DMV Accuses State’s Largest Chevy Dealer of Defrauding Buyers

California’s largest Chevrolet dealership was accused of overcharging more than 1,500 buyers of new and used cars in what state officials say was one of the largest cases of dealer fraud they have investigated in recent years.

Gunderson Chevrolet of El Monte denied most of the allegations, adding that two “rogue employees� resigned last May after being confronted. Customers involved in deals with those employees have since been contacted and “several dozen� have been reimbursed, a dealership spokesman said Monday.

The allegations, involving 1,600 vehicles and 1,558 customers, represent “the largest dealer fraud case in the past few years in California,� according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles in a news release.

Alleged instances of overcharging included adding more than $400 to a car’s price for etching vehicle ID numbers on windshields--a feature that was offered to some customers for free and cost the dealership only $29, according to the DMV.

Other allegations involve odometer fraud, forgery, selling used vehicles as new, misrepresenting loan payments and interest rates, failing to disclose that vehicles had been rental cars, and charging customers for services and equipment never provided.

“This is one of the most egregious so far as far as the number of fraud cases,� said Kelly Shintaku, staff counsel for the DMV.

Gunderson has been owned by AutoNation of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., since 1998. AutoNation spokesman Jim Donahue said Monday that “two rogue employees acting for their own benefit� were forced to resign after the allegations surfaced.

The dealership could lose its license pending an April 29 administrative hearing. But Donahue said AutoNation is vigorously disputing some of the allegations and has been in settlement talks since October.

Neither the DMV nor AutoNation would provide sales figures for Gunderson but both said it was the largest Chevrolet dealer in the state.