DEARBORN/DEARBORN HEIGHTS — The Secretary of State deems it illegal for residents to sell vehicles out of their home, but that hasn’t been stopping local Arab Americans in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights from doing so, anyway.

A recent growing trend in the community has seen many local residents continuously purchase vehicles from an auction or off the Internet and resell it to a customer for a profit, after they’ve added repairs to it. 

The only problem is residents have been conducting the transactions at their homes and it has become a growing burden for the rest of the neighborhood. 

Under state law, a dealer license is required if a person conducts the buying, selling, brokering, leasing and negotiating of five or more vehicles within a 12 month period. 

Whether these individuals ever obtain a dealer license remains to be seen. But even with a dealer license, a loophole has made it easy for them to sell vehicles from home. 

While the law states that a dealer must obtain a business property to conduct sales of more than five vehicles per year, documentation and proof of a place to conduct business is not required when an individual obtains dealer license and pays an annual flat rate fee. 

What these dealers are doing instead is selling cars out of their homes and in-turn, avoiding having to pay property taxes, rent and required state fees if they were to obtain a place of business. 

One local woman who lives on Oakman Blvd. and wished to remain anonymous, tells The Arab American News that her neighbor has been selling cars out of his home for the last few years and it has become a nuisance for her entire block.

“Strangers are constantly coming around, test driving the cars or parking them in front of our house,” she said. “We’ve even had a couple of instances where the customers accidentally knocked on our door thinking it was the dealer’s home. It’s just not a safe situation.” 

City officials in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights have heard their share of complaints from residents who are fed up with their streets being swamped with vehicles that have ‘for sale’ signs on them. 

Dearborn City Councilman Mike Sareini, who is also a car salesman at Jorgensen Ford, said the city is constantly receiving complaints from neighborhood associations and local residents about dealers selling vehicles out of their home. 

“We have received several complaints from people,” Sareini said. “You can’t transact a business in the open public. The problem isn’t the guy who is selling one or two cars…it’s the guy who is selling multiple cars and has people coming over to test drive them. It’s not a professional way to conduct business and it’s not good for our neighborhoods.”

The City of Dearborn has been able to identify some of these homes with the assistance of residents, and those individuals have been fined. 

An ordinance is already in place that forbids residents from conducting business out of their home, but some residents are going as far as asking city council to implement a new rule that would specifically outlaw selling vehicles on residential properties. 

Sareini said the city considered that option, but for now will continue implementing the current ordinance that outlaws businesses on residential properties. He encourages residents to rent out lots to sell vehicles, because Dearborn’s neighborhoods are already too congested.

“The major concern we have is the complaints of the amounts of cars being stored in the neighborhoods and the transactions taking place,” Sareini said. “It’s very common in our community. They should go to a spot where they can put a car out for display. It would be better for their business anyway.”

Another major concern is that some cars are being stored in garages and backyards without license plates until they are sold. Obtaining a dealer plate for every vehicle an individual plans to sell can become too costly, so often times dealers will omit doing so. 

One local man tells The Arab American News that he’s been selling vehicles out of his home for years and has never once obtained a dealer plate. He is issued a temporary license plate by a local car dealership that’s owned by his relative. The dealership renews his temporary plate every 15 days, and he saves money off of each vehicle he sells by not having to register it with the state. 

With this illegal act being conducted out of homes, it has also resulted in a growing number of residents driving around with dealer plates. Local authorities seem to have caught wind of this and have attempted to ticket individuals seen driving with dealer plates after business hours. 

However, authorities seem to be confused about state laws regarding drivers with dealer plates.

Samia Faraj, who works for a dealership and is provided a company car for her personal use, said she was ticketed by Dearborn Heights Police for driving with a dealer plate. What Dearborn Heights Police didn’t know was that state laws allow individuals to conduct every day activity with a dealer plate, even if it’s after business hours. 

According to the Secretary of State:

“Employees, servants, or agents of a dealer may operate a vehicle owned by a dealer for any purpose, provided that the vehicle is not a ‘service vehicle.’ This group of permissive users includes the dealer, full and part-time employees, and authorized agents.”

The law also says “Dealer-owned vehicles can be driven by employees, servants or agents, or family members for any use except as a service vehicle.”

Faraj said she fought her ticket in court in front of 20th District Court Judge David Turfe by showing him the rules implemented by SOS. He dismissed her case.

“It doesn’t matter what you are doing when you are driving around with a dealer plate,” Faraj said. “Whether you are transferring a vehicle, picking up children from school or going grocery shopping, it is not against the law and police need to understand that.” 

While local municipalities have made attempts to control the growing trend of individuals selling cars out of their home, many argue that the issue might not fade anytime soon, as long as the state continues to implement laws with loopholes.