A Carterville used car dealer remains closed for business.
The Secretary of State’s Office shut down RTO Auto Sales two weeks ago for failing to process car title applications. Agency spokesman Henry Haupt says Secretary of State Police personnel have been on site this week trying to resolve the issue. Haupt says RTO Auto Sales will be shut down indefinitely while the Secretary of State’s Office works to straighten out the missing vehicle registrations.
In the meantime, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a deceptive sales practice lawsuit against RTO Auto Sales and its owner Kevin Darnell on May first. According to the lawsuit, Darnell allegedly failed to make the promised repairs and refused to refund consumers who had purchased faulty vehicles. Madigan's suit also alleges Darnell promised but failed to pay off at least one consumer's loan on a trade-in vehicle, and in some cases, failed to remit costs for license plates, titles and sales taxes. The Attorney General's office received nine complaints against Darnell and RTO Auto, with area customers reporting from $500 to nearly $3,500 in losses. Madigan's lawsuit asks the court to enter a permanent injunction against the dealership. The complaint also asks the court to order Darnell and RTO Auto to pay restitution to consumers, a $50,000 civil penalty, an additional $50,000 penalty for each violation of the Consumer Fraud Act.
A status conference is scheduled for November.
