JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville woman turned to the News4JAX I-TEAM after she says she purchased a car during a private sale, but in the end, was out $3,000 with no vehicle to drive.
Eugenia McArthur says she didn’t now she had been duped until she went to the DMV to get her title and tag. The man McArthur says sold her the car didn’t own it, and the I-TEAM discovered the vehicle was actually in the process of being repossessed by a Jacksonville used-car lot.
You see, McArthur didn’t just want a car – she needed it.
“I’ve got arthritis from my lupus. I’ve got two new hips, one new shoulder and two knees done. So, I need transportation to my doctors’ appointments and stuff,” she told us.
McArthur says she handed over $3,000 in cash to a man named Antonio Young for a 2007 Dodge Charger. She says she gave Young the money after he and his girlfriend reached a verbal agreement that Young would later send her the car’s title in the mail.
“The title didn’t come, so I’m texting him, texting him, calling him. ‘Oh, it should be in the mail any day.’ About a month passed, so I went to the DMV,” she said.
The I-TEAM obtained the bill of sale and the name signed on it is Chris Jones -- not Antonio Young. We checked and the name Chris Young matches the first alias we found on the Florida Department of Corrections website, associated with Antonio Young.
Young was sentenced to prison for burglary, grand theft, credit card fraud and forgery. FDOC records reveal he served 6 years in a state prison after being convicted. But in this case, Young denies doing anything wrong.
“I went to the DMV and asked her to check the VIN number for me, and she said, ‘Baby you can’t get a tag or title for this car.’ And I asked her why? And she said, ‘This car has a lien on it.’ I said what you mean a lien?”
According to McArthur, the Department of Motor Vehicles told her she couldn’t get the title or tags transferred to her because neither Young nor his girlfriend owned the vehicle. According to the DMV, the car belonged to the MotorMall car lot on Atlantic Boulevard.
The I-TEAM went to speak with Sales Manager Chris Richardson. He told us Antonio Young used to work for him at MotorMall before he was terminated and told us Young’s girlfriend was leasing the car and was behind on her payment.
“It was MotorMall’s. It was a lease option. I don’t even think they had it for a year,” Richardson said. “They weren’t close to paying it off yet, and it was out for repo when he sold it. We’ve been looking for the car for a few months and we couldn’t find it anywhere.”
The I-TEAM reached out to Antonio Young -- who wouldn’t talk on camera but agreed to speak with us in a phone interview.
Young admitted that he and his girlfriend did give McArthur this car, but he denies ever receiving the $3000 payment.
“My girlfriend was leasing that car. That car had nothing to do with me, my name is nowhere on that car,” Young told us over the phone. “So, how could I sell her something that don’t even belong to me? That’s number one. Number two, we told her she could take over payments, that’s why she even went up to MotorMall to try and get the title and stuff when we told her you have to make payments.”
Young went on to say, “And I told her when you finish making all the payments you can get the title to it. All you got to do is go to MotorMall because I don’t want to make no more, we don’t want to make the payments on it no more. I said you can take over the payments, just go there and sign like, do like a little lease thing over. I used to work there so I know.”
McArthur says managers at MotorMall did try and help her get her $3,000 back.
“Mr. Richardson called him on the phone, and he said, ‘Antonio, why you sold this nice lady a car you know is not yours?’ And he told them, ‘Well, I sent her up there to make the payments.’ And I said no, that’s a lie, that’s a lie.”
McArthur said she called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office while at MotorMall, and an officer did respond to her home. However, she says the officer told her and MotorMall managers that it was a civil matter - not a criminal one.
The I-TEAM reached out to JSO to find out why that was the case. The sheriff’s office told us it had not been made aware of the issue until we reached out, and that it is now gathering more information about McArthur’s situation.
Checklist to follow when buying a vehicle in a private sale
Before you hand over any money during a private sale for a vehicle, Master Sgt. Dylan Bryan with the Florida Highway Patrol offers a checklist of sorts to help ensure you get what you pay for.
“One of the big things I can say is (you should) confirm the identity of the person who is selling it to you,” Bryan said. “Get a government ID, compare that to the name on the title to ensure the person selling you the vehicle is the owner.”
After checking the person’s ID, make sure the Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, on the title matches the VIN on the car. You’ll find the 17-digit VIN either on the side of the driver’s side door or on the lower portion on the windshield that is looking outside of the car.
Bryan says when it comes to a location for the transaction with a private seller, he suggests the Tax Collector’s Office. It could be a deterrent for criminals and scammers.
“That way both parties are there on site, that way they can take all the documents inside and retrieve valuable information and confirm everything is legit with the purchase of that vehicle,” he said.
Another useful tool: You can check the current market value for a car using Consumer Reports’ Car Value Estimator.
