What happened

Why This Website Was Created

Hello, I'm a 2005 Toyota Camry Solara. I was minding my own business and providing first-class transportation to My Owner and her significant other until something very bad happened to her at Fred Anderson Toyota, Raleigh (herein referred to as "FA"). During what should have been a routine service visit (that ended up spanning two days), more than $2,700.00 was taken from My Owner for unnecessary repairs.

We believe that multiple FA employees acted together to violate NC State Safety Inspection Program regulations and numerous provisions of the NC Motor Vehicle Repair Act in order to accomplish this taking. FA's Use Of Prohibited Acts and Practices

In order to use consistent grammar throughout this website, the use of "we" and "us" will refer to My Owner, me (her anthropomorphized Red Toyota Solara), her significant other, and a number of friends who have helped us look into what happened to her. Over the past months, we have spent considerable time and effort to determine WHO (specifically, what person and / or persons at FA) did this, HOW it was done, and perhaps gain some insight into WHY it was done. During our follow-up inquiries, we sought help from several individuals at various levels of Toyota management. To date, those individuals have not stepped up to satisfactorily explain WHO targeted her or WHY she was targeted. In fact, in some cases these individuals went out of their way to obstruct our efforts.

As time went by, we turned to NC regulatory authorities for help. The various formats they use for submitting information about our concerns did not allow us to fully illustrate our concerns in as clear and compelling a format as we wished. So..... we decided to put the information we collect into one place, namely this website. The site has been designed as a tool to assist a number of regulatory and law enforcement agencies as they investigate what happened to My Owner at FA. At some point, the information we provide may encourage other NC motorists to become more interested in and more curious about their own experiences with how the NC State Safety Inspection Program is implemented by Fred Anderson Toyota, Raleigh.

What Happened --- We Believe My Owner Was The Victim Of Consumer Fraud At Fred Anderson Toyota

My Owner brought me to FA for a scheduled morning appointment to receive a NC State Safety Inspection and a routine 5,000 mile service. The FA service adviser asked her if she had any issues with the car; she replied that the car was performing well and that she was having no problems with it. After a wait of approximately two hours, she was told that her car had "failed" the NC State Safety Inspection and was too "unsafe" to drive. Instead she was presented with a work order for $6,365.84 of repair work (that included a line item for $2,948.50 to "Mount And Balance Four Tires"). (( We now know that, FA did NOT perform a NC State Safety Inspection that morning; in fact no failed report was ever sent to the DMV. )) My Owner asked that a number of the items she had not requested be removed; but she was told that they could not be removed because "the computer" had made the entries. Because my owner trusted FA (she had purchased the car there in 2005 and had all of its service done there), because she is a senior citizen (seventy-five-year-old widow) with very limited automotive knowledge, and because she was very afraid of driving an "unsafe" car, she accepted a "courtesy" loaner car and left FA.

My Owner returned the following day to retrieve her vehicle. She encountered more waiting, more confusion, and became even more upset than she had been the previous morning. She signed a $2,927.07 invoice, retrieved her Solara, and left the FA store.

So... in effect My Owner had money taken by a series of deceptive unfair business practices. Is this consumer fraud?

Toyota Management's Response --- Ignored, Deflected, and/or Redirected Customer's Follow Up Efforts

Immediately upon returning home, My Owner began thinking about her experience at FA and started feeling that she had likely been targeted. So, the very next day, My Owner asked her significant other to contact Fred Anderson Toyota assuming that this mess would get straightened out very quickly. We quickly learned that no one at FA was willing to address our concerns. Upon receiving no explanations of WHO (what specific person/s) targeted My Owner or WHY, we proceeded to follow up with the Anderson Automotive Group, with Toyota Motor Sales of North America (in Plano, Texas), and with Southeast Toyota Distributors (in Deerfield Beach, Florida). All of these follow up efforts have been focused on learning specifically WHO at Fred Anderson targeted My Owner and WHY. At each stage of this follow up process, we have been met with a considerable resistance.

At first we naively thought the situation would get straightened out immediately along with an apology. We assumed that a FA management person would address our concern promptly and with respect. After all My Owner purchased me in 2004 at FA and most of the maintenance has been performed at FA. Well we were very wrong, very surprised, and very disappointed.

Regulators' Efforts --- Have Been Obstructed in Multiple Instances

When My Owner contacted Major Robert Sawyer the head of the NC DMV License and Theft Bureau, he told her that no "failed" inspection was transmitted to their department on February 19, 2020 or at any time after that. Soon after, we filed a formal DMV complaint and DMV investigator Love was assigned to visit the Fred Anderson store to meet with the General Manager and the Service Director on May 18, 2020. During that meeting a number of service documents that had not yet been provided to My Owner were discussed. Among those documents was a Multipoint Inspection Report (generated the first morning of My Owner's encounter) that showed the undercarriage of the Solara to be in excellent condition and not in need of any work. No failed inspection report had been prepared and no other document showed any need for repairs. Subsequent to that meeting, the DMV issued an LT-609 administrative warning to Fred Anderson Toyota's for their violation/s of the NC State Safety Inspection regulations. We were told that FA's next violation of this type would result in a hearing that would determine their continued participation in the NC State Safety Inspection Program.

When DMV Inspector Love met with FA management on May 18, 2020, we believe that he was deceived and misdirected in multiple ways. See that meeting. Inspector Love apparently did not question why expensive repairs were recommended to My Owner at all. He was unable to inspect parts removed from My Owner's vehicle. He was told a total falsehood about My Owner's having retained a lawyer.

My Owner also filed a formal complaint with the NC Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection. After some written back and forth communication, the NC AG issued a written ALL documents request to Fred Anderson Toyota. FA's written response to that request can be described as incomplete to say the least. Elsewhere on this website, we provide considerable documentation demonstrating what WAS sent and what WAS NOT sent.

What has really surprised us is how seemingly uninterested FA has been when our concerns were brought to them by NC regulators. FA has provided multiple misleading, unsupported, and / or incomplete written responses to NC AG's investigatory inquiries.

What Happens Now --- SOMEBODY With Authority Should Investigate FA's Unfair and Predatory Practices

We believe that FA has violated the NC State Safety Inspection regulations as well as multiple provisions of the NC Motor Vehicle Repair Act. They have withheld information from My Owner and have misrepresented the condition of her vehicle to her. We believe that she may have been targeted based on her age, gender, and / or level of automotive knowledge. FA has repeatedly refused to satisfactorily explain their actions to us, or to the NC DMV, or to the NC AG's Office. We show on this website why we believe what happened to My Owner constitutes consumer fraud. For the reasons above, we believe that SOMEBODY IN AUTHORITY should look further into what we believe are deceptive and unfair business practices employed at FA. It may well be determined that other NC motorists have been similarly taken advantage of --- particularly seniors and women.

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