Customers say they were ripped off by Bert Motorsports

Customers of an auto shop in East Moline are warning people to stay away from the business.

They told Local Four News they were promised work on their cars that was never completed.

Rusty Schweickhardt told Local Four News he took his Hummer to Bert Motorsports to rebuild his engine.

Now he told us, his car is worse off than when he dropped it off, and all he wants is a reliable car for him, his wife and four children. 

He has months of documentation showing the difficulty in making that happen.

Rusty Schweickhardt said, “Message, after message, after message. I mean, I’ve got six months worth of messages from him.”

It’s been six months since Rusty Schweickhardt took his Hummer to Bert Motorsports.

Schweickhardt said, “I’m eager to get it back. I forget what it’s even like to drive it. It’s been ten months broke down, and I’ve only had it for 13 months.”

He told Local Four News he paid $4,202 upfront thinking it would make sure this job would get finished.

Schweickhardt said, “After the first two months I started messaging him. It was just one thing after another, excuse after excuse.”

He added, “It’s quite a bit of money, and I said, it’s been broken down for ten months, so for those four months, I saved up and did what I had to do to get that money together to pay for this and then this is what happens.”

At the same time, he is still paying off the car and the insurance.

Those months dragged on, Schweickhardt said with no progress made.

“Didn’t fix none of it. He just pretty much tore it apart, and there were no new pieces in it. In fact, there’s pieces of the truck still missing,” said Schweickhardt

He said eventually he had his car towed from the lot of Bert Motorsports and found the taken apart engine scattered across the front seats of the car, but he brought it back after the owner reached out.

Schweickhardt said “He called and he begged me. I’ll take care of it buddy.”

Only to go back and tow it again.

“Rumors that he was being foreclosed, cars were getting repossessed. Just one thing after another,” said Schweickhardt.

Now, those parts are at Brian’s Back Alley Garage and Dynamic Power Racing Technology where they’re working to help Schweickhardt get it running.

Brian’s Back Alley Garage owner Brian Lopez said,”Quite a bit of work. Especially the engine stuff, getting the engine back together. Make sure we have everything.” 

What is complicating matters for the mechanics is when someone else takes apart an engine, it is then a lot harder for somebody else to put the puzzle back together.

The owner of Dynamic Power told Local Four News, Schweickhardt isn’t the first customer they’ve had come from the East Moline auto shop. 

Dynamic Power Racing Technology Todd Malmstrom said, “There are some people that are still waiting to get their stuff back. They have to get ahold of the bankers from what I hear.”

Malmstrom told Local Four News it is their policy to have customers put half down and pay the other half when the job is finished.

Schweickhardt said that these shops offering to help is the only ray of light in this frustrating situation. 

Schweickhardt said, “Hoping it all come back together and I’m pretty sure with both of their knowledge, they’ll get it together.”

Local Four News tried multiple times to reach out to Bert Motorsports and its owner, calling several numbers and sending a Facebook message but have yet to hear back.

Going to the business during regular hours, Local Four News found the doors locked and the lot mostly clear of cars.

Digging deeper into the business, Local Four News found several court records filed in Rock Island County involving Bert Motorsports and its owner within the last year.

Three of them involved the improper transfer of a vehicle title as required by law.

Others involved creditors filing motions against the business.

Schweickhardt isn’t the only former customer to talk with Local Four News. 

Kevin Crock told us he took his sports car there to get some of the electronics completed. 

“None of the fluids were in it. They gave this car back to me with nothing in it basically. I mean it was doomed from the start. I don’t know what they had done, how much they ran it without the stuff in it, so after that point… the motor blew up in my driveway,” said Crock.

Crock told Local Four News, he then took the business to small claims court in 2015.

More recently, Mark Lake said he found himself in a similar situation to Schweickhardt.

“He told my girlfriend the motor was in it, and we looked in there, and there was no motor, so you know, $2,700 down the drain, but I got $700 of it back through my card,” said Lake.

Lake told Local Four News, he posted his experience online and heard from people across Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.