Fake repair claims probed
DMV investigates accusations Mavis falsified work on limo
The state Department of Motor Vehicles has launched an inquiry into allegations that the Mavis Discount Tire shop on Broadway in Saratoga Springs faked brake repairs and did an illegal inspection of the stretch Ford Excursion limo that crashed last year in Schoharie, killing 20 people.
“The DMV is actively investigating the alleged misconduct related to Mavis’ work as an inspection station and vehicle repair shop to ensure the protection and safety of consumers,” DMV spokeswoman Lisa Koumjian said. “Because we are pursuing administrative action, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery leveled the allegations against Mavis last week in a letter to defense attorneys for Nauman Hussain, the Wilton limousine operator who is scheduled to go to trial in March on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent
homicide.
Until now, the DMV had refused to answer questions about what actions it may have taken against the Mavis shop, which the agency regulates as both an inspection station and as an auto repair shop.
Nearly a year ago, the Times Union revealed that Hussain had taken the Excursion to the Broadway Mavis to get an inspection sticker in violation of state law. DMV inspection stations are required to refuse to do inspections of stretch limousines, which due to their size are supposed to be inspected by the state Department of Transportation as part of its bus safety program. The Excursion could seat 18 passengers.
The DMV’S admission that it has opened an administrative case against Mavis is a departure from its previous policy of not commenting or taking action against the company while the criminal case against Hussain is still pending.
Although the DMV can suspend or revoke the licenses of inspection stations and repair shops, its oversight apparatus — including a complaint bureau, investigators, administrative law judges and an appeals board — operates mostly out of public view.
The allegations against Mavis, which Mallery made public in an Oct. 7 letter to Hussain’s attorney Lee Kindlon, raise serious public safety concerns.
A State Police consultant found that “catastrophic brake failure” was the cause of the crash on Oct. 6, 2018. The Excursion, carrying 18 people, blew through a stop sign on Route 30 and into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store — killing two bystanders — before landing in a ditch. Everyone aboard the limo died from blunt force trauma.
In the letter to Kindlon, Mallery said her office had interviewed the shop’s former manager, who said that brake parts that Hussain had paid for during a May 11, 2018, visit to the shop had not been installed. Similarly, the Excursion’s brake lines had been bled instead of the more expensive procedure of flushing the lines, another service for which Hussain had paid.
The former manager, Virgil Park, said the practice of falsifying invoices and not installing parts or performing services customers were charged for was common at the store. Park said the practice was used to meet sales quotas.
May 11, 2018, was the same day that the Excursion received an inspection sticker from Mavis in violation of state inspection protocol.
Hussain’s lawyers said Park’s statement to investigators could mean that other Mavis customers might have received shoddy work and could face safety risks.
“In the event other customers are presently operating vehicles, under the sham illusion that their brakes or other mechanical devices were properly serviced by Mavis, it is incumbent that they be alerted otherwise as soon as possible, so as to avoid any further and needless tragedies from occurring,” Joseph Tacopina, another one of Hussain’s defense attorneys, said in an Oct. 8 letter to Schoharie County Court Judge George Bartlett III that cited Mallery’s revelation.
Mavis had also previously been named a defendant in civil cases brought by family members of the crash victims, who allege the store had made shoddy repairs to the Excursion that contributed to the limo’s brake failure.
In those cases, Mavis has denied any wrongdoing. The company repeated that stance again last week after Mallery’s more disturbing allegations were revealed.
Mavis tried to paint the allegations as a “desperate diversion tactic” by Hussain’s attorneys to “shift responsibility away from Mr. Hussain” — even though it was the district attorney, quoting a former Mavis employee, who made them.
“If the information provided by the district attorney is in fact true, as we have reason to believe, the general public is potentially at risk,” Hussain’s attorneys said in a statement issued to the Times Union on Thursday after Mavis reacted to Mallery’s letter. “Thus, we would have hoped for a more responsible reaction by Mavis.”
It’s unclear what Mavis has done to reassure the DMV or its customers in the wake of Mallery’s disclosures. A spokeswoman for the company said Monday she was looking into the question.
Mavis spokeswoman Chloe Clifford said in a statement the company “is committed to providing high quality, safe, affordable services to our customers. Our service and billing policies are honest, fair and sound. We will cooperate with the DMV in its investigation.”