Lithia Motors Ripoff dealerships Are Aka Various Names Throughout U.S. Racketeering & Fraud Medford Oregon

As the wife of an employee of Lithia Motors for the past 40 years,I think I have the right to defend this Company in all catagories.

My husband is their oldest employee,73, yet they keep him working at least 4 hours a day as they know he needs his job.

I have known these owners since they were just young men and they have always been about the best employers of any business that I know of, and I have been around a long time.

These employers,at one time when my husband just would not go get tested for glasses,they made him an appointment and they paid for it.

I have read papers that they have sent home in pay envelopes ,where they would fire anyone doing anything illegal,if caught.I think they have very strict gudelines for all employes,as I have seen in notes.

These  people have been here ever since ,and even before their father died  in the winter,when hit by a car in Phoenix.

I just want to defend them as I do not think they have any thing deceitful about their Company or their employees.

Arlene

This rebuttal is in response to the rebuttal posted by "Reid," wherein he discusses that a company with "deep pockets" is always a target.

I am always miffed when this "deep pockets" argument or defense is raised to provide what looks to be an ulterior and improper motive on the part of the consumer who is suing a large corporation. This is an irrelevant and misleading argument. It is the nature of the wrongful conduct and the damage caused to the consumer by that wrongful conduct that is at issue in a dispute, not the wealth of the corporation that is alleged to have committed the wrongful acts. I tire of the whine of the boardroom execs and others who want to shift the focus of the blame by saying something like: "They are only coming after us, because we have money." The heads of the "victim" corporation ought to look to the conduct that is complained of, thourougly investigate the same, and then make it right, if the conduct complained of did indeed take place. I agree, that many attorneys will not take a case on a contingecy fee basis unless there is a reasonable chance of success of recovery for the client and the law firm. I also agree that this means, in many cases, that a small company or an individual might not be sued if it looks as if collecting any judgment that might be obtained might not come to fruition. However, the decision to sue or not to sue on this basis should not be confused with the strength of the merits of the underlying complaint. Have you ever considered that a company with "deep pockets" that is engaged in unlawful or fraudulent conduct might have achieved those "deep pockets" by the very acts complained of? And if that is the case, shouldn't those "deep pockets" be depleted to deter such conduct and to compensate consumer victims? The "deep pockets" argument is anunfair attempt to discredit consumers who gather the resolve to hold accountable a giant corporation that needs to be checked.

With regard to the rest of your rebuttal, I am happy that Lithia has implemented controls to stop some of the conduct complained of by the consumers. That is a responsible and wise decision. However, these controls were not in place at the time of the alleged conduct. You state you have been with Lithia for 6 years. If so, you know this to be true.

And, Reid, if your last name ends in a "V," shame on you, because you know a hell of a lot more than you are saying, and you are being deceptive. If you are not this person, well just ignore this last comment.

I have worked in the car business for 14 years, and have had the unfortunate circumstance of seeing this sort of thing firsthand in several of the dealerships I have worked in. Tragically, this sort of thing is rampant in the car business as a whole and consumers would be wise to double check the work dealers do in securing their financing.

As an employee of Lithia Motors for nearly six years (my longest tenure with any dealership) I am proud to say that this is not condoned nor tolerated. Any employee caught doing this receives disciplinary action up to and including termination. As a company of 108 dealerships and completing thousands of transactions per month, 30 cases is still unacceptable.

Here are some measures the company is taking to ensure that "power booking" (the industry slang for this practice) does not happen:

-The original vehicle appraisal (when the inventory is purchased or traded for) "locks" the vehicle equipment and prevents any changes after the fact. Lithia Motors invested a ton of money partnering with a company called FirstLook to accomplish this. Only the General Manager may authorize changes to a book value after it has been locked.
-Book Sheets must be signed by the desk manager prior to being sent to the bank. This creates a trail back to a desk manager that is guilty of breaking company policy.
-The original booksheet is kept in the deal jacket, and this can be compared to the booksheet which was sent to the bank.

I plan to retire from this company because I have never encountered so much integrity top to bottom. The company practices what it preaches. I have no doubt that a certain few individuals in the company do not share the same vision that the vast majority of the employees for Lithia do, but for me that does not tarnish what I know to be true.

A company of this size will always be targeted because of their "deep pockets," but the reality is that the controls at Lithia stores are light years ahead of the competition.