Officials Accuse Car Dealership of Fraud

Nearly 200 people who bought cars from a troubled Oxnard dealership may have been cheated out of about $200,000 by the company, which closed its doors under pressure, authorities said Tuesday.

Ken Rawlinson, acting supervisor for the state Department of Motor Vehicles’ investigation division in Ventura, said Royal Carriage Buick-GMC may be responsible for one of the worst cases of consumer fraud ever committed by a dealership in the county.

Investigators seized documents from the dealership Dec. 13 that disclosed that 144 car owners were out between $400 and $1,200 because they didn’t receive the extended warranties they had purchased, Rawlinson said.

The search also revealed that an additional 30 owners were facing loan payments on two vehicles because the dealership failed to pay off existing loans averaging $2,000 on their trade-in vehicles, he said.

“We were ready to shut it down,” said Rawlinson, when Royal Carriage, through its attorney, agreed to surrender its dealership license Friday.

Rawlinson said his office is continuing its criminal investigation of the dealership. “We feel we have sufficient information to file with the district attorney’s office,” he said.

Robert Zocco, owner and manager of the dealership, is believed to have returned to Michigan last week. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

All vehicles, except for one apparently in for service, have been removed from the dealership at 2121 N. Oxnard Blvd., presumably by General Motors Acceptance Corp., Rawlinson said. GMAC offices in Los Angeles were closed Tuesday.

Buick spokeswoman Helen Hutchings said that franchises are individually owned and operated, and that the company would only back service warranty plans issued by General Motors.

The Oxnard showroom was empty Tuesday except for a Christmas tree with packages under it. Although all doors were locked and it appeared that no one was there, radio music was playing through speakers outside the building. No one answered telephones.

Rawlinson said his office received calls this week from owners who said that they had taken their vehicles in for servicing and that they were now missing. Others, such as Sharon Collins of Oxnard, have been contacting the office in hopes of getting their money back.

When Collins shelled out $19,714 for her new Buick Century in July, the purchase price included a $911 extended warranty, she said. However, Royal Carriage failed to pay the premium for the extended coverage, she said. Now she’s out the money.

“I’m angry--I’ve been cheated,” said Collins, an engineering technician. “I possibly won’t ever buy another Buick.”

She said she received a letter from Western General Insurance Co. in Encino in November informing her that she had no extended warranty because Royal Carriage had failed to pay the premium.

Zocco told her, she said, that it would be straightened out within 10 days and that she would have the coverage for seven years or 75,000 miles.

“The next thing I read is that the company closed,” she said.

Earlier this year, the dealership was ordered to close for six days for failing to pay $150,000 in sales taxes to the state Board of Equalization and for failing to pay administrative fees to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Rawlinson said.

Because of the findings from the Dec. 13 search, the department took steps to permanently close the dealership, he said. But the business license was surrendered before that action was taken, Rawlinson said. Except for a skeleton crew of about eight, the dealership’s employees had been laid off by last week.

Recent employees could not be reached for comment. However, Greg Myers, who worked as the dealership’s sales manager from January to May, said the company had failed to pay health insurance premiums for its employees after October, 1990.

Myers found that he had no health insurance when his daughter was born, and he won an $8,000 judgment against Zocco Dec. 3, he said, after filing a claim through the California Labor Relations Board. He has not received the money, he said.