A car dealership in the Houston area abruptly closed its doors a few weeks before Christmas. Fast forward to the end of February and customers still don’t have their registration or license plates - all because the dealership didn’t pay.

Employees of a Houston-area car dealership that abruptly closed it doors claim that they too are victims of the dealership’s mismanagement of money.

A Houston-area car dealership suddenly closed its doors over the weekend, but the trouble started months ago.

HOUSTON – Car dealerships in the Houston area are getting more attention during these uncertain times, but not just from honest consumers. Auto theft investigators from the Houston Police Department said they arrested three people accused of targeting the same local dealership in the span of three days. “When this kind of fraud happens, it impacts the finance teams, the finance companies, the car dealerships, and then goes on down to the consumer,” said RoShelle Salinas, the executive vice president of the Houston Automotive Dealers Association. “That’s why we’re really big in educating our dealerships and working so closely with the Houston Police Department to be able to catch these people. If we weren’t capturing these criminals, then they were just going to the next dealership and the next dealership and on down the freeway to all the dealerships.”