned over to the DA.”

Goad said most of the complaints involve customers who have traded in vehicles in exchange for the purchase of another vehicle from Claremore Zebra Auto Sales. In those situations, the vehicles that were used for trade-in were allegedly not paid of by the business as promised.

Other complaints have involved customers who have purchased vehicles and are now not able to obtain a clear title.

Calls to Rose’s residence and cellular phone and an e-mail sent to Rose, were unanswered as of press time.

Amanda Potter learned the hard way about the auto dealer’s poor business practices.

“We had bought from them for years and everything was great until August,” Potter said. “We traded three vehicles to buy two vehicles and they were supposed to pay off the loans on the vehicles we traded and they still haven’t paid on two of the vehicles.”

Potter’s troubles don’t end there, however. She is still waiting on titles to the two vehicles she purchased at Claremore Zebra Auto Sales.

“We have no titles for the cars,” she said. “One of the vehicles, we found out, still has a lien on it from an owner in Oklahoma City.”

According to Kenneth Whitehead, deputy director of the Oklahoma Used Motor Vehicle and Parts Commission which was investigating Claremore Zebra Auto Sales, sometimes the process of obtaining a title can be slow due to processing paperwork. However, that was not true in Potter’s case.

“What was happening was the bank loaned the money to the dealer to purchase the cars and when the dealer sells a car, they are to give the money owed to the bank and the bank will release the title,” Whitehead said. “Through our investigation, we found out that the dealer at Zebra Auto Sales wasn’t paying the bank in order for the titles to be released.”

Whitehead said by Sept. 22, his department had received around five complaints about Claremore Zebra Auto Sales and had started an investigation into the company’s business practices. However, Whitehead said, since the business has shut its doors, the commission can no longer investigate the company, who was granted a used dealer license in 2005.

“Once they lock the doors and shut down the business, they are no longer under our jurisdiction,” he said.

Customers who purchased vehicles through Claremore Zebra Auto Sales weren’t the only ones who had problems.

David Cooper, of Claremore, won a motorcycle from the dealer and he said it took months to obtain the title.

“I was there every week personally and I heard everything from scoot to scat and got the run-around about the title,” Cooper said. “I finally got the title five months later. It was a hassle, but I accomplished my goal by being persistent.”

A search for Claremore Zebra Auto Sales on the Internet revealed that an online petition titled “Shut Down Claremore Zebra Auto Sales” had been initiated and had obtained 12 signatures from disgruntled customers. The petition was featured on www.ipetitions.com.

Potter was one of those who signed the petition.

Allegations left on the petition include: “Can’t believe they are allowed to do business;” “They sold my friend’s car to someone else before she had even traded her car in. How can you even do something like that;” “We ‘bought’ a truck from Claremore Zebra Auto Sales in December, signed a contract, gave them our car as a trade-in, and found out ... after a lot of BS two weeks later ... that we weren’t approved to buy the truck and guess what, they sold our car.”

In addition to Potter’s woes with the vehicles that were both traded in and purchased at the dealership, she said a check from Claremore Zebra Auto Sales for $2,000 for tag, tax and title on the new vehicles was deposited into her account and then returned due to insufficient funds.

Potter said she filed a report with the Claremore Police Department Thursday. But that doesn’t wipe out the debt of more than $20,000 Potter says she is now in because of Claremore Zebra Auto Sales mistakes.

While customer complaints have been the focus of the police investigation, evidence in court records show that Claremore Zebra Auto Sales could have had financial problems.

On Aug. 27, KSL Financial Services, DBA Ace Cash Express in Broken Arrow, filed a small claims suit in Rogers County District Court against Kelly Rose, DBA Claremore Zebra Auto Sales, for a returned check in the amount of $1,280. That case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled, because neither a representative from KSL Financial Services nor Rose were present at the hearing Sept. 26.

Claremore Daily Progress and its corporate owner Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., filed a civil suit against Claremore Zebra Auto Sales for outstanding advertising bills. According to court records, the auto dealership owed $9,078.52, and despite efforts to collect the money, the bills were not paid. A default judgment, due to no response from Claremore Zebra Auto Sales, was granted by Judge Dynda Post on Oct. 30.

Oct. 24 brought another small claims suit from BCV Holdings, L.P., of Broken Arrow, against Rose and the dealership. Court documents show that Rose owes $1,250 for two checks, at $600 each, that were returned due to insufficient funds. The checks were written on Sept. 22 on the Claremore Zebra Auto Sales account at 1st Bank Oklahoma in Claremore. That case is set for 9 a.m. Nov. 21.

A second civil suit was filed Oct. 24 by Jeff Wood, of Springdale, Ark., against Claremore Zebra Auto Sales, L.L.C. According to that case file, in May, Wood and the dealership entered into a contract where “the plaintiff agreed to obtain media as an agent on behalf of the defendant.” Claremore Zebra Auto Sales allegedly agreed to pay Wood the cost of the media and a commission for his services. A check was issued to Wood for $5,500, but a stop payment was ordered by Claremore Zebra Auto Sales. Wood is suing for breach of contract. A hearing date had not been set as of Friday, but a summons was shown served at Claremore Zebra Auto Sales on Oct. 27.

Krystal J. Carman can be reached via e-mail at newsed@swbell.net

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