- A Memphis woman tracked her sedan leaving the dealership via GPS alerts.
- The vehicle was located at two bars before being found in a parking lot.
- Police identified a dealership employee tied to the car and made an arrest.
Plenty of us drop our cars off for service on a semi-regular basis, trusting they’ll be handled with care and professionalism. Implicit in that exchange is the understanding that no one at the dealership will treat a customer’s car like a personal runabout. Evidently, one woman in Memphis should’ve clarified that when she dropped her C300 off at a Mercedes dealership.
Kimberly Porter says her C300 was towed to a Mercedes dealership after developing issues she believes were caused by bad fuel. She said the trouble began in the second week of December, when the car started idling on the interstate shortly after a fill-up. A month later, on January 16, the vehicle was still at the dealer. Then, late on a Friday night, her phone lit up.
Read: Dealer Employee Crashes Customer’s New Ford Ranger Raptor During Pre-Delivery Joyride
According to Porter, the GPS tracker in her car showed it leaving the dealership around 6 p.m. She initially suspected a glitch, but a second alert confirmed the vehicle was moving. It later appeared at J. Alexander’s restaurant in Cordova, a suburb of Memphis, before moving again after midnight to a TJ Mulligan’s location.
At that point, Porter got into the loaner vehicle provided by the dealer and drove there herself. Her C-Class was sitting in the parking lot.
Who Was Driving The Car?
Using a spare key, she unlocked the car and called the police, initially believing it had been stolen. Instead, officers reportedly found a coat inside with identification belonging to Derrick Nguyen, an employee at the dealership. Porter said one of the officers recognized the name and confirmed he worked at Mercedes. Police then brought Nguyen out of the bar in handcuffs.
Nguyen reportedly told officers he had permission to use the car, but Porter says the dealership’s service manager denied that claim. According to WREG, Nguyen was arrested and charged with theft of property. Court records also reportedly stated that he appeared intoxicated when taken into custody.
Porter has since filed a civil suit against Nguyen and Mercedes-Benz of Collierville. She also alleges that a dealership executive asked her to drop the charges, describing Nguyen as “a really good kid.”
She further claims the dealership later pressured her to return the loaner vehicle quickly, warning it could be reported stolen if not brought back. “They literally told me, ‘If you don’t have our loaner vehicle back here by 6 o’clock, we’ll report it stolen,’” she told the news station.
Regardless of how the case unfolds, the situation serves as a pointed reminder to be mindful about who we trust with our vehicles.
