Elderly Woman Scammed By Clarksville Car Dealer

[CarDealerCheck]

For Effie Mai Killebrew, the last few months have been horrific. Her son died of cancer and she was scammed by a Clarksville car dealership.

In early December, Killebrew, 76, bought a van that would accommodate a wheel chair so she could travel to Nashville’s Vanderbilt hospital to see her dying son.

She paid the dealership, Certified Auto Mart, $6,500 in cash and has yet to receive the van’s title.

Because she paid for the car outright, she should have been given the vehicle’s title right then.

Instead, the salesman, who Killebrew has identified as Jimmy Scott Chambers, said he would send her the title in four to six weeks.

That did not happen.

Sources close to the investigation said the van is owned by a large firm known as Dealer Services Corporation.

The company placed the van on the Clarksville car lot to be sold.

When it was, Certified Auto Mart was supposed to take their cut and send the agency the remainder.

Officials at Dealer Services Corporation said they have yet to be paid.

The news has learned that on January 2, state authorities shut Certified Auto Mart.

The Department of Commerce said the lot owner has admitted that several vehicles, like Killebrew’s van, were sold and the titles never conveyed.

Multiple agencies also confirm that the salesmen, Chambers, has a long criminal history that includes 2005 bust by the Tennessee Department of Revenue for tax fraud and filing false vehicle registrations.

Revenue officials would not comment on the investigation or specifics involving Chambers.

Killebrew's temporary tags expire this month.

The Department of Revenue said until it can get her title conveyed, it will work with her to get an emergency tag so she does not have to drive illegally.

An official with the company which legally owns her title, Dealer Services Corporation, said the same thing happened to four other people who also bought vehicles from Certified Auto Mart.

The official said his company is currently owed $50,000.

Source: http://wkrn.com