A father and daughter from Taylor bought a Volvo at Santo Volvo three years ago believing they got a great deal.
Now they believe they got a raw deal.
An eye-catching, cherry red Volvo. Sarkis Tulaney thought it would be the perfect car for his daughter, Brittany, when they saw it on the lot at Santo Volvo in Moosic three years ago so they bought it.
Months later, doctors diagnosed Brittany with an illness limiting her ability to drive and work.
She didn't need the car and Sarkis Tulaney went back to the dealership hoping president Greg Santo would it buy back.
"He has this paper and says, 'I'm not buying this car.' I said, 'Why not?' He says,'This car's been wrecked.' I said, 'Greg, my daughter's never been in a wreck. She lives at home. If she were in an accident, I would have known about it,'" Tulaney recounted.
He got his own vehicle history report.
Sure enough, the Volvo bought as new had been in a wreck six months before the Tulaneys bought it.
"As soon as I took it to a body shop, he said, 'This car was whacked,'" Tulaney said. "The paint primer was gray, and you could see where they put wrenches on it, and they didn't put everything together the right way."
Then the Tulaney's obtained the police report of the accident on North Main Avenue in Scranton. The man driving the Volvo and arrested and later convicted of drunk driving and marijuana possession was Michael Curtis.
The same Michael Curtis was a salesman at Santo Volvo, and he sold the car to the Tulaneys claiming it was new.
"It was fraud. He fraudulently sold us the car," Tulaney added.
"I would never in a million years bought the car in the first place, let alone pay the price he was asking. No way," said Brittany Tulaney.
WNEP tried to get a comment from owner Greg Santo, but he wouldn't see us. WNEP does have evidence that Santo admits his dealership sold Brittany and Sarkis Tulaney a car that was wrecked as new.
In a letter to the state attorney general's office, which was trying to mediate the case, Santo wrote, "One of our employees was involved in an accident and we did repair it."
Sarkis and Brittany Tulaney feel cheated. They plan to sue the Santo dealership in Moosic.
"I want justice from this. I don't want to see this happen to anybody else," Brittany Tulaney said.
In a statement to WNEP, Volvo North America wrote, "We do not condone a retailer selling a used car as new."
It is against the law in Pennsylvania to sell a car that had been in a wreck as new. Since the salesman wrecked the Volvo, then the dealership repaired it at the service department and sold to the Tulaneys without telling them about the accident, they want the dealership prosecuted.