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ENGLEWOOD, Co. — One day after Contact7 dug into dozens of claims against a local used car dealership, a former employee is bringing new allegations forward that The Sharpest Rides knew about problems with cars and sold them anyway.
“They sell it like if there was nothing wrong with it, knowing there’s something wrong with the vehicle,” Ruben Castillo told Contact7.
Castillo worked as a service technician at The Sharpest Rides for two years until the summer of 2018. He says he’s speaking out after seeing the story of Air Force veteran Brandon Horning and his experience with the dealership. Castillo is a veteran as well.
“Just get it in, get it out. The less we have to deal with the customer the better,” Castillo described.
“During your time as an employee, do you believe The Sharpest Rides sold people mechanically deficient or broken cars?” Denver7’s Jason Gruenauer asked.
“Yes,” Castillo replied. “More often than you would believe.”
Castillo went on to say that he and other technicians were instructed “multiple times” to take broken or mechanically deficient vehicles and send them out of the shop back to the lot to be sold.
He went on to claim that included clearing check engine lights in vehicles that had problems.
“Yes. Because I did it a few times,” he said.
Contact7 immediately took those accusations to the owner of The Sharpest Rides, Kevin Sharp.
“That’s all false there. Why would we even have a shop if that was the case?” he said over the phone.
“You’re saying he’s lying?” Gruenauer asked. “He is 100 percent (lying),” Sharp answered.
Since Tuesday’s story aired, Contact7 has received hundreds of comments on Facebook and at least a dozen calls and emails about The Sharpest Rides. That includes Chris Gemeinhardt, who bought a truck in June and has since spent $6,0000 on repairs.
“I’m gonna make sure I’m heard. And I’m gonna make sure no one else gets screwed out of a vehicle again. That's why I’m here and if they have a problem I’m sorry. You sold me a defective vehicle and now I have to pay for your stupidity,” he said.
During an interview earlier in the week, Sharpest Rides general manager Robert Lipp claimed the issue behind complaints is the fact that they sell pre-owned cars that occasionally break, and that the number of complaints was “congruent to the number of cars we sell.”
Contact7 asked if the dealership is doing anything wrong.
“We do business the right way. The dealership isn’t doing anything wrong,” he answered.
Contact7 included a link to that full interview as well as BBB complaints in the copy of Tuesday’s story.
