CONSUMERS FOR AUTO RELIABILITY AND SAFETY

"Biddulph Chevrolet of Santa Rosa will pay $112,000 and have its license suspended for two days in a settlement with the state over allegations the company circumvented state 'lemon laws' by reselling cars without revealing their past repair problems.

The DMV accused the dealership of buying back new cars and trucks from the original customers, then selling them again without telling the next buyer about the vehicles' past history as required by the law. The state claimed Biddulph resold seven vehicles, the most of the GM dealerships under investigation from 1987 to 1991.

The Biddulph customer who prompted the investigation expressed satisfaction when told of the settlement. 'We must hold these people accountable,' said Gayle Pena. 'If we continue to hold them accountable, they will not continue to do this.'

Pena and her husband, Greg, bought a 6-month-old Suburban from Biddulph for $22,000 in June 1990. They didn't know another dealership already had replaced the Suburban's suspension system, brakes, struts, and wheels before the vehicle ended up at Biddulph.

A long list of problems developed after the couple bought the vehicle. Gayle and Greg, who now live out of state, said the Suburban's brakes failed once while pulling a trailer back from Lake Tahoe on Highway 50, endangering their lives.

'This vehicle had done everything but turn yellow, grow leaves and spit juice in their faces,' said Rosemary Shahan of the consumer group, the CARS Foundation, in Sacramento. 'We're talking brakes. We're talking safety' "

– Santa Rosa Press Democrat, November 23, 1994

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