A Utah man had a very creative way of dealing with allegedly being sold—in his words—a “lemon” by a local car dealership in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. But dealership management has a very different side of the story.
The man, identified as 35-year-old Michael Lee Murray, reportedly purchased a used Subaru Outback from Tim Dahle Mazda Southtowne car dealership in Sandy, UT for $4,000 on Monday morning. But hours later, he drove the vehicle right through the dealership’s front window after apparently discovering mechanical issues with the car and at least initially, being denied a refund.
Tyler Slade, a platform manager at the dealership, admitted that the car was being sold “as is” and needed work, but says that they were up front with Murray when he bought it. Yet, when the customer became irate and threatened to drive the vehicle into the dealership, Slade says they tried to rectify the situation by refunding his money or offering him a different car. But he wasn’t having it.
“We’re like, ‘Woah, we don’t need to do that.’ Sit down, we can figure this out, we can find a solution,” Slade told Fox 13 News. “We were very clear about the fact that this car is not retail. It’s gonna need more inspecting and some work.”
“In this situation, the customer needed the car, it fit his limited budget. And in our mind we’re doing him a favor,” he explained.
The dealership was at least somewhat prepared for the incident after Murray stormed out and began to rev up the Outback, seemingly making good on his promise. There were about seven salesmen near the front door but thankfully no one was injured. However, the damage to the dealership is estimated at about $10,000.
“I was actually just outside the building, but the noise, you can imagine, was a big bang and a lot of scrambling employees and there was a lot of shuffling going on the last minute before the customer rammed through the front door,” Slade added.
For his part, Murray was arrested and booked into jail. He now faces charges of felony criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. And presumably, he definitely won’t be getting a refund on the car, which now has worse problems than it did before.
