A man who bought his dream Mercedes-Benz from an Ohio Cadillac dealership says he lost the car just two years later. The problem wasn’t his payments, but a $106,000 debt that reportedly belonged to the previous owner.
Mark Moore purchased the used Mercedes from Central Cadillac in Cleveland in January 2024. According to his Facebook post, he saved up for the car and even booked a one-way flight to Ohio to pick it up.
Moore handed over a $30,000 cashier’s check and borrowed another $58,931.87 through the dealership’s recommended bank. For the next two years, he kept the Mercedes registered, took it in for service and made every payment.
On March 31, 2026, the Mercedes was gone from his driveway. He found out Mercedes-Benz Financial Services had repossessed it because someone else still owed money on the car.
Mercedes Repossessed Despite Buyer Making Every Payment
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Moore said the previous owner still owed Mercedes-Benz Financial Services $106,000. Somehow, the car had made its way to Central Cadillac with a title that appeared to show no outstanding lien.
In his Facebook post, Moore said the vehicle was still registered under the previous owner’s name when it was repossessed. “I had done nothing wrong. I had cut no corners. I had missed no payments,” he wrote.
The repossession left Moore without his Mercedes, but he still had the loan from his original purchase. He said he continued making payments for another six months while his attorneys tried to work something out with the dealership.
Cadillac Dealership Says It Was Scammed Too
Central Cadillac has a different explanation for how the Mercedes ended up on its lot. General Manager Christopher Studor told WKYC Channel 3 that the dealership bought the vehicle from another dealer in Bedford, Ohio. The title showed no outstanding lien when they bought it, Studor said.
He also said the Mercedes later turned out to be linked to a suspected vehicle-theft ring under investigation by federal agents. Studor said earlier owners had moved the car in and out of Ohio and a couple of other states to get the lien removed.
The dealership said it sympathized with Moore and had provided information to his attorney. WKYC also reported that Central Cadillac intended to reimburse him after receiving payment from its insurance company.
Moore doesn’t think he should have to wait for the dealership to recover its money before getting his own back.
Buyer Wants His $30,000 Back and the Loan Paid Off
Moore said he tried for six months to settle the problem privately before taking his complaint to Facebook. He also criticized the dealership’s management over what he described as dismissive responses during a livestream about the dispute. “They kept my money. I lost the car,” he wrote.
He wasn’t asking Central Cadillac for another Mercedes or punitive damages. Moore wanted his $30,000 back, the payments he’d already made refunded and the rest of his loan paid off.
Moore pointed out that Central Cadillac knew which dealership had sold it the Mercedes. He said it could go after that dealer to recover its losses rather than leaving him without a car.
Moore said his attorney planned to call Central Cadillac again the following morning. He had already interviewed with WKYC and had four more interviews scheduled with Cleveland news outlets.