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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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This Is a Case for ‘Car Talk’

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (CN) - A used car dealer tried to cover up its sale of a Lexus with a dead animal in the air-conditioner by stuffing dryer sheets in the air vents, a woman claims in court.

Gwendolyn Suggs sued St. Louis Cars and Credit in Madison County Court.

Suggs says in the complaint that she paid the defendant $9,012 for a used 2001 Lexus RX 300 on Aug. 25, 2012.

That was a day or so after the car wouldn't start for a test drive, and the dealer told her it was a battery problem, Suggs says in the complaint. She says the dealer told her it would replace the battery and she could test drive it the next day.

When Suggs returned, she says, the car was already running. She claims the dealer had jump-started it without replacing the battery.

Two days later, she says, the car had mechanical problems, and she "noticed a foul odor being emitted from the air vents of the Lexus."

She took the car to Plaza Motor Company to be inspected on Sept. 11.

"(S)taff at Plaza Motors informed plaintiff that, at a previous inspection a dead animal had been found in the A/C box of the Lexus and service had been denied," the complaint states. "Plaintiff also discovered that dryer sheets and been stuffed in the air vents of the Lexus to mask the smell."

She seeks more than $50,000 in damages for fraud and emotional distress.

She represented by Megan Gilbreth with the Blake Law Group in Belleville, Ill.

The complaint does not state what kind of dead animal it was.

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