Couple Pay $25,000, See New Car Get Repossessed -- Money They Gave Shopping Agent Never Paid To Dealer

It sounded like a good way to buy a car.

Hire an agent to do your shopping, then drive away with a shiny new auto.

Richard and Arlene Moe, who took this route, were thrilled with their Nissan Pathfinder - until the repo man showed up.

That's how the Moes learned that the $25,000 they paid United Auto Exchange to buy the car never made it to the dealer - Rood Nissan-Volvo.

And the Moes are not alone.

A number of United customers may find their cars, too, being repossessed.

At least 10 people - and probably more, dealers say - paid United for cars in November. But dealers say the money was never transferred to them. At least six area dealers are involved in what is becoming a complicated legal battle over who actually owns the cars.

Dealers say this may be just the beginning of a trail of woes that could extend from Oregon to Alaska.

United Auto owner Bill Edmondson cannot be found, so the dealers don't know exactly what's going on. The company's downtown Seattle office is closed and the phone goes unanswered.

The Moes' nightmare began last Thursday when a Rood Nissan-Volvo employee asked the couple to meet him at a Lynnwood insurance agency to sign additional paperwork for their new vehicle. When no one from the dealership showed up at the appointed time, Moe called, only to learn that the meeting plan was a ruse to find the car.

Richard Moe says he was told, "Look out the window, we just

repossessed your car."

"I felt violated. They even had our checkbooks and other personal (things)," Arlene Moe says of belongings that were in the car. The couple, visiting from Alaska, retrieved their possessions from the dealership, with help from police.

The car remains in Rood Nissan's possession; and the dealership, the Moes and their lender, Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, are locked in a dispute over who legally owns the car.

While Martin Rood, owner of the Lynnwood dealership, sympathizes with the Moes' position, he believes he can legally repossess the car because he was never paid for it. That invalidates the contract, Rood says.

It also leaves the buyers and their lender out in the cold. Meanwhile, the Moes' 1991 Nissan trade-in has been sold to another dealership, so they don't have that to drive either.

Other dealers say United Auto Exchange, which has been in business here for more than three years, didn't pay them for cars delivered to United customers.

Rose Sterling Honda in Longview says it has not been paid for three cars it sold through United, and Thomason Ford in Kirkland has two such lost deals. But neither dealer has repossessed the cars.

Grant Diekman, a Thomason fleet manager, says the dealership is checking with its attorneys before taking action.

"We're not trying to make this hard on the customer," says Jim Sterling, owner of Rose Sterling Honda, who has talked to two of the affected buyers. "Both the customers and the dealerships are victims."

Dealers, who turned cars over to customers even through they had not yet been paid, said they did so because they had a good working relationship with United in the past and expected to be paid. Other dealers, however, said their policy is not to give the customer the car until the dealership has been paid.

United, which has many customers in Alaska, has telephone listings in Anchorage, Juneau and Ketchikan. Callers are asked to leave messages.

The Alaska attorney general's office has received two complaints from consumers who purchased cars from United that were never delivered, says Jerry Williams, an attorney in the attorney general's office investigating the complaints.

In one case, the buyer paid United Auto $25,000 and in the other instance the price was $15,000, Williams says.

Locally, Rood sold five cars, including the Moes', through United Auto, three of which remain on the lot. One other car was delivered to a customer in Alaska; Rood is pursuing repossession.

Dealers say that until the recent trouble, United Auto Exchange gave them no problems.

And the state Department of Licensing, which reports United has been in business since October 1989, had only two complaints, both unsubstantiated, says Art Farley, the license-service manager.

The Washington attorney general's office, too, says it hasn't had problems with United, although it's now investigating.

Even the Moes purchased their previous car through United and were satisfied enough to return.

Though United hadn't been in trouble before, local auto brokers say its practice of collecting the car payments was unusual.

Most brokers and buying services say they collect a fee, but never take payment for the car.

"The money, either personal funds or a check from a financial institution, goes directly to the dealer," says Michael Wustrack, owner of Auto Solution Inc., with offices in Tacoma, Bellevue and Portland. "We never want to see a title."