BELLEVILLE – A man claims an Auffenberg dealership repossessed and sold his vehicle even though he was up to date on his payments and refuses to provide a full refund.
Plaintiff Christopher S. Arnold filed the lawsuit in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Auffenberg Dealer Group, Inc. and St. Clair Nissan, Inc., doing business as Auffenberg Nissan.
According to the lawsuit, on July 14, 2020, the plaintiff entered into a retail purchase agreement with the defendants to purchase a vehicle for just over $18,000. Arnold states that he paid a $4,000 down payment for the vehicle in the form of a check and money order. He alleges the defendants informed him that the bank did not order the payments and demanded that he pay the down payment in cash. According to Arnold, after his cash down payment, the defendants negotiated the cash and money order at the bank and received his initial $4,000 down payment, in effect receiving $8,000 in total for the down payment on the vehicle.
According to Arnold, he was unable to secure financing for the vehicle and, after paying another $1,000, communications broke down. Following the break down of communications, the defendants allegedly had the vehicle repossessed and sold it to someone else even though he was up to date on his payments.
Arnold claims the defendants refunded him $3,300, which represented one of his down payments of $4,000 minus $700 in repossession fees. The defendants later sent him a check for $700 as a refund for the repossession fees. Arnold claims he has made demands for a refund of the other payment of $4,000, but has been ignored.
Arnold is demanding a trial jury to seek damages for his payments, plus court costs and any other relief the court deems proper. He is representing himself in this case.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 23LA0818