Buying a used car is already an exercise in trusting strangers with your money, your safety, and your weekend. So it takes a special kind of nerve to run a dealership called The Good Car Dealer and then, according to prosecutors, allegedly forge a dead woman’s signature to launder a pile of hail-battered cars back onto the road. If the name was supposed to be ironic, mission accomplished.
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Authorities say Scott Keith Pryor, who runs the Salt Lake City shop, now faces 15 felony counts tied to falsifying, altering, forging, or counterfeiting vehicle title documents. A Laramie County, Wyoming judge signed off on probable cause for an arrest warrant on June 4.
A Signature From Beyond the Grave
The details get grim fast. Investigators allege Pryor filed duplicate title applications claiming the originals were lost, and one of those applications reportedly carried the signature of a Wyoming woman who had died weeks before the hailstorm even hit. Several notaries reportedly told investigators the signatures and stamps on the paperwork weren’t theirs, and multiple vehicle owners said they never signed anything at all — a lot of people whose names allegedly ended up on documents without their knowledge.
‘Rashard,’ ‘Miss Catherine,’ and a Very Suspicious Title Service
According to Pryor, the paperwork came courtesy of an outfit called Tennessee Titles, which he says he found on Facebook and paid roughly $150 per application to use. The people behind it were apparently known only as “Rashard” and “Miss Catherine,” which sounds less like a licensed title service and more like the cast of a true-crime podcast. Investigators say Pryor couldn’t produce records proving the company was legitimate or any evidence of the payments.
The part that actually matters is the buyers. WYDOT investigator Shane Fox alleges Pryor used the scheme to sell these hail-damaged cars as if they carried clean, non-salvage titles. It’s still unclear whether anyone who bought one of these vehicles will be made whole, or what the state will do with the cars, since they could end up tied up as evidence. If you bought a suspiciously cheap car in the region recently, this might be a good time to read your title very carefully.
Why This Keeps Happening
Title washing isn’t some exotic crime — it’s a depressingly common hustle, and we’ve covered the playbook before. If you want to understand how a wrecked car magically turns into a “clean” one, our breakdown of what happens to your insurance after a total loss is a good place to start. The short version: a totaled car doesn’t vanish, it goes to auction, and from there it’s a paperwork problem waiting to be exploited.
This isn’t the first shady operator to land on our radar, either. We’ve watched eight vehicles get seized from an unlicensed dealership in Texas, and we’ve seen brazen schemes like the two 74-year-olds who ran a $6.5 million classic car theft ring and walked away without a day in jail. The car world is full of people who treat titles as a suggestion.
Protecting Yourself as a Buyer
The best defense is still being a paranoid buyer. Our ultimate guide to spotting a lemon covers the dirty tricks sellers use, and even a properly disclosed salvage car can be a smart buy if you go in with eyes open, like this wrecked C6 Corvette that comes with possibilities. The difference between a bargain and a disaster is usually one honest piece of paper.
Pryor is presumed innocent until the courts say otherwise, and the allegations still have to hold up in court. But “The Good Car Dealer” is going to have a tough time living up to the name from here on out.