Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
A used car dealership in Lower Sackville, N.S., is shutting down amid fraud allegations.
On Wednesday, a few dozen customers gathered outside the Race Auto building on Sackville Drive. Sandra Salter was one of them. She and the other customers had heard Race Auto owner Mark Turner was on site.
“We all just came here thinking that he might help us with some type of solution to our issues,” Salter said.
“Instead, he called the police.”
Salter claims she had traded in her old car for a newer vehicle from Race Auto. She said the arrangement was for Race to pay the outstanding balance on her old car loan.
She said that didn’t happen and instead, she’s making payments on two vehicles—including one she no longer owns.
While CBC News was present outside the dealership on Wednesday, there were five RCMP officers and the customers were milling around the exterior. Some of them said Turner had told them he would meet with them at the dealership. He did not.
Salter is not the only customer with this complaint according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The BBB has suspended Race Auto’s accreditation, “due to a failure to address marketplace disputes quickly, professionally, and in good faith.”
The bureau notes it has seen a pattern of complaints, including:
Trade-in lien payouts that were not completed or were significantly delayed. Customers continuing to be pursued by lenders for outstanding balances related to trade-ins.
Nova Scotia RCMP said in a statement Thursday that they have fielded 20 fraud complaints about Race Auto over the last month.
The RCMP also said they were called to the dealership on Wednesday to “de-escalate” the situation with the customers who had gathered there.
CBC News reached Turner by phone. He said he called the police to the dealership on Wednesday because there had been theft and vandalism.
He also told CBC News the dealership has closed and has filed for bankruptcy.
He said he had been working to “address as many customer files and outstanding matters that we possibly could.” But he said those efforts “were disrupted by incidents of vandalism, property damage, theft, including vehicles and equipment.”
He said he’s working to ensure all employees get their outstanding wages.
In a later conversation with CBC News, he said there had been threats made against him and his wife.
When Turner was asked whether any of his business practices might be the subject of a police investigation, he said no.
“Businesses fail, unfortunately,” he told CBC News. “I tried as best I could.”
He said the fraud allegations and the complaints to the Better Business Bureau are just allegations.
Customers were joined outside the dealership Wednesday by some former employees of the dealership. Jayden McMullen said he is a former car salesman and is also Turner’s son-in-law.
“It makes it awkward, it really does, it’s pathetic,” McMullen said. “I’m embarrassed to be sitting here in front of you, explaining this situation.”
MORE TOP STORIES