Attorney General Todd Rokita is taking a stand against deceit in the Hoosier State's used car market, initiating a series of legal actions aimed squarely at what his office describes as duplicitous dealers. Six lawsuits have been filed against Indiana dealerships, as reported by the Office of the Indiana Attorney General. These businesses allegedly broke a variety of promises made to customers, from selling salvage-titled cars unfit for the road to not providing essential vehicle titles.
Among the accused, Cars R Us stands out with its particularly insidious practice—agreeing to pay off the loans on trade-in vehicles as part of a transaction then allegedly failing to do so, stranding consumers with double auto loans. "Indiana consumers deserve to get what they pay for," said Rokita, pointing the finger at car dealers who renege on agreements. According to the same source, MG Motors and W. Main Auto Sales allegedly sold cars without handing over the necessary titles, failing to deliver 17 and 22 titles, respectively.
The attorney general's office underscored the hazards of salvage-titled vehicles, with Merliot Auto Sales purportedly passing off 17 of these not-roadworthy cars to unwitting buyers. Meanwhile, actions by Phoenix Motors depict a bizarre turn of events where customers paid in full for vehicles that were, in a Kafkaesque twist, allegedly still owned by someone else and eventually taken back by the dealership.
Lastly, there's the case of Redelman’s Deals on Wheels, a dealership that reportedly continued to hawk cars following the loss of its state license in December 2023, according to the Office of the Indiana Attorney General. Litigation pursued by Rokita seeks "injunctive relief, consumer restitution, civil penalties, and costs," as stipulated in the lawsuits.
