Examples

Internal Dealership Theft can occur in any department. No area of a dealership is safe. This page includes examples of criminal opportunities based on employee position in the dealership. 

Office Manager - Controller - Bookkeeper (This is the most common area of employee theft, accounting for over 50% of all cases studied)

Auto dealer bookkeeper sentenced for embezzlement, tax fraud - $436,000

Beginning in 2002, she began changing credit card charge amounts and corresponding work orders. She credited her own bank accounts and credit cards with the extra funds she charged to the company.

Bookkeeper gets prison term - $1,600,000

She was responsible for the floor plan, the line of credit the dealer used to buy vehicles. She admitted that between November 2005 and January 2007 she inflated the value of new and used cars, included vehicles that were never in inventory and falsified records. She also admitted she issued checks to herself by forging signatures of authorized signers, paying herself commissions to which she was not entitled, inflating her payroll checks by adding overtime and making false claims to the Internal Revenue Service for tax refunds.

Local woman charged with embezzlement - $500,000+

State police said the funds began to disappear in 2004 and the loss continued until January 2008. She was the dealer's business manager since 2001 and was responsible for making daily bank deposits. Police allege the employee deposited the cash into three separate accounts she maintained at the same bank branch.

Previous Employee Embezzled More Than 1/2 Million Dollars from Dealership

She started her own business and developed a partnership with the dealership who agreed to outsource their payroll to her business.  In this capacity, she was responsible for transferring money from the dealership account to a separate entity where employees had their personal accounts established.  While transferring funds from the corporate account to the personal accounts, she would transfer unauthorized funds into her personal account. 

Ex-worker admits to stealing - $200,000

One way she stole money was by intercepting wire transfers of money from General Motors to the dealership. She would then create phony records and otherwise doctor the dealership's financial records to conceal her theft.

Oklahoma Accountant Charged with Mail Fraud and Tax Evasion - $1,100,000

She has been charged with 21 counts of mailing checks to pay personal expenses. The indictment alleges that she disguised these personal payments as lien payments on automobiles that did not exist, that did not require lien pay-offs, or that had liens held by different banks.

Ex-auto dealership employee accused - $1,000,000+

She had been employed for about 15 years in an office position that allowed her access to the company’s finances. The embezzlement involved an elaborate scheme in which proceeds allegedly were funneled from the dealership into the woman’s personal accounts.

Former bookkeeper charged with theft - $140,000+

Prosecutors say that numerous forged checks and entries from May 2001 to March 2007 were discovered. The dealership's external accountant told investigators that in addition to the forged checks, she also used multiple entries and misdirected entries to access the additional funds.

The entries allegedly included dealer-to-dealer transactions and auction sales.

Woman admits stealing from auto dealer - $43,000+

She paid herself bonuses, commissions and extra vacation pay, according to court and police records. She gave herself discounts on the six cars she bought from the dealership. She transferred money from a company corporate account to make her car payments and marked her repair bills as paid and used the company credit card and forged signatures to cover up its use.

Dealership worker charged - $93,000

She had been keeping cash deposits and falsifying dealership bank statements by showing the stolen cash as “deposits in transit.” She later wrote out all the details for police. Apparently, she deposited all checks received but pocketed any cash that the dealership took in.

Embezzlement warrant sought against former Simms employee - $240,000

When the suspect retired, the bookkeeper who replaced her found several discrepancies in accounting. Cash sales had been recorded as credit card receivables, which were subsequently written off as an expense. The woman was questioned and couldn't explain why the cash was not deposited in their bank accounts and why it was improperly accounted in the records.

General Manager (The second most likely position to commit employee theft)

Former General Manager Sentenced On Charges Related to Theft of Dealership Funds - $900,000+

The indictment charged that he caused checks totaling $917,835 to be issued by the dealership to a bogus advertising company that he had created, falsely recording that the checks were written for marketing expenses.  Other false entries on the financial statement included inflated inventories of recreational vehicles, used cars, and contracts in transit, referring to sales listed as pending, but not yet completed.  Count Seven of the indictment charged that he deposited a dealership check in the account the controlled so that it could be cashed for his personal benefit.

