Torres Automotive

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Cory – Aug 16, 2020

Victim Location 72758

Total money lost $2,000

Type of a scam Other

Used car dealerships have such a bad reputation. I’ve learned exactly why after attempting to do business with Torres Automotive in Lowell, AR, owned and operated by a Mr. Fransisco Torres. The stereotype is ageless; Never buy from a used car dealer! They are shady, always looking for ways to rip off their customers, and cannot be trusted. For whatever reason Torres Automotive has decided to embrace and validate this stereotype by doing business in such a way that even the local police are confused as to what to do. My experience is one that I will never forget, and will come to a very bad resolution for Fransisco Torres legally.

Facebook Marketplace is where I found my girlfriend a 2016 Chrysler 200 advertised by none other than Torres Automotive out of Lowell, AR. The ad was extremely attractive. All the options listed, agreeable terms, and very convincing business principles stated in detail. I called Mr. Torres in order to schedule a test drive for that day, and he was excited to sell the car stating his company offered discounts to Tyson employees along with garunteed financing. When I arrived I could see someone attempted to repair multiple panels on the vehicle. The finish work was extremely unprofessional, and the panels did not fit when they were reinstalled. Regardless, I still gave the vehicle a chance. Torres gave us the keys so we could test drive and further evaluate the car. The first thing we saw was a HUGE air bag light flashing on the instrument panel. Further evidence this car had been in a wreck……or 5! Against my better judgement we commenced with the test drive keeping it short, and evaluating the overall performance of the drive train. The car showed just under 19,000 miles on the dash which is extremely low for a 5 year old vehicle, but not unrealistic at all in this day and age.

We returned to the dealership where i started negotiating with Torres on price and down payment. I explained all of the bad body work to Torres explaining the results of my overall inspection. He claimed to know nothing of the airbag light, and in the same sentence claimed to have just driven the car to Tulsa the day before. At that point I did not trust anything Torres told me about the car. I am a professional when it comes to evaluating bodywork as I have worked in the trade on every level for quite some time. I was confident the issues I found could be corrected as long as we could negotiate a good price. He brought the price of the car down substantially during our negotiations. We agreed on a price and proceeded with the finance company paperwork with his word I was approved. Upon completion and electronic transfer of documents, I paid Torres the $2000 we agreed upon with his square card reader at his desk, showed my proof of insurance, and we left after he congratulated us stating the finance company would be in touch with our title and payment options. Our business with Torres Automotive was at the point complete. Even with the massive amount of lying on his part about anything and everything we talked about I knew I got a good deal on the car. This is where it gets interesting.

On July 13th, exactly ten days after my purchase, Torres contacted me explaining there were some stipulations on my loan and that I needed to come back to the dealership. At this point I had already been in contact with the finance company, Credit Acceptance, and set up auto draft online payments with the first payment due on August 4th. Further reassurance that my business with Torres Automotive was complete. How and why he had any information about my personal account with my finance company is beyond me at this point. I was under the impression that information was protected by law only to be discussed with myself and my creditor. Nevertheless I tried to make arrangements to return to the dealership for clarification after my girlfriend returned from out of town. I work third shift, and my schedule has been extremely chaotic during the government shut down related to COVID 19. Additionally I told Torres he was more than welcome to come to my home if it was more convenient for him for anything additional the finance company needed. I also explained that it was very difficult for me to do anything outside of my routine at that time as my work schedule was a priority and I had employees counting on me to be there every night. Torres stated he could not come to my home, and the conversation ended with me explaining to him that our business was complete unless he could provide documentation and refund my down payment. Torres would never answer me straight so I considered the matter closed.

The matter was not closed. Without any warning whatsoever Torres sends his neighboring business, Steve’s All City Towing, to my house to reposses my vehicle under false pretense. He told them I was months behind on my payments which was yet another patented Torres lie, I explained to Steve that I only had the vehicle for three weeks, and made arrangements to go to the dealer the next day to see what the problem was.

I arrived when I said I would. Rearranged my entire schedule for Torres. As we are sitting talking he claimed I lied about my income? He proceeded to tell me the contract was cancelled, and we could work a new deal the next day. I reminded Torres that I supplied him with a copy of my year to date paycheck stub, and asked for my $2000 down payment back. He told me under no circumstance was he going to do that. I honestly did not know what to say. About that time I noticed three individuals running across the parking lot towards Torres’ office. I stood up as they walked in feeling somewhat threatened as tensions were obviously high on their end. These men wanted to help Torres negotiate a rental deal for the time I had the car? Appalled I asked them to kindly leave so I could finish my business with Torres. Not long after that I noticed the Lowell police pulling into the parking lot. Officer Hall of the Lowell police department walked into the office asking if everything was ok. I asked him why he was there and he refused to answer. Officer Hall demanded I turn over the keys to the car and leave the property. Officer Hall suggested I file a civil suit against Torres if I wanted to recover my money.

I spent the entire next week calling Credit Acceptance in order to get some answers. I filed a complaint with the Attorney Generals office in Little Rock, and have been dealing with an investigator Daniel Pace in order to try and recover my stolen property from Torres Automotive. I have filed a complaint with the State Police. Finally I have meetings this week with two lawyers to see which court this should be filed in, and how I can make the state of Arkansas protect me as the consumer. Upon further investigation with my Mexican coworkers I learned Torres has done this to numerous people, and gets away with it a lot.

This scam is aimed at essential employees with challenged credit. Torres is in the business or double ticketing his vehicles. Essentially he already has a plan as to how he will steal your down payment and still resell the car. The man does not know how to tell the truth, and even the lieutenant I talked to at Lowell PD said that business was under great scrutiny. I am dedicated to seeing Torres arrested for theft and fraud. Arbitration letters are going out to Credit Acceptance tomorrow for their behavior in this matter as they shared my private account with a non account holder. This is far from over. Greg Brown, prosecutor for Lowell City, is supposed to call me back. I am pursuing criminal charges to the fullest extent of the law.

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