Police put brakes on car sale – temporarily

The Minnesota State Patrol and the Alexandria Police Department temporarily shut down a used car sale at the Douglas County Fairgrounds Wednesday morning.

The reason?

The dealer didn’t have the proper license.

Although Brandl Auto Connection, based in St. Cloud, had a certified dealer license issued through the state, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety prevents dealers from selling vehicles outside of the county where they are located unless they obtain a separate dealer’s license there.

After receiving several calls from local dealerships questioning the legality of the sale, law enforcement went to the fairgrounds and stopped it.

Brandl Auto Connection complied with law enforcement but within a few hours, it struck an agreement with a local dealership, Thelen Auto Sales, to sell its vehicles on consignment, according to the State Patrol.

Every vehicle that is for sale now has a separate consignment on it.

The sale resumed at about 1 p.m. that day.

The original approval for the sale came from the Douglas County Fair Board. Brandl signed a contract to use the fairgrounds for a sale on July 15-19.

Because the land is actually owned by the city and leased to the fair board, the request came before the Alexandria City Council at its meeting Monday night and it was approved without much discussion.

When local dealerships found out about the sale, however, they raised concerns. They didn’t think it was fair to allow an out-of-town dealership to come into town and take business away from local dealerships that are providing local jobs, paying local taxes and trying to run a business.

The issue isn’t fully resolved yet.

Because the other dealership that’s now involved with the sale didn’t get prior approval from the city council, the city is looking into the possibility of stopping the sale again.

Alexandria City Attorney John Lervick is studying the legalities.

As of press time, the sale was continuing.

Tags: county, car, sale, out, of, license