Automobile repairs can be a hassle to deal with, especially for those of us that aren't handy with a wrench. That being said, many car owners turn to a local auto repair shop to fix whatever mysterious clunk, hiss, or bump may be going on underneath the hood. Unfortunately for patrons of one California car shop, using Choice Auto Body was definitely the wrong choice.
Dong Suk Choi, 52, owned two Choice Auto Body locations that recently became the focus of investigations conducted by both the CDI Urban Auto Fraud Task Force and Farmers Insurance. According to the investigations, Farmers had been over-billed for repair costs on 20 of 28 inspected vehicles.
As it turned out, over-billing wasn't the only issue, and Choi was not working alone. Timothy Zen Powell worked for Choi as an auto body manager in Santa Clara, where the two men were allegedly using inferior parts -- or in some cases, old car parts that had been fixed -- to complete vehicle repairs. The bills that were sent to Farmers, however, were for brand-new parts. Not only did Farmers get defrauded, but so did the customers who had the work done, as the parts used in the vehicles may have been compromised.
Choi and Powell were both arrested on July 1, and were charged with multiple counts of auto insurance fraud. The total cost to Farmers was estimated at $15,000. Perhaps some comfort can be taken in that the bail for each of the men is nearly triple that at $50,000.
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