A Utah man apparently upset with a car he just bought drove it through the front doors of the dealership to return it (see video below) when he was denied a refund on Monday.
After smashing the vehicle through the glass doors of the dealership, the man, Michael Lee Murray, 35, told the employees inside, “I warned you huh? I told you motherf***er,” before walking away.
He had allegedly told staff at the dealership he would drive the car through the front doors if they didn’t let him return it.
Murray was arrested later that day on suspicion of of felony criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
Happens In Wyoming, Too
A few of the Wyoming car dealers that Cowboy State Daily spoke with said this kind of extreme buyer’s remorse is something they’ve also experienced.
Cheyenne car dealer Dallas Tyrrell said he’ll never forget the amount of blood pooled around his Tyrrell Chevrolet car dealership around 10 years ago when he came in for work.
“When I arrived that day I was sick to my stomach looking at all the blood,” Tyrrell said.
A woman who had test-driven a new $90,000 Chevy Silverado the previous day claimed she had lost the keys upon returning from test driving the vehicle.
She broke into the dealership later that night, aiming to steal the truck, and cut herself on the window trying to get into the building, resulting in the mass pool of blood.
“The police did not think that they were alive when they saw how much blood was all over the dealership,” Tyrrell said.
The woman used the keys she had kept from the test drive to start the Silverado. She then drove it through the garage and security gate to get out, all the while with her small child in-tow, who also came along for the test drive.
“It looked like a bomb had gone off in the side of the building,” Tyrrell said.
The woman, a state of Wyoming employee at the time, smashed and totaled the truck into a rock at nearby Vedauwoo Campground near Buford.
Evidence Stacks Up
A test of the blood left at the dealership found meth in her system. The woman had left her cellphone at the scene of the crime, which contained in great deal information on her plans to try and pull off the heist.
“The reason the police found her so quickly was because she left her cellphone at the scene with all her plans elaborated in the phone,” Tyrrell said.
Tyrrell said about $150,000 in total damage was caused as a result of the incident. The dealership still receives about $12 per month restitution from the woman.
“At this rate she’ll need to live to be 1,000, and we’ll get our money back,” Tyrrell said.
Hand Grenade
Cheyenne City Council member Scott Roybal was a longtime car salesman until retiring from Halladay Motors about six months ago.
He said people would try to return cars that they had purchased about once a month throughout his career.
“My idea of hell is seeing everybody I sold a car to yesterday on their way back in through the front door,” Roybal said.
Roybal said there was a customer who had a service issue at Cowboy Dodge in Cheyenne about 20 years ago that attempted to get a refund. When the customer was told they couldn’t get a refund, the disgruntled buyer threw a fake hand grenade at the front window of the dealership, although most of the people inside had no idea it was fake.
“The way they told the story the next day, there was some people moving (for cover),” he said.
Why Can’t You Return?
When asked why he wanted to return the car, Murray, the Utah man, told police the dealership "sold him a lemon” and would not give him his money back.
Tyrrell and Roybal said in most circumstances in Wyoming, whenever you buy a car from a dealership, the sale is immediately considered final and the vehicle “as-is” unless some form of trade is performed.
“Once you buy a vehicle, the minute you sign papers, it’s a done deal,” Roybal said.
The main reason for the no-returns policy, Tyrrell explained, is because of the significant depreciation that occurs to a vehicle as soon as you drive it off the lot.
“A vehicle only has a certain amount of life to it and it’s a depreciating asset,” Tyrrell said. “Every owner and every switch, it goes into the vehicle.”
Another complication, Roybal said, is that the dealership would have to pay the taxes back if they were to buy back a vehicle from a customer.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
