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Vol. 13 / Issue 5 / August 2022
Husband and Wife Sentenced for Fraudulent Tax Filings Conspiracy at Maryland Auto Body Repair Shop
Massachusetts Right to Repair Court Case Decision Delayed for 6th Time
On July 5, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Ercin Kalender, 61, and Lizette Kalender, 44, both of Alexandria, VA, to one year and one day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy related to tax fraud within their corporate filings and business taxes.
U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock issued a notice July 1 informing of another delay to provide a decision on the Right to Repair court case in Massachusetts. Citing “the need to consider fully the implications of the long-anticipated decision” and “unforeseen and unforeseeable scheduling complications encountered in the past several weeks coming upon the extended holiday weekend,” Woodlock further delayed the conclusion of the case. Based on his statement, the delay is expected to be short.
Credit: Shutterstock
Xinis also ordered the Kalenders to pay restitution of $2,219,602. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C., field office. “Ercin and Lizette Kalender committed tax fraud for many years by purposely hiding their company’s true income to avoid paying their fair share, and then brazenly shared their criminal activity with potential buyers when trying to sell their business,” See Fraudulent Tax Filings, Page 26
A Deeper Look at Crash Champions’ Merger with Service King by David Roberts, managing director of Focus Advisors
After months of speculation about the future of Service King, a blockbuster merger with Crash Champi-
ons was announced to Service King managers on July 15. The two consolidators will merge and create a 550+ shop operation with upwards of $2 billion in annualized sales.
See Crash Champions to Merge, Page 22
The judge previously stated he would issue a final judgment no later than July 2.
Approved by Massachusetts voters Nov. 3, 2020, by an overwhelming 75% to 25% margin, the See Right to Repair, Page 8
The World Experienced a Pandemic—and Initial Vehicle Quality Got Sick In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, initial vehicle quality notably declined, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study, released June 28.
Buick was the highest-ranking brand in J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study and the Buick Encore GX, shown here, ranked the highest in its segment.
The disruptions caused by the pandemic—supply chain issues, record-high vehicle prices and personnel dislocations---contributed to vehicle problems reaching a record high in the 36-year history of this benchmark study. Compared with 2021 results, the industry experienced an 11% increase in problems per 100 vehicles (PP100), which is 18 PP100 worse than last year, resulting in an industry average of 180 PP100. A lower score reflects higher vehicle quality.
General Motors bucked the trend with an improvement in initial quality that landed it in the highest rank position among automotive corporations. Among brands, Buick’s quality improved 17 PP100 year over year, vaulting it to ranking highest overall in 2022 from 12th place in 2021, while Genesis ranked highest among premium brands. Just nine of 33 ranked brands improved in vehicle quality year over year. “Given the many challenges automakers and their dealers had to face in the past year, it’s somewhat surprising that initial quality didn’t fall even more dramatically,” said David Amodeo, director of global automotive at J.D. Power. “In general, initial quality has shown steady improvement throughout the history of this study, so the decline this year is disappointing—yet understandable. Automakers continue to launch vehicles that are more and more technologically complex in an era in which there have been many shortages of critical components to support them.” See Initial Vehicle Quality, Page 20
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