Man Accused of Stealing Car During Test Drive

A Novi resident took out a car for a test drive on Feb. 5 and never came back.

According to a Novi police report, the man called Marty Feldman Chevrolet dealership in Novi on Feb. 5 and told a saleswoman that he was interested in test driving the Chevy Volt. He said he could not make it to the dealership until a little after 6 p.m., and the saleswoman said she would wait for him, the report said. When the man arrived, the employee had him fill out the necessary paperwork and told him to return the car by Thursday.

By Thursday afternoon, the man still had not returned the car, so the saleswoman called him at the numbers he listed and asked him to return it, the report said. By Feb. 9, the dealership still had not heard from the man, the report said.

Dealership employees then drove by the Farmington Hills address that was listed on the man's driver's license they had made a copy of, but the residence was burned and boarded up, the report said. The employees also drove by the address in Novi that was listed on the man's proof of insurance, but they were unable to locate anything there, the report said. The employees then called the Novi police to report the vehicle as stolen.

The Novi police then contacted On Star to locate the vehicle, and it gave an address on Pennsylvania in Novi—less than half a mile from the dealership, the report said. The police arrived at the address and the man's wife led the police to where the man was in the garage, the report said. There the police saw the missing car parked in the garage and plugged into a wall outlet, the report said.

When the police asked why he hadn't returned the car, he said because of medical issues; he said he was having double vision and didn't feel like it was safe to drive, the report said. The police asked the man if he understood that the car was due on Thursday, and the man said he did and that he called the dealership on Wednesday to let them know he didn't feel it was safe to drive the car back, the report said. The saleswoman said she never received a message from the man, the report said.

Novi police then called an employee from the dealership to come to the address and drive the car back to the dealership.

The man was arrested for unlawfully driving away an automobile and was taken to the Novi Police Department for booking, the report said. The police report said the man had no explanation for why he didn’t make more of an effort to contact the dealership or return the vehicle other than he was “out of it” and didn’t feel it was safe to drive.

For questions on the police report, email rebecca.jaskot@patch.com.