Man Buys Car At Dealership. Then He Discovers He Has A Loan Out On A Car He Didn’t Even Realize He Owned: 'This Is Crazy, Right?'

A car dealer says a customer walked into his dealership trying to buy a vehicle, only to discover another dealership had apparently left him with an auto loan he didn’t even know existed.

The TikTok account for KMA Auto (@kmaauto1) shared the story in a recent video. A salesperson said he’d been in the car business for about a year and had "never seen" anything like it before.

According to the Marietta, Ohio-based dealer, the customer came in hoping to get approved for financing. But when the dealership submitted his information to the bank, it discovered the man already had an active auto loan on his credit profile.

When employees asked about it, the customer explained he had recently visited another dealership and bought a car that broke down shortly after he drove it off the lot. He says he returned the vehicle to the dealership afterward.

"Evidently, that dealership never called the bank and told them that he didn’t buy this car," the KMA Auto dealer recounts in the video.

As a result, the customer still had the loan showing up on his credit report "that he didn’t even know was there," according to the dealer.

The salesperson says he worked with the bank to resolve the issue, but the customer still couldn’t be approved initially because his debt-to-income ratio (DTI) was too high.

That’s when, according to the dealer, they uncovered another issue tied to the customer’s previous loan application: The dealership had allegedly inflated the man’s income "by almost double" to get him approved, KMA Auto claims.

Ultimately, the dealer says he worked with both the lender and the customer to straighten everything out and helped the man leave in a new vehicle.

"Have you ever [run] into anything like this?" he asks viewers. "This is crazy, right?"

When Financing Goes Wrong

What the dealer described in the video would likely fall under auto loan application fraud if someone knowingly inflated the customer’s income on the paperwork submitted to the bank.

According to Experian, lenders use income, debt, credit score, and repayment history to determine whether someone qualifies for financing and the level of risk they pose as a borrower. If a dealership reports an income figure that is significantly higher than a customer actually earns, it can artificially improve the odds of loan approval.

That can create major problems for the buyer later, too, especially if they can’t realistically afford the loan payments.

The other issue described in the video—where the customer allegedly returned a broken-down car but still had an active loan on his credit report—is not too uncommon and can occur if financing paperwork is never properly canceled with the lender after a deal falls through. In some cases, banks may still show the loan as active until the dealership formally unwinds the transaction.

The situation described in the video also highlights how messy things can become when financing paperwork is not properly canceled after a deal falls apart. If a dealership never formally unwinds a transaction with the lender, a loan can sometimes remain on a customer’s credit report even after the car has been returned.

If you believe a dealer submitted incorrect information on their loan application, try contacting the lender directly to resolve the issue. And if that’s not enough, you can also raise concerns with dealership management or file legal complaints.

Issues tied to an auto loan can follow you long after they leave the dealership because that loan becomes part of your credit history. A problem that goes unfixed can make it harder to qualify for another car loan down the line.

Viewers Express Shock

Commenters who watched KMA Auto’s video sounded just as stunned as the dealer was by the customer’s loan situation.

"Thankfully, it was only a couple of weeks and didn’t destroy his credit! Sounds like a lazy finance manager never called the bank to let them know he bought it back," one woman speculated.

KMA Auto responded directly underneath the comment, writing, "I couldn’t believe it."

At least one other viewer said the allegations about the previous dealership weren’t exactly a shock.

"That doesn’t surprise me," they wrote.

Some commenters used the video as an opportunity to offer advice on avoiding financing headaches altogether—or at least to explain the approach they personally prefer when buying cars.

"PAY CASH ...NO INTEREST NO FULL [COVERAGE] INSURANCE YEP IF YOU [TOTAL THE] CAR AND IT’S YOUR FAULT YOU LOSE BUT THAT’S WHAT WORK’S FOR," one person commented.

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Another viewer appeared grateful that the dealership in the video ultimately helped the customer straighten things out, replying with a string of prayer emojis.

Motor1 has reached out to KMA Auto via voicemail and direct message on TikTok. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

 

 

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