JD Byrider Louisville pays $7.1M settlement to buyers.

ZJ JIM 96 · 01-31-06, 07:15

I thought this might be of interest to those in the Louisville, Kentucky/southern Indiana area:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...601310480/1003

Byrider Franchise to pay $7M fine
Associated Press
10:35 AM January 31, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A car dealer will pay $7.1 million to settle a lawsuit by the Kentucky attorney general accusing it of selling substandard cars and trucks at inflated prices.

The settlement, between the attorney general and J.D. Byrider of Louisville, calls for $500 in restitution to each of 14,400 people who bought vehicles at the Louisville dealer from Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 31 , 2004.

The dealer's parent company, J.D. Byrider Systems Inc. of Carmel, Ind., which will contribute an additional $300,000 to the settlement, said Monday that it is canceling the Louisville store's franchise and won't let it use the Byrider name.

Byrider Systems has 123 stores in 28 states including several in Indiana.

Marc Maguire, who owns the franchise with his father, James "Scotty" Maguire, said in a statement that the dealership settled because the litigation was too expensive to continue.

The Maguires' lawyer, Thomas Clay, said they have not decided whether they will continue to operate the store under another name. Both the Louisville and parent companies denied any fault or wrongdoing.

The settlement is the largest ever with an auto dealer in Kentucky. Attorney General Greg Stumbo filed suit against the dealership in December 2004.

Mosca · 01-31-06, 08:33

That franchise has a bad name even among car dealers. They do things that we're afraid to even think about.

Tom

mshu7 · 07-10-06, 09:18

Sorry to resurect an old thread.

I work in IT at the corporate headquarters of J.D. Byrider in Carmel, IN (northside of Indy). Let me tell you that this J.D. Byrider location in KY was by far the worst operated franchise that is known to us. Thankfully, it's no longer a J.D. Byrider any longer. We have 13 corporate owned locations (soon to be 14) that all operate under strict rules. They all operate by the state laws of which they are located.

The franchise locations on the other hand are different. Yes, we try very hard to get them to operate the way we preach and operate our own locations, but in the end it's kind of up to them how fair they are with people.

This franchise location in KY and a few others throughout the US are what gives J.D. Byrider a bad name.

J.D. Byrider finances people with bad or no credit. If they cannot get financed at a normal dealership, typically they will get financed through J.D. Byrider. But, because they are a risk, their APR's are quite high and they must make weekly or bi-weekly payments. The positive thing is that we report to all 3 credit bureaus. If a person makes their payments on time, it will help rebuild their credit. If they don't make their payments, well, you know what the result is.

The other thing about J.D. Byrider is that the cars are higher mileage cars. What nice though is that J.D. Byrider offers a warranty on every single one of them (for 18 months/18,000 miles I believe). You won't find that anywhere else on cars with high miles.

All in all it's really a good company trying to good things for people with bad credit. The company is family owned and family operated. Our office houses all the top execs including the founder. However, tragically back on March 23, we lost Jim DeVoe Sr., founder & CEO of J.D. Byrider. He was 62. Him and his son-in-law, Steele Gudal, were flying around Melborne, FL (3 on board, including pilot), when their plane crashed while attempting to land. Everybody has been hit hard with this loss. The DeVoe family are great people. There was and still is never a day when you couldn't just walk right into one of the DeVoe's offices (or any other exec.) and shoot the hay with them. Even though we are the largest used car sales company in the nation, they have not turned it into the typical corporate, red tape all over the place, type of office. It's very laid back and a pleasure to come to work everyday.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. Like I said though, I work in IT. I don't see/hear about all the things that are going on at the lots. It's unfortunate when places like those give a bad name to the rest of the company!

awahl63 · 07-10-06, 11:32

Tom what are some things you've heard?