A MOM who was left without a car for over a year after a dealership took it back is now closing in on a settlement.
Navadia Brooks from Atlanta, Georgia, found herself battling a large corporation after the used car dealer she purchased her Nissan Altima from abruptly closed its doors.
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Brooks is one of many customers who were affected by the sudden closure of US Auto Sales, which had 39 locations across the Southeast shut up shop back in April 2023.
Worse still, the dealer group has been accussed of stealing millions from drivers by illegally repossessing cars and overbilling customers.
But nearly a year and a half since their collapse, US citizens like Brooks are still fighting for compensation.
As reported by Atlanta’s WSB-TV, a judge recently ordered the dealership’s financing arm, USAF Servicing LLC, to pay over $40 million in penalties and restitution – including wrongful repossessions.
Judge Victoria Marie Calvert found that USAF Servicing made “various errors” which affected customers.
The court order stipulates that their $42 million claim will be handled by bankruptcy trustees, similar to other debts faced by US Auto Sales.
From this, customers such as Brooks are awaiting a potential settlement, while others face other significant challenges.
Shaunte Strong, for instance, discovered her $2,800 extended warranty was non-existent, and the company now servicing the loans, Westlake Portfolio Management, has no record of her two years of payments.
Brooks said: “I’m keeping the faith that I will get something from a settlement.”
While courts have ordered restitution, the process is ongoing, and the future remains uncertain for those affected.
This comes as Ethan Bullard from Charlotte, NC, found himself in a worst-case scenario after his car was stolen in December.
But worse was to come as he was forced to pay $745 to get his stolen car back, only to be blindsided by an additional $350 fee.
Ring doorbell footage revealed that a gang of thieves had taken advantage of the fact that Bullard had accidentally left the spare key in the truck and made off with it in seconds.
But hope sprang again when cops called him just days ago to reveal that they had found it.
Investigators had managed to track the car down to an apartment complex just a few miles from Ethan’s front door.
There was just one catch – the car had subsequently been towed by the enforcement firm that monitors the complex’s car park.
The company had kindly reported the stolen car to the police once staff scanned the plate on their lot.
But they then charged Ethan a whopping $745 to release it.
