PASADENA, Texas – A Pasadena used car lot is the subject of a dozen civil lawsuits filed by customers who claim the dealership swindled them and lied about the quality of the vehicle they were buying.
Strawberry Road Auto Sales bills itself as “your trusted source for high-quality used cars, trucks and SUVs.”
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However, if you ask any of the customers now suing the car lot, you might hear a different story.
We came across the alleged fraudulent wrongdoing thanks to a tip to the Click2Houston.com Help Desk.
Alicia Butler reached out to KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding for help getting back a $1,500 down payment for a vehicle she never even got to see.
Used Car Salesman Arrested
When Goulding and Photojournalist Oscar Chavez went undercover to check out the car buying process and later identified themselves as journalists, the salesman invited them inside to meet the manager, David Estrada.
That’s when Estrada assaulted both Goulding and Chavez.
Pasadena Police arrested Estrada, charging him with assault. It’s only then we learned a warrant was just filed for his arrest after he allegedly stole nearly $145,000 from Fred Haas Nissan in Tomball during his time there as a finance manager.
History Of Bad Deals
Estrada’s current employer, Strawberry Road Auto Sales, doesn’t have a squeaky-clean record either.
According to court records obtained by KPRC 2 News, a dozen lawsuits have been filed against Strawberry Road Auto Sales in the last few years.
The most recent in June 2024.
They all have their own respective complaints, but most boil down to the same point - customers were lied to when they bought a vehicle.
Many of the victims say they were bullied, persuaded and pressured to buy extended warranties, all for vehicles that were junk from the starting line.
In the most recent lawsuit, the customer was asked to pay several thousand dollars for a down payment on a 2015 Kia Sportage that wasn’t even on the lot.
When it arrived, the lawsuit claims there was body damage, the windshield was cracked and the car wouldn’t drive faster than 60 miles per hour.
Another lawsuit claiming the internal components of the vehicle were tampered with and the car wasn’t safe to drive anymore.
It’s not just cars that don’t run right.
In a lawsuit filed in March 2023, the car lot is accused of rolling back the odometer or trying to erase miles from the car.
Each of these lawsuits claim Strawberry Road Auto Sales sold vehicles knowing there was something wrong and his the issues intentionally.
There’s More Than One Bad Apple
The problem isn’t just at their Pasadena location.
According to lawsuits and state records obtained by KPRC 2 News, there’s a sister car lot in the Mission Bend area - Koncept Motor Cars.
The business operates under a different name, but is a subsidiary of Strawberry Road Auto Sales, according to records.
The same accusations.
The same lies.
Vehicles are being sold to customers who would’ve never bought the vehicle in the first place if they knew it would immediately break down.
Just like Alicia Butler, whose message to the Click2Houston.com Help Desk, spurred this investigation.
Gage Goulding: “What would you like to see happen to that business?”
Alicia Butler: “They need to be closed down. They need to be shut down because you took my money.”
Of the dozen cases, only one has been dismissed. That’s because the victim and the business settled outside of court.
The remaining cases are pending.
