Scamsters preying on military families
Tens of thousands of California motorists are taken in every year by scam artists at repair garages and dealerships. Anyone can be a victim, but most of the time the scams are targeted at those who are most vulnerable: the elderly, minorities and inexperienced consumers.
But another group of victims is particularly vulnerable now during the war in Iraq: military families. Military men and women are singled out near bases all over the country for fraudulent car repairs and unfair lending practices, according to consumer groups and military assistance organizations.
The problem affects many thousands of Southern California families at Navy, Marine, Air Force and joint services installations. Despite base closures over the last decade, the region continues to have a massive military presence.
Operating just outside the gates of major bases, some car repair shops and dealerships prey on military families, particularly when a husband has been shipped out of the country, said Karen Varcoe, a consumer economics specialist at UC Riverside who has written academic studies on the financial problems of military personnel.
Too often, the spouse left behind lacks a sophisticated understanding of car repair and becomes an easy target for a dishonest shop. Many enlisted men fix their own cars on bases, but when they leave for a mission, the responsibility for keeping up the family car falls to their wives, Varcoe said.
“The problem is summed up by many of the wives who say, ‘The minute he leaves, everything breaks,’ which isn’t always true but that’s the perception,” she said.
The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, an Arlington, Va., nonprofit charity that assists families in financial trouble, said the single biggest financial problem military families face involves car issues. The charity provides nearly $10 million in car repair assistance to families and individuals in the military each year, its largest category of assistance, said spokesman John Alexander. Because of continuing concerns about repair fraud, the group requires recipients to obtain two repair estimates before assistance is provided.
The problems do not involve just car repair, but the lending industry that’s aligned with car sales.
Predatory car lenders routinely set up near bases, Alexander said, offering so-called title loans that require car owners to hand over the vehicle title and car keys as security on a high-interest loan.
If one payment is missed, a repo man is promptly sent to confiscate the vehicle.
“They come to your home and drive your car away,” Alexander said. “Then, the same person who runs the title loan company also runs a used car lot.”
Title loans are outlawed in California, but each year the lending industry tries to get language inserted in bills that would allow the practice, said Rosemary Shahan, executive director of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, an advocacy group in Sacramento.
“It is basically legalized theft,” Shahan said. “Florida outlawed it in recent years, but only after Navy brass got after the state.”
Crooked dealers and repair garages are exceptions in the industry, Shahan said.
But a study she conducted of new and used dealerships and independent garages in the San Diego area, which ranks among the largest Navy centers in the nation, showed that some of them had extensive litigation records involving military personnel.
“Not all of them take advantage of military people,” she said. “Some of them are pretty clean and are hardly ever sued. Then, others spend all their time in court.”
Shahan noted that low military pay seldom allows families to have newer cars. The first question a deployed soldier often asks when he calls home is, “Is the car still running?” Shahan said.
Chris Green, who served at Camp Pendleton as a judge advocate general, fought hard to protect Marines at the base from lending, purchasing and repair scams.
“I saw all kinds of rip-offs directed at Marines,” said Green, who recently was recalled from the reserves and now is on active duty.
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Ralph Vartabedian cannot answer mail personally but responds in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Please do not telephone. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com.
