Dawn Masino of Budd Lake leased a car from Route 46 Hyundai in Hackettstown in June 2017.
At the end of February, she decided to buy the car.
She was approved for a loan for $15,000 from Fifth Third Bank, gave the dealership a down payment of $2,500 and got her temporary license plate, documents show.
Masino said she didn’t worry about getting her permanent plates because of the coronavirus pandemic, and she started her car payments to Fifth Third Bank on April 10.
In mid-April, she said, she drove to the dealership to get her plates, she said.
“There were a sign on the door saying they would reopen in May,” she said. “At the end of May, I got a call from Hyundai Motor Finance about delinquent payments. I told them I no longer have a lease, that I purchased the car.”
But Hyundai’s records showed she still had a lease. And she was behind on the payments.
Unable to reach the dealership by phone or email, Masino visited the dealership again, but it was still closed.
She checked with Fifth Third Bank, which confirmed her loan was in good standing and it confirmed the lease buyout amount was sent by wire to Route 46 Hyundai as instructed.
No one could figure out what happened to the money.
In the first week of June, Masino returned to the dealership again.
“There was not one car on the lot or one desk in the showroom,” she said. “They had left, and I still had expired temporary plates on my car.”
She escalated the case with Hyundai, and eventually spoke to a case manager who requested she check again with Fifth Third about the payment.
In a conference call on June 17 with the bank and Hyundai Motor Finance, the bank confirmed the wire transfer to Route 46 Hyundai went through on March 4, Masino said.
“(The Hyundai representative) said it didn’t matter because they didn’t have the money and they needed to be paid,” Masino said. “I said it seemed to me they needed to go after the dealership. We asked to speak to one of his supervisors. He put us on hold and never came back.”
Next she tried Comfort Auto Group, which owns Route 46 Hyundai.
“The gentleman wouldn’t give me his name but told me that they no longer have anything to do with Route 46 Hyundai — of course, because they’re out of business — and he’s heard other stories like mine and `it’s really too bad.‘”
The next day, she filed a police report with Washington Township and spoke to an officer about her case.
“He was not even surprised,” she said. “He told me I am not the only person he knows of who had an issue with this dealership and now things are a mess.”
Masino called Hyundai again.
“From where they stand, I owe them money,” she said. “They suggested I ask Fifth Third Bank if they would pay the money again and this time send it to Hyundai Motor Finance, and then if there is a settlement, the bank can get their money back.”
That wasn’t likely to happen.
Masino uses her car for work, and she’s afraid it could be repossessed and her credit rating will be trashed.
She filed a complaint with the Division of Consumer Affairs, and then she asked Bamboozled for help.
TRACKING IT DOWN
The dealership has a history.
Comfort Auto Group L.L.C., doing business as Route 46 Hyundai, agreed to a $55,286 settlement with the Division of Consumer Affairs in August 2019 to resolve allegations that the dealership violated the Consumer Fraud Act, the Used Car Lemon Law and other regulations.
As part of the agreement, Comfort agreed to enter binding arbitration to resolve any additional consumer complaints received by the agency for a period of one year.
Consumer Affairs said since the order, it’s received 12 complaints — not including the one filed by Masino.
Two of the complaints were resolved by the dealership, two were closed as “unjustified” or “unsupported,” and the remaining eight complaints are open, a spokeswoman said.
“For the past several months, Comfort Auto Group has not responded to communications from the division,” the spokeswoman said. “Nor has Comfort Auto Group satisfied all amounts owed under the order.”
We didn’t have luck reaching the company, either.
Multiple calls to Comfort’s number were disconnected but while navigating the voicemail system we were able to leave one message that was not returned.
The phone number for Route 46 Hyundai was never answered. The company also didn’t answer messages on Facebook and Twitter.
According to public records, Comfort Auto Group is owned by Heshy Gottdiener of New York. Public records show he also owns Route 206 Auto Group, which owns Kia of Sussex.
Gottdiener didn’t respond to phone messages or emails about the case, and messages and emails left for him at Kia of Sussex were not returned.
One email sent to Gottdiener did get an auto-reply saying he was out of the office and that people could contact his assistant at a different email address. But the person at the other end said he is an automotive consultant, and he didn’t respond to a request for help reaching Gottdiener.
We took the case to Hyundai Motor Finance to see if could help, and we suggested it could at the very least call off the collections dogs while this gets sorted out.
“Understanding these are difficult times and after learning about this customer’s situation, we’ve taken steps to ensure the customer has been contacted by our teams,” the company said. “We are working with the customer to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. We cannot discuss any further details at this time.”
Masino may have been contacted, but her issue is far from resolved.
She said the representative who called her asked why Masino went to the dealership for the lease buyout, and Masino responded that’s how she did it for her two prior lease buyouts and that’s what the dealer instructed.
“She asked if the bank can recall the wire to get their money back,” Masino said, noting the bank said it was too late for that. “She told me that there is really nothing that Hyundai Finance can do for me.”
The representative did tell her Hyundai put a freeze on sending anything to the credit bureaus and it’s stopping collections calls — temporarily.
But the next business day, Masino checked her credit report and yes, Hyundai Finance reported three late payments. So much for good faith.
“We’ve gotten nowhere,” Masino said. “I am worried about the expired temporary plates on my car. Long term, I’m worried that the VIN number associated with this car will always be wrapped up in some sort of shenanigans because of this mess.”
Masino has decided to retain an attorney but she’s hoping she won’t have to go to court and spend more money she doesn’t have.
“Maybe there will be a miracle today and they’ll call me and tell me they fixed it,” she said. “I’m still hoping.”
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.
NJ Advance Media Research Editor Vinessa Erminio contributed to this report.
Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
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