TLDR: Steve and Driven Auto of Waukegan literally handed my car keys to thieves and did everything…read morein their power to avoid recouping my money for nearly a month. Unless you have time and money (and potentially a car) to burn, and enjoy being dead-center in a complete asshat circus, stay far away.
This is a long story, but one that I think says a lot about this business and the people that work there. If you're a careful consumer, or even if you're a normal person that doesn't want your car stolen and your money held hostage, I'd encourage you to stick around.
On September 28, I contacted Driven Auto of Waukegan, IL regarding a 2008 Subaru Outback XT they had for sale. I live in the Pacific Northwest, so of course I was planning to arrange for shipping. During our initial conversations, the General Manager, Steve, expressed interest in taking for trade-in my vehicle at the time, a 2022 Mercedes AMG GLA 35. We agreed that I would ship the Mercedes, and once received, Driven Auto would ship the Outback to me. I would also be owed cash to make up the difference between the value of the Mercedes (accounting for the remainder of the loan) and the Outback. We signed paperwork reflecting this agreement on October 2. On October 11, I was informed by Steve via text that the Mercedes had arrived. Because I was out of town at the time, Steve and I agreed to have the Outback shipped on October 16 so that I would be home to receive it upon arrival. This is where the nightmare began.
Steve became difficult to reach immediately. He did not provide any tracking information for the Outback, and the phone number I was provided was clearly non-operational. I had zero way to contact the transport company, let alone any sort of way to track the vehicle. I spent two days scouring the internet for some means of contact, and I finally received a call back from the owner of the transport company with disturbing news.
The transport company's system had been breached by hackers, and the owner's identity stolen. With this information, the hackers were able to see the nature and locations of the vehicles the company was scheduled to pick up, which led them to the Outback at Driven Auto.
These car thieves walked into the dealership, they presented ZERO VERIFICATION they were with the actual transport company, and Steve handed them the keys to the Outback. They loaded the Outback on a truck, and it has not been seen since. Steve waffled between telling me that they "looked official" because they had a vehicle hauler trailer, to the driver "seeming suspicious" because he hurried Steve to give him the keys to the Outback. Steve even accused me of pressuring him to deliver the vehicle quickly, and that I contributed to the theft. Essentially, every explanation other than owning responsibility for LITERALLY HANDING MY CAR KEYS TO A THIEF.
In my conversation with the actual owner of the transport company, he relayed to me that these thieves had tried this grift at other dealerships only to be found out when the dealership called the transport company to verify the identity of the driver when they arrived. Obviously Steve did not do this. His negligence and/or ineptitude directly contributed to the theft of a car owed to a customer. At this point, I wish I could say that he handed me the money he owed and we went our separate ways, but we were just getting started.
In the initial aftermath of the theft, Steve reassured me that he was confident that there was some miscommunication, and that the Outback was on a truck somewhere on its way to me. He wanted to stall talks about recouping my money because he believed the car would still arrive. Days went by. Steve continued to duck my calls, only responding when I called the dealership directly, never answering the cell phone he provided the number for.
After a week of chasing Steve and trying to speak with other managers that I thought might have an ounce more integrity (stay away from Hector, as well), I finally got Steve on the phone. I told him I needed my money now, and he absolutely unloaded on me. He yelled at me about HIS stress, and running HIS business, not a single time acknowledging owing me $18k and leaving me stranded without transportation, unable to properly care for my family. The call ended by him telling me he would put a check in the mail that day (October 23) and hanging up on me. You can probably guess that that check was never mailed.
On October 24 Steve and I connected again via phone and agreed to terms by which they would recoup my money. About thirty minutes later I received the agreement in writing via email with COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TERMS. He extended the date by which they agreed to return my money and neglected to include anything regarding paying off the remainder of the Mercedes loan, among other major oversights. I consulted with legal professionals, revised the terms, and sent them to Steve. He agreed to them, including a deadline of October 30 to fin