The state has now ordered a South Nashville auto dealership to pay thousands of dollars in fines.
This comes two years after a NewsChannel 5 investigation first raised questions about business practices at U.S. Auto of Nashville.
In July of 2013, NewsChannel 5 Investigates went to U.S. Auto of Nashville off Murfreesboro Road where we confronted the man who said he was in charge.
"You sold a car to a young man last week, a 2007 Toyota Camry. Can I ask you about what you knew about that car?" we asked.
But Mena Zakharie wasn't about to answers any questions and instead responded, "Ma'am, if you not get outside from the lot right now, I call the police and he make trespassing for you."
Zakharie is the one who sold a 2007 Toyota Camry to Delyar Abed who told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that he "thought this a good car."
Abed said that when he went to the dealership, Zakharie told him the car had been in an accident, but insisted it was nothing major.
"They just say it's a very simple accident. It's like we fix it and you can drive it. It's very good car," Abed explained then.
But at a disciplinary hearing Monday, the state Motor Vehicle Commission's attorney said the sale of the Camry to Abed by U.S. Auto was "illegal, improper and unethical." He argued that U.S. Auto's dealership license should be revoked and the business fined more than $10,000.
The attorney for the state told the Commission, "This is a case about fraud and deceptive conduct by an auto dealer licensee that needs to be stopped."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered the car had actually been totaled in a wreck the year before it was sold.
We also found that U.S. Auto should never have sold the Camry to Abed in the first place. That's because U.S. Auto never got a new title for the car when it was rebuilt after the wreck or had it inspected before it was sold, both of which are required by state law.
In fact, when state inspectors went to U.S. Auto on three separate occasions after it had been sold, documents show they were repeatedly told the car was "not available" for inspection.
U.S. Auto's owner, Melad Hana, admitted during the hearing that mistakes had been made and he blamed his salesman, Mena Zakharie. His attorney, Mark Scruggs, successfully argued to keep much of the evidence against the dealership out of the hearing.
In the end, the commission found U.S. Auto violated the law by not properly disclose the car had been rebuilt and by not getting it titled before selling it.
The Motor Vehicle Commission fined U.S. Auto $7,500, money that will go to the state, not the man who tried to buy the car.
But Delyar Abed didn't totally lose out.
He successfully sued U.S. Auto last year and was awarded $8,000.
