san antonio – The owner of a south San Antonio auto body shop was accused of accepting money to refurbish classic cars and then returning them with missing parts or damage this fall, according to records obtained by KSAT Investigates. He is accused in a separate lawsuit filed by a former customer.
Jaime Negrete, owner of Alamo City Kustumz, was named as a defendant along with his company in a lawsuit filed less than a month ago by a judge in Bexar County State District Court and the Bexar County Peace First Precinct.
“I trusted this person, and he accepted everything about me. Not only that, he gave me a car that was totally unsafe,” she told KSAT earlier this year. Angie Moore said in an interview. Her 1970 Chevrolet Impala was on a jack at her and her husband’s feed store.
After purchasing the car from a customer at the store for $2,000, the couple decided to give it to Mr. Negrete, also a South Side business owner.
“Why not give our business to other Southsiders? Locals, keep it here,” said Moore, who said she and her husband own this large fleet of classic cars. It provided a KSAT invoice showing it paid $17,825 for the work.
“We have a great, great base to work from,” said Nathan Moore, adding that the car needed a new drivetrain, suspension and fuel-injected engine system.
But the couple said Negrete had “kept on trying” for 19 months.
Negrete said he is having trouble getting parts shipped and hiring a technician to program the computer for the engine, which was taken from a low-mileage Chevrolet Tahoe that Negrete owned at his shop.
Negrete said he delivered the Impala late that October evening.
Angie Moore told KSAT that the vehicle started having problems as soon as she started driving.
“I immediately noticed a strange noise coming from the passenger side,” Angie Moore said.
Angie Moore said she was driving her car home to Devine when she felt a violent shaking.
“Next thing I know, I’m out of gas. All of a sudden, it feels like the brakes are on harder. Something happens. There’s an 18-wheeler in front of me and behind me. So I panic. ,” Angie Moore said.
Negrete offered to have the car towed, but the couple told KSAT they wanted to have the vehicle inspected during the day instead.
Nathan Moore later documented extensive problems with the Impala, some of which the couple said did not exist when they hired Negrete.
The bolts securing the upper control arm have come loose and are about to fall out, the car’s water hose has been crimped and impinged, the transmission line is dangling and unsecured, and the emergency brake cable system is stuck in its packaging. It was held in place with wire and the windshield wiper motor was broken. The couple said they removed it and placed it in the trunk.
Photos of the vehicle taken after it was returned to the Moores show that the oxygen sensor lines are secured with plastic zip ties, the wheel wells are missing threaded clips, and the vehicle’s front driving The corners on the seat side appeared to be curved.
Nathan Moore said no other parts appeared to have been replaced and were simply painted.
“We didn’t even take anything apart,” Nathan Moore said of the Impala’s rotors and calipers.
The car’s shocks and springs appeared to be more than 30 years old, even though the couple’s contract showed they paid for a complete rebuild of the front suspension.
Additionally, the car was returned without a new gas tank installed, even though records show the company paid for a new tank and line.
The fuel hose was simply placed in the neck of the old gas tank, causing fuel to spill out the back of the car while driving.
“Honestly, I was speechless. I felt taken advantage of,” Angie Moore said.
Cellphone video recorded by Nathan Moore shows him confronting Negrete earlier this year in the Alamo City suburb of Kustumz over a fuel tank.
When Nathan Moore asked if he was going to get the gas tank, Negrete said he was at lunch when a company tried to deliver the gas tank.
While KSAT was interviewing the Moores for this story, an employee at the auto body shop dropped a new fuel tank in its box.
The employee told KSAT that he did not want to be identified and had nothing to do with the dispute between Mr. Negrete and the couple.
The Moores filed a small claims lawsuit against Negrete in Bexar County Magistrate Judge’s First Precinct on Nov. 7, records show.
The lawsuit, which is not expected to go to trial in the coming months, is seeking a full refund from Negrete.
JP 1 officials confirmed to KSAT that Mr. Negrete does not have an attorney of record in the case.
“The defendant attempted to hide the damage with black spray paint.”
In an unrelated case, the owner of a 1952 Chevrolet pickup truck filed a lawsuit against Negrete and his body shop in Bexar County State District Court on October 10.
The suit alleges that Negrete failed to complete the renovation work on the contract, which had ballooned to $13,460.
According to the complaint, the contract called for redoing the front frame, upgrading the air suspension, using whitewall tires, shifters, brakes, rotors and wood from the truck bed.
“The defendant continued to request additional money for repairs, even though he acknowledged that nothing was completed on the vehicle,” the complaint states.
According to the complaint, the truck’s owner went to the store and noticed that the brakes, exhaust system and radiator had not been installed.
The truck also had extensive damage that wasn’t there when it was dropped off in Kustumz, Alamo City, in February 2021, including a broken brake light and body damage from lifting the truck off the ground, according to the complaint. That’s what it means.
“Defendants attempted to hide the damage with black spray paint,” the complaint states.
Negrete was served with the lawsuit on Oct. 13, but did not have an attorney in the case as of Wednesday, according to Bexar County court records.
Mr. Negrete appears to have missed the deadline to respond to the allegations in both cases, raising the possibility that default judgments will be entered against him in both cases.
KSAT tried to stop by Negrete’s store in the 6900 block of S. Flores Street, but the gate was locked and a sign said it was open by appointment only.
Negrete did not respond to multiple calls and texts sent to the number listed on the store’s sign.
Copyright 2023 by KSAT – All rights reserved.
