Dealership Finance Firm Expands

BMO Harris announced that its dealership finance team is expanding into Virginia with the hiring of Jeff Carmines as director, commercial dealership finance, BMO Harris Bank.

Carmines will focus primarily on business development in the Greater Washington Area, Maryland and Virginia, although he will also have responsibilities for the surrounding states as well.

The BMO Harris Dealership Finance team already has offices in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Tampa, Indianapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Joliet and Crown Point, and has plans to continue to expand into new markets. BMO Harris' parent company, BMO Financial Group, has been actively serving the financial needs of auto dealers for the last 35 years.

Carmines has a banking career that spans 28 years with 24 of those years managing automobile dealer relationships. Most recently he spent 12 years at SunTrust Bank, where he was responsible for the growth and management of a large portfolio of auto dealerships in the Greater Washington area of Maryland and Virginia. Previously, he managed a national auto dealer portfolio for JM Family Enterprises.

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Alleged Immaturity Lands Dealership in Hot Water

A Chicago dealership faces a lawsuit after some alleged locker room behavior by its employees.

Earlier this month, a man filed a lawsuit against Grossinger City Autoplex in Chicago, claiming he received some rather brutal harassment from five of the dealership's employees.

The suit alleges the man was threatened, harassed and even given a "hanging wedgie" on one occasion by the Grossinger employees over the course of a month-long period in 2009.

It's unknown if the accuser was an employee of the dealership or a customer.
He claims to have received death threats, along with being strangled with a phone cord and being called a homosexual.

The alleged abuse went on while the Grossinger employees were working at the store.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Cook County Circuit Court, is seeking $600,000 in damages.

Representatives of Grossinger City Autoplex have not responded for comment on the suit.

The Grossinger Auto Group operates nine new-car stores throughout the Chicago area.

Despite not being accredited, by the BBB, the Chicago Grossinger store where the alleged harassment took place has a decent track record with the Northern Illinois Better Business Bureau.

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