Suzuki Auto Plex surrenders license

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BY RICHARD PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star

Suzuki Auto Plex,  6401 N. 28th St., has surrendered its license to operate as a new-vehicle dealer in Nebraska, and the licenses of its staff, but the owner can continue to operate his used-vehicle dealership, according to the state agency that regulates those dealers.

Chadron Gutschow told William Jackson, executive director of the Motor Vehicle Industry Licensing Board, that he has sold the new-vehicle dealership to his father, Terry Gutschow, who will have to relicense it separately, Jackson said.

The board canceled a hearing it was to have conducted Thursday on civil license violations the board accused the new-vehicle dealership, formally known as Auto Plex of Lincoln, LLC,  of committing .

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Chad Gutschow

Chad Gutschow

Jackson advised the dealership in February that it would be monitored because of numerous consumer complaints.

 The dealership failed to modify business practices that violated the law, according to a notice of hearing issued by the board.

Those violations included several failures to supply titles to new owners of vehicles and of failing to pay off loans on trade-in vehicles in a timely way. 

 In a separate example of a “deceptive trade practice,” the board said a Lincoln customer, Andrew Sutter, was charged twice for a warranty service contract and charged for life and disability insurance he did not request. It took more than a year for Sutter to get his $3,393 back, the notice said.

“There are not less than 10  separate violations of law...all committed by the Defendant,” the notice said. Each was grounds for suspension, revocation or a fine, the board’s notice said.

Gutschow and his attorney, Bob Creager, concluded the best course of action would be to surrender the license, Jackson said, and they did so Tuesday.

In the dealer’s formal answer to the board’s accusations, received by the board on Monday, the dealership generally admitted the allegations.

It also said the “financial institution that provided the inventory financing ... has ceased regular business operations and will no longer advance funds to any borrower, including the Defendant.”

That lender was not identified in the document, but Jackson said he understood it was a California institution.   The financing issue caused the dealer to be unable to clear liens and otherwise get titles to vehicles sold to its customers within the time period allowed by law, the document explained. 

Auto Plex tried to get a substitute lender but was unable to do so, Creager wrote in the document. 

So Auto Plex of Lincoln LLC  signed a contract to sell and contemplates the new dealer will assume regular business operations under a new license, the document said.

That buyer was not identified in the document but Jackson said the younger Gutschow told him it was his father, Terry.

Neither the Gutschows nor Creager could be reached for comment.  

The economy appears to be at least a contributing factor of this licensing trouble and the surrender of a used-car license by an Omaha dealer this week, Jackson said.

“Hopefully we’re not on a slippery slope where we’re going into several of these this year,” Jackson said.  “Let’s hope the economy stays strong enough that dealers can stay in business.”

Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com