Seventy-six people showed up to work one day at Sky Auto Mall in Iowa and found out they no longer had jobs. The dealership — controlled by the Tovstanovsky family — had been seized. Vehicles were repossessed. The business was over.
The reason: Stellantis Financial Services filed suit in March 2026 after discovering that Sky Auto Mall had obtained floor-plan loans on 81 of the same vehicles from both Stellantis and Ford Credit simultaneously. Two lenders. Same inventory. Two loans. The scheme generated roughly $12 million in fraudulent financing.
When you take out two loans on the same collateral and tell neither lender about the other, that's fraud — and eventually, it collapses.
What "Flooring Fraud" Actually Means
Most car buyers have never heard of floor-plan financing, but it's how almost every dealership operates. Dealers don't buy their inventory outright. They borrow money from lenders — Stellantis Financial, Ford Credit, GMAC, local banks — to purchase vehicles to put on the lot. Each vehicle on the floor is essentially a collateral item against that loan.
When a vehicle sells, the dealer is supposed to immediately pay back that portion of the loan ("paying off the floor"). The lender holds a security interest in the vehicle until then.
Floor-plan fraud happens when:
- A dealer borrows against the same vehicle from two different lenders (double-dipping)
- A dealer sells a vehicle but doesn't repay the floor-plan loan (a "sold out of trust" situation)
- A dealer inflates vehicle values or creates phantom inventory to borrow more than the actual collateral is worth
Sky Auto Mall allegedly kept two sets of books — one to show Stellantis, one to show Ford — each reflecting a portion of the real inventory while concealing the double-financing arrangement.
What This Means for Buyers
If you bought a vehicle from Sky Auto Mall, here's the uncomfortable reality: your car's title situation could be complicated. When a dealership has floor-plan fraud on a vehicle, the lender holds an undisclosed security interest that doesn't automatically disappear when you buy the car from the dealer.
This is why title insurance and thorough VIN checks matter. In most states, a private buyer who pays fair market value and has no knowledge of fraud is protected — but establishing that can require legal legwork.
If you purchased from Sky Auto Mall or any dealership that's been shut down under similar circumstances:
- Check your title carefully for any liens you weren't told about
- Contact the lender that financed your purchase to verify the loan was paid off properly
- Consult a consumer protection attorney if you discover a lien or title defect you weren't disclosed
The Human Cost of Corporate Fraud
The 76 employees who lost their jobs didn't run this scheme. They sold cars, managed inventory, handled service appointments, did paperwork. The fraud that ended their employment was almost certainly known only to ownership.
This is one of the less-discussed dimensions of dealership fraud: when the scheme collapses, the fallout hits everyone from the lot attendant to the finance manager, not just the people who designed the fraud.
Fraud at the top of a dealership also creates a culture where pressure flows downward — salespeople who feel squeezed to hit numbers, service advisors encouraged to push unnecessary work, finance managers trained to slide in add-ons without explanation.
If you're shopping for a vehicle and a dealership feels high-pressure, chaotic, or evasive about numbers, trust your gut. A legitimate dealer has nothing to hide in their paperwork.
For guidance on protecting yourself when buying or getting your vehicle serviced, visit /avoiding-scams/.