Honda of Kenosha Scammed money, and faked issues with a car I was selling. Bristol Wisconsin

Fraud Alert
 
I have a 2106 Honda civic that I leased from Honda of Kenosha.  My lease term was ending so I had the “end of lease vehicle inspection” done at their dealership as required by Honda Financial. This is required so the lease return would go smoothly and to see if there was any cosmetic or mechanical damage that needs to be addressed and also to record the actual milage.  The written report came back with no issues what’s so ever other than a cracked windshield, which I had replaced a week later.
 
I had excess milage on my lease so rather than pay the excess milage fee and just turn it in, I sold it to a friend for $11,800.  I contacted Honda Financial and was told that to transfer ownership of the car to my friend, the easiest way would be to first get the end of lease vehicle inspection done…which I already had…and then any Honda dealer could handle all the paper work.
 
I called Honda of Kenosha and was told they could handle the sale and title transfer for me, and told me what I need to bring to get everything done.
 
I only live 25-30 minutes from Honda of Kenosha but my friend drove an hour and a half to get there.  He was dropped off and then his ride left because we all thought he would be driving his new car home.  
 
Well, things didn’t quite work out that way.  When we got there we were met by Roberto and Jim.  They were the ones that were going to take care of the sale and transfer.  My friend brought a cashiers check for over $13,000 which was to cover the sale price of $11,800 plus taxes, dock fees and another vehicle inspection for $100.

This was the amount the dealership told him to bring.  He had the check made out to Honda Financial because they were the ones holding the title.  Roberto & Jim said the check needed to be made out to Honda of Kenosha and not Honda Financial and he would have to get the check re-written and come back the next day.  That wasn’t an option since he lived an hour and a half away and didn’t have a ride, which they knew.  Then one of them had a great idea…because “they really wanted to help,” they offered to let him take a loner car home and then come back the next day, since they still had to do the vehicle inspection.  
 
When I questioned why they had to do another inspection for $100 since they just did one, and I had the paperwork with me to show them there was nothing wrong with the car, they said that the last inspection was just a quick look at the car and that this one would be more thorough.  That made no sense since the report I had with me had every mechanical component checked off as OK.
 
I reluctantly paid the NEW $100 inspection fee and we left.  The next afternoon, my friend drove back to the dealership with the loner car, and was told they couldn’t sell them the Civic because it was overheating!  What…the car was in perfect mechanical condition when we left.  Then they said they would have to wait until the next day when their 5 Star mechanic can really go over the car to see what else might be wrong.  None of this made any sense.  They now wanted my friend to drive another 3 hours round trip because they didn’t have anyone available to do the actual inspection that I paid them $100 to do. 
 
My friend called me from the dealership and told me what was going on and we both agreed that it appeared they were trying to pull some kind of scam on us…possibly trying to charge us for made-up repairs.   My friend knew the car, had driven the car, loved the car and knew there was nothing wrong with it.  
 

I decided to call Honda Financial and told them what was going on and they were surprised.  They told me that since I already had the end of lease inspection done at their dealership, there was no need for a second one, and they were going to start an investigation into the matter.  
 
That didn’t take long.  I called my friend back, who was still at the dealership, and told him what Honda Financial said.  He went to Roberto and Jim and said he wants the keys to the car and was leaving.  They must have gotten a call immediately from Honda Financial because now. they apologized and gave him the keys and he left.  He drove the hour and a half drive home with zero issues.  It’s been a week and still no issues with the car…no overheating!
 
So now that we know that Roberto and Jim were trying to pull a fast one on us, I wanted my $100 back for the fake inspection that was never done.  I called the dealership and Roberto or Jim are never available and no one will return my call regarding the $100 fee I want returned.  This is not a big amount of money but for them to be rewarded for what they tried to do just isn’t right.  Hopefully they will see the light and do the right thing.