Dealer sounding the alarm! Car thieves using sophisticated new scheme to steal

WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- A West Allis car dealer is sounding the alarm! He says thieves have a new way of stealing cars right off the lot!

If you're a car dealer keeping 65 cars on the lot -- and one of them is stolen, it's a big deal!

"It's a lot of money, you know. It's the difference of us feeding ourselves or not," Robert Kerr -- the manager of Car King said.

Kerr has spent the last four decades in the car business.

"We sell anything from, you know, low-end budget cars for the people that can't afford the real expensive ones all the way up to the real nice ones," Kerr said.

Last month, Car King had a $13,000 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan swiped from the lot.

He says two guys came in and showed interest in purchasing the vehicle.

"Their offer was too low. They left and they called us back. They worked out a number for them. They came back and unbeknownst to me they used a credit card to pay for it," Kerr said.

When they drove the vehicle off the lot, Kerr says the buyers reported it as a fraudulent purchase to the credit card company.

That cancelled the payment -- leaving Car King short a vehicle, and in the red.

"We generally break pretty close to even or make a little bit and that month it will be minus $13,000 is what it will be," Kerr said.

The Racine County Sheriff's Office tells FOX6 News they are investigating a case similar to the one in West Allis.

Kerr says there have been a string of similar incidents across the Milwaukee area.

"From what I hear there's a total of five different dealers they've hit so far that we're aware of and that was a week-and-a-half ago," Kerr said.

Kerr says he believes the thieves who stole his Grand Caravan have turned around and sold the vehicle to another person.

The West Allis Police Department has listed the Grand Caravan from Car King as a stolen vehicle -- and they say they are investigating.