INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO): Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller today filed lawsuits against four auto dealers and their owners accused of failing to deliver customers’ vehicle titles and other deceptive acts. The auto dealers – all of which have gone out of business – were located in Fort Wayne, Fortville and Indianapolis.

Zoeller said without a vehicle title, it is impossible to obtain a state vehicle registration in order to operate a vehicle legally.

“The 48 Hoosiers impacted in these cases spent thousands of dollars on cars which they now can’t prove they own,” Zoeller said. “This can be a common problem, especially when used auto dealers go out of business. Our office is able to step in to help these customers get what they purchased.”

He said his priority with these legal actions is to secure the titles for these consumers as quickly as possible.

Zoeller alleges the following former auto dealers violated Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, and he seeks restitution for impacted customers – including title delivery – in addition to investigative costs and civil penalties.

Prestige Auto in Fortville – Accused of failure to deliver titles to at least 10 customers and failure to provide a purchased warranty to one customer. According to the lawsuit, Prestige also agreed to pay-off remaining loan amounts on three trade-in vehicles, which they never did, resulting in the consumers facing repayment on loans of $23,800 and $3,500 after purchasing their new vehicles.

AnyCredit Auto Superstore Inc. in Fort Wayne – Accused of failure to deliver titles to at least 10 customers, misrepresenting the price of a vehicle and failure to perform repairs on a vehicle it represented it would perform.

Southport Motors in Indianapolis – Accused of failure to deliver 21 titles to customers. Additionally, Southport failed to pay off the remaining loan balance on one customer’s trade-in vehicle in the amount of $16,500.

US Fleet Liquidators LLC in Indianapolis – Accused of failure to deliver titles to 7 customers.
Under state law, car dealers and individuals from whom a customer has purchased a vehicle are required to deliver the title to the purchaser at the time of sale or delivery or within 21 days of the date of the sale.

The Attorney General’s Office receives more auto sales complaints each year than any other retail category, with 1,340 such complaints filed in 2015.