A former Burnaby used car dealer whose Kingsway dealership was shut down for “deceptive acts and practices” in 2017 has once again drawn the attention of the province’s auto-sales regulator.
In a December ruling, the Vehicle Sales Authority warned Truck Time Auto Sales that its licence would be in jeopardy if it had any business relationship with Bahman “Bob” Shokohi in the operation of a registered motor dealership.
Troubling history
Shokohi once ran Best Import Auto Ltd., a used-car dealership at 5708 Kingsway recognizable by a number of fake, neon-coloured palm trees adorning its lot.
The business’s registration was cancelled and Shokohi barred from selling cars in November 2017 after numerous customer complaints and an investigation by the Vehicle Sales Authority.
Best Import was found to have sold unsafe vehicles to customers without telling them, disobeyed orders from the sales authority and transportation ministry, misrepresented the accident history of the cars it sold, and breached the conditions of its licence.
Registrar of motor dealers Ian Christman said he wouldn’t consider reinstating the company or Shokohi for at least a decade.
Last May, the B.C. Supreme Court upheld the registrar’s findings of fact and the 10-year ban on the company but quashed the 10-year ban on Shokohi, ruling the auto dealer hadn’t been given adequate notice that he could be personally barred from selling cars as part of the proceedings against his company.
But Christman issued a new 10-year ban against Shokohi this October, after the former dealer applied to resurrect Best Import as a wholesaler, a type of business that sells and exchanges cars with other wholesalers or auto dealers.
Christman said the same concerns he found in November 2017 would arise if Best Import were allowed to operate as a wholesaler.
“Best Import provided no submissions or new facts for me to consider on this wholesaler application. There is nothing to suggest that anything has changed since my decision of Nov. 28, 2017,” states Christman’s Oct. 12, 2018 ruling.
He banned Best Import from applying for a wholesaler licence for 10 years and also issued a new 10-year ban against Shokohi, barring him from “being registered as a motor dealer or having any involvement with a motor dealer.”
Truck Town connections
A newer ruling last month, however, raised concerns Shokohi had already become connected to another used-auto dealer: Pegasus Tech. Ltd. doing business as Truck Time Auto Sales.
The business, whose principal owner Ahmad (“Alex”) Rezaei had once been a Best Import manager, set up shop on Best Import’s old Kingsway lot and sold Best Import’s vehicle inventory.
And, in July, the Vehicle Sales Authority got a notice of change from the company showing Shokohi had been added as an owner with a 49 per cent stake.
The business withdrew the application the following month, but not before it raised red flags for the auto sales regulator.
During a hearing to decide whether to deregister Truck Time because of Shokohi’s involvement in the business, Rezaei argued the notice of change was meant only to notify the sales authority that the business had intended to add Shokohi as an owner, not that it already had.
But Christman found “many instances” that indicated a relationship between Rezaei, Truck Time, Shokohi and Best Import already existed.
After Best Import’s dealer registration was cancelled in November 2018, its vehicle inventory was sold by Truck Time at Best Import’s old lot, owned by Shokohi’s son, Mehran (“Mike”) Shokohi Manesh.
A compliance officer warned Rezaei to ensure the vehicles were safe to sell and inspected and repaired as needed, but a subsequent inspection found Truck Time was selling vehicles without any inspection or repairs, according to sales authority documents.
“This pattern of conduct is identical to the pattern of conduct by Best Imports that resulted in its registration being revoked and a 10-year ban being imposed,” states Christman’s December ruling. “This identical pattern of selling vehicles from the same location as Best Import, and with some of Best Import’s prior inventory, does indicate connections among Truck Time, Best Import, Mr. Rezaei, and Bob Shokohi. It suggests Truck Time’s selling process relating to vehicles with safety issues, was the same as Best Import’s, which was managed by Bob Shokohi.”
Ties cut
Rezaei, however, made assurances to the hearing that Shokohi will not have any part of any of the dealer’s operations and that Truck Town would be moved from Burnaby to Port Coquitlam.
Christman gave Rezaei 30 days to move the business and banned him from having any business relationship with Shokohi as an auto dealer.
“If new evidence arises that Truck Time has an ongoing relationship with Bob Shokohi that I have prohibited, the authority may call a new hearing,” Christman wrote.
