Iowa Mechanic To Pay $7.2M To Ex-Angie’s List CEO For Overcharging Classic Car Repairs
Previous Angie’s Listing CEO, Bill Oesterle, suggests he was overcharged for operate and misled about the authenticity of common vehicles
by Sebastien Bell
December 24, 2022 at 18:30
by Sebastien Bell
One of the founders, and the previous CEO of Angie’s List, Invoice Oesterle, has won a $7.2 million selection in Iowa from a mechanic who was uncovered to have misled him on the authenticity of at minimum one particular common vehicle, and overcharged him for get the job done on other folks.
Craig Hillinger, the operator of The Healy Werks Corp., worked with Oesterle for more than a 10 years, but the difficulty began in 2010, when he was despatched a 1967 Maserati Ghibli by the former CEO, reviews the Indy Star.
Oesterle explained in the lawsuit that he bought the Maserati for $16,000, and was instructed that work on it would get no more than two a long time, and value no extra than $200,000 to entire. 4 yrs later on, he was sent an bill for far more than $1 million, and operate on the auto had not however been finished.
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In a further instance, the complaint suggests that Hillinger confident Oesterle to go in on the invest in of a exceptional, classic Austin-Healey 110M with him. The mechanic informed the former CEO that the vehicle was one of the 640 illustrations created by the manufacturing unit, and just desired about $10,000 value of do the job to prepare.
Oesterle was confident, and gave Hillinger $50,000. When he last but not least gained the vehicle, it arrived with an invoice for above $130,000 and, even worse however, the new owner found that it was not, in truth, a manufacturing unit 100M as the mechanic experienced promised.
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“It’s a challenging approach to locate reliable sections and products, and to locate credible folks with the know-how to properly restore these gorgeous equipment,” mentioned Oesterle. “Often that means you have to have faith in persons throughout the state, or even the globe, to deliver on what they say they have and what they can do. I would dislike to know other collectors have been addressed this way.”
The court eventually identified that Oesterle experienced experienced $2.4 million in damages, and he was awarded three occasions that sum, in line with Iowa’s motor vehicle solutions trade regulation, since of the “willful and wanton disregard” for his rights. Healey Werks Corp. will also have to spend Oesterle’s attorney’s service fees.
“I want other people in the classic automobile neighborhood to be informed of this predicament,” Oesterle mentioned.

