Fallbrook company reportedly withheld $11.7 million in customer debt – NBC 7 San Diego

CPR Classic in Fallbrook has specialized in the restoration and consignment sale of Porsches for more than 40 years. This long-standing company is now in deep financial trouble, facing dozens of lawsuits totaling more than $11.7 million.

Hans Claassen of Montrose, Colorado, is not one of the many who have filed lawsuits, but he says CPR Classic owes him $111,500. He hired them in 2022 to sell his car on consignment – a silver Porsche 911 he bought in the spring of 1970.

“Well, actually it was a gift from my wife,” he said, explaining that he received the gift after spending his savings on an engagement ring instead of the car of his dreams. “And so she felt like she owed me something for it.”

Just like the ring, the car became a symbol of their more than 50 years of love and marriage.

“I really loved this car. I have a lot of memories associated with this car, trips that my wife and I have made together,” said Claassen.

But in 2022, Hans had no choice but to sell his pride and joy.

“My wife is in need of care and suffers from dementia. The proceeds from the car sale will finance her care,” he said.

That's when he found CPR Classic and hired them. They agreed on a $135,000 selling price for the car, with the company taking a 10% commission. They picked up the car from his home in Colorado.

“When I saw the car disappear and realized that was it, I was sad,” said Claassen. He would never see the car again.

However, he was happy to hear that CPR Classic had found a buyer a few months later. He said Andrea Doherty, the owner of the company, told him the news and asked him to send the vehicle's title. After he did that, however, she told him the buyer had backed out of the purchase. Claassen says he became worried as weeks turned into months.

“Because they don't tell me anything. They don't keep me informed of what's going on,” he said.

When he received no response, he asked for help from Mark MacHale, a volunteer in a senior citizen program who had also helped him with other matters.

“Well, the lies and excuses slowly started to mount,” he said. He added that he had been pushing Doherty for several months to do the right thing for Claassen until she finally agreed to send him his money. “I really thought I had done a good job for Hans and was quite satisfied. And that it turned out to be a lie, you know, he's quite fragile,” MacHale said.

MacHale said Andrea eventually transferred $10,000 as part of a monthly payment plan, but then nothing happened.

“So I started calling TV stations and found you. Luckily, you answered,” he said.

The NBC 7 Responds team wanted to learn more about this business and began researching. In San Diego County alone, we found dozens of lawsuits.

Our team has read through every single complaint and according to our calculations, CPR is accused of owing its customers $11,745,106.

The lawsuits tell very similar stories from sellers and buyers – sellers claiming they never received the money owed to them and buyers claiming they paid for the vehicle but never received it. We've read that most of them wired six-figure amounts in full.

According to a lawsuit, CPR Classic sold a vehicle that was in their shop for restoration, a 1960 356 Roadster, whose owner claims the company had no right to sell it. The buyer of the Porsche paid CPR Classic $160,000 and claims he never received the vehicle and was not reimbursed.

We have read of several cases where CPR delivered vehicles to buyers, but the buyers claimed they never received a vehicle registration document, so they were unable to register or use the cars.

We also repeatedly read claims that Doherty promised his customers that their payments were on the way and even provided them with tracking numbers that turned out to be fake.

“I think the low point was when she gave us the wrong tracking number,” MacHale said.

We contacted Doherty, who said she wanted to talk to us but we couldn't set a time or place. After a few weeks, she stopped responding.

So we headed to her shop in Fallbrook. There were signs on the door of her restoration shop showing that they had been vacated. We also went to the sales shop but no one answered the door. We decided to call one more time before we left. She answered.

Doherty said she wanted to speak to her lawyer before speaking to us. Minutes later, we received a call from her former lawyer telling her he had advised her not to speak to us.

MacHale is not surprised. He said he called virtually every law enforcement agency he could think of, including the FBI.

NBC 7 Responds also reached out to the FBI and was told they could not confirm or deny an investigation. We also asked the DMV, which issues licenses to car dealers, if they were investigating the company and were told they do not comment on ongoing investigations.

Claassen said he was losing hope.

“I've gotten used to the idea that I may never see a penny again,” he said.

However, he will be the first to tell you that nothing can tarnish the memories of the woman who bought him his dream car in the spring of 1970 – the love of his life, Christine, who sadly passed away earlier this month.