A federal grand jury has indicted the former general manager of a car dealership - $835,000

He took the money from the dealership over a span of approximately eight months beginning last June, said the Chief Deputy District Attorney. He had the office manager cut checks from business accounts by saying they were authorized by two of the three necessary people.

GM Busted on Felony Theft Charges

The general manager and “top salesman,” worked together to steal money from customers. Allegedly, the pair revised customers’ paperwork in order to scoop their down payments. They were also accused of taking in trades, not paying them off and then pocketing the money.

Dealership uncovers alleged embezzlement plot - $500,000+

The men are accused of filing hundreds of vouchers for contract work that was never done. Each of the service orders was billed to a company which split the money from the dealership with the accused.

Car dealer charged with theft - unknown

The former GM has been indicted on 67 counts, including identity theft, theft of more than $500, theft of between $1,000 and $10,000, forgery of private documents and making a false entry into a public record. The charging document also alleges that he pocketed customers’ down payments.

Ex-manager sentenced for theft from car dealership - $250,000

Police said that from 2004 through 2007, he took cash payments for 173 used vehicles rather than turning over the money to his employers.

Sales Manager/Salesman/F&I

Area car salesman indicted for fraud - $6,800,000

According to court records, the employee would sell used cars to another dealer, who would pay for the vehicles by check. According to the indictment, the dealer wrote checks totaling about $6.8 million to the employee, knowing that he was keeping "all or a portion of the proceeds."

Former dealership manager arrested for theft - $365,000

Cash deposits from customers were often missing and replaced with personal checks from other customers who had purchased vehicles at the dealership. He was also issuing additional temporary vehicle registrations to customers whose deposits were missing.

Former sales manager charged with scam

He would make up a false name and turn in the forms for customers who had no referral. He would then claim the money and deposit the check into his personal bank account, records state. Police say he repeated this process 66 times.

Women accused of stealing $1 million from dealership

She was responsible for writing checks to customers who traded in their old vehicles and keeping a log of the transactions. Between June 19, 2000, and Aug. 13, 2007, she is accused of writing 144 fraudulent checks. She is accused of writing the checks to her sister-in-law or her now-deceased husband.

Service Manager/Parts Manager/Body Shop

Ex-worker accused of theft from Naperville Audi dealership - $400,000+

The former service manager is accused of creating fraudulent invoices and then crediting his own personal credit cards and bank account with the stolen money.

Were eBay auto parts stolen items? - $283,000

The comptroller noticed that the parts manager was creating several fictitious “part tickets,” or orders, for local auto body shops. He would write another employee's name on the tickets — an employee who had already clocked out for the day. He later canceled the orders so the auto body shops weren't actually billed. He would help unload the factory delivery trucks and had workers create a separate pile for parts he intended to sell himself.

Car dealership employee accused of stealing money

He is accused of stealing by faking the return of car parts. The employee would make it look like a customer returned a car part after having paid for it in cash.

Woman who worked at car dealership headed to trial on embezzlement charges - $100,000+

Through an internal audit, the dealership found that checks from insurance companies were not deposited appropriately. There were discrepancies with deductible checks or total checks for insurance, the detective said.

Man charged with theft from car dealer - $130,000

The theft was discovered when the suspect ordered two transmissions and didn't follow proper protocol, authorities said. Management went back through company records and found $130,000 in missing vehicle parts.

Salem man arrested on identity theft - $200,000

The former service manager misappropriated $200,000 from the dealer by charging a credit card, withdrawing money from a bank account and by opening up a new credit card under the dealer’s name.

Other

CFO - Company Manager Charged In Embezzlement - $500,000+

The 106 grand-theft charges are for each check he wrote that totaled more than a half-million dollars from the dealership. He would write checks for petty cash - mostly for $1,000 or more - and pocket the money. He also would add on to a bonus checks for employees; for example, he would add $2,000 to a $40,000 bonus check and keep the extra.