Car buyers struggle with former dealership

Although the Cloquet Ford Chrysler Center is no longer, a lot of people have unfinished business with the former car dealership.

Cloquet police chief Derek Randall confirmed Tuesday that his office has received 14 complaints since June from people who bought vehicles from Cloquet Ford.

"They're all somewhat similar," Randall said, reading through a list of issues. "People trading in vehicles and the business didn't pay off the loans. Paid for a vehicle, didn't receive the registration or the title. ... This person put money down for a vehicle they weren't able to provide for them and they refunded the downpayment with a check that bounced. This person sold a vehicle to Cloquet Ford and they wrote him a $46,000 check that bounced." The list goes on, including at least one person who is now making loan payments on a new vehicle and the one they traded in, even though they don't have it anymore.

As the number of complaints mounted, Randall decided it was time to alert the public, and sent out a police advisory Tuesday morning.

Randall said it's uncommon for his department to get involved with financial issues, so they are investigating and working with the state. They're still in the investigation phase, he stressed, adding that he doesn't know if it's a criminal

investigation yet.

They would like to talk to anyone who's had issues, so they can collect as much information as possible. He stressed that they've had no complaints about Wood City Motors, just the former business operating at the same 701 Washington Avenue address in Cloquet.

It's a complicated mess, for several reasons:

1. The buyers who dealt with Cloquet Ford Chrysler have no physical place to take their issues, because the business sold its Ford and Chrysler franchise, lease and furnishings to the Duluth-based car dealership group Evergreen, which owns dealerships in the Twin Ports and across the region, on Aug. 30. Evergreen reopened the business as Wood City Motors. The new owners stress that they have no ownership ties to the previous dealership and did not "assume any of its previous business obligations."

2. Two of the three former owners of Cloquet Ford Chrysler Center, Al and Reneé Birman, filed for bankruptcy after moving to Texas last year and selling their home at 1 Park Place in Cloquet for $527,000 in November 2020. A state bankruptcy filing in July of this year shows the Birmans, who took over Cloquet Motors in 2008 with partner Mike Larson, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 9. Their assets are listed at $47,455 with liabilities of more than $3.7 million.

3. Larson had moved out of his silent-partner role and taken over running the business in the spring of 2020, telling a Pine Knot News reporter that July that he was "trying to get things to a more stable structure." Larson did not respond to a PKN voicemail message on Wednesday.

Shock at the DMV

Moose Lake's Heidi Gustavson was thrilled with her purchase of a 2014 Ford Escape on July 9 of this year. It was her first time going to a larger dealer, and her salesman Elias Lund was very nice and she got a great deal on her car, which had been traded in three days before with fewer than 50,000 miles and only one owner. She specifically wanted an Escape, and it was a bargain compared to buying new. After waiting for the SUV to be cleaned and serviced, she drove it home and had no problems.

Until August rolled around and she realized her tabs were due. She went to the DMV in Moose Lake with her vehicle identification number (VIN) to purchase new ones.

"That's when they told me the vehicle was not in my name," she said. "And they couldn't give me tabs for a vehicle I didn't own."

Gustavson called what was now Wood City Motors. Same site, new business. The first time she reached out, a woman told her they were working their way through a stack of titles on the desk. When she called back a week later, the man who answered said they'd turned all the titles over to the former owner and were not handling those, assuring her they would honor her extended warranty, however.

Gustavson reached out to Members Cooperative Credit Union, which had given her the vehicle loan, and her loan officer went to the DMV with her. It didn't matter.

"I was in a state, there were tears," she told the Pine Knot News. "What do you mean, I've made payments, I have full insurance coverage, but you still can't give me tabs?"

Next, Gustavson contacted the Minnesota attorney general's office, where they told her to file a complaint, which she did online Sept. 13. She found out the former owners had filed for bankruptcy there. They also gave her the number for the Minnesota Dealer Unit in the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Ultimately, someone from the attorney general's office helped Gustavson get her tabs, by walking both her and the DMV rep through the correct process over the phone.

In the meantime, Gustavson had left numerous messages for Mike Larson, the owner when she bought her Ford Escape.

"He called me and said he had received all the titles and he was going to the DMV to get those taken care of," Gustavson said, "That was a month ago and I haven't heard back since then."

Report problems

Anyone who has experienced title, registration or other financial issues with the former Cloquet Ford Chrysler Center is encouraged to email all documents related to the acquisition of the vehicle to the state of Minnesota vehicle crimes unit at [email protected]. Include photos of both sides and the front and back of the vehicle, along with the VIN plate in the dash by the windshield. Find out more at http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/Auto/Default.asp.

Want to talk to a person? Call the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Driver and Vehicle Services Division, Dealer Unit at 651-201-7800.

According to information in Better Business Bureau files, consumers with concerns or unfinished business with the former dealership (aka Cloquet Motors) may contact the attorneys for the business at Ledin, Olson & Cockerham, S.C., Attn: Steve Olson, Attorney at Law, 1109 Tower Ave., Superior WI 54880, or call 715-394-4471.

A Wood City Motors rep provided a letter they are giving to people with complaints about Cloquet Ford Chrysler Center, which encourages people to contact former general manager Scott Kranz at 515-302-1073, or owner Mike Larson at 218-390-1210 or [email protected].