Are South Florida dealerships selling used cars with potentially lethal safety recalls? That’s what Earl Stewart of Stewart Toyota believes.
In a lawsuit filed on WednesdayStewart singled out Arrigo Enterprises, claiming their dealerships not only sold cars with recalled Takata airbags, but also failed to tell customers about the problem, something Arrigo denies.
But, what about other area car dealers? What are their policies when it comes to selling used cars with open recalls?
Stewart, at a news conference on Wednesday, said it would be the first of many lawsuits. He claims an undercover investigation found multiple local dealerships selling used cars with unfixed safety recalls. It's a practice that is legal but something he wants to see end.
So we decided to do some investigating of our own. We compiled a list of two dozen area dealerships and called them all. We said we were calling from WPTV and wanted to know if they sold used cars with open safety recalls; for example, used cars with defective Takata airbags.
Coggin Honda of Fort Pierce told us they don’t sell cars with safety recalls.
Management at Royal Palm Mazda, Royal Palm Nissan and Treasure Coast Toyota said the same thing: They do not sell used cars with safety recalls.
Mullinax said their stock with open recalls are on hold.
Godwin Auto sales of Okeechobee told us they don’t usually sell cars with open safety recalls, but if they did the recall would be taken care of prior to the sale.
The other dealerships did not respond, have yet to get back to us or had no comment.
These are the dealerships we called:
Enterprise Car Sales West Palm Beach
Stuart Auto Mall
Vatland Honda
Dyer Mazda
Mazzarella
Johnson Honda
Jupiter Auto exchange
Palm Beach Toyota
Schumacher
West Palm Nissan
Coggin Honda of Ft Pierce
Sutherlin Nissan of Fort Pierce
Bev Smith Toyota Scion
Treasure Coast Lexus
Sunrise Ford
Palm Beach Motors
Godwin Auto Sales
Mullinax
Victory Auto Group
CarMax Boynton Beach
Treasure Coast Auto Sales
Royal Palm Mazda
Royal Palm Nissan
Treasure Coast Toyota
Gilbert Ford
Want to see if your car has an open recall. Find out here.
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