When the road levels out: the moment Maria finally drove away

August 2025

After months of uncertainty, setbacks, and steadfast determination, The Rover Project has officially crossed the finish line. And this time, it wasn’t just about replacing an engine—it was about restoring faith, rebuilding trust, and proving what’s possible when businesses, nonprofits, and people work together through significant challenges toward a common goal.

This was a particularly complex repair for the team at Long Arm Mechanics. Diagnosing the full extent of the damage took time, and the repairs themselves, including a complete engine rebuild and the original head gasket fix, were labor-intensive and required incredible precision. But when the final test drives came back clean and the vehicle was officially road-ready, it was a huge win. Not just for Maria, but for Long Arm as well. Their team had done what few others would: step up, follow through, and deliver with integrity – no matter what.

To celebrate this milestone, our local BBB team joined Maria and Levon (Long Arm’s owner) at the shop, alongside a reporter from Idaho News 6, to witness the long-awaited handoff. Maria and Levon graciously shared on-camera interviews—Maria as the brave, determined consumer who never gave up hope, and Levon as the ethical business owner who made it his mission to help.

But no moment matched the joy of watching Maria get behind the wheel and drive away—back to her family, back to her life, and finally back to safe, reliable transportation more than a year after purchasing a car she only got to drive for nine days.

We ask our participants, both consumers and business partners, to complete post-project surveys so we can continually improve Restoring Trust. The results from The Rover Project were nothing short of inspiring:

• Maria, who initially rated her trust in automotive businesses as “very low,” reported that after her experience with Restoring Trust, her trust level was “high.” Even more meaningfully, she shared that her trust in people and her local community improved significantly. Her words said it best:
  “This was very helpful. It gave me confidence in voicing my concerns without feeling bad for being taken advantage of and being too naive.”

• Levon and his team at Long Arm Mechanics also saw the impact on their end:
  “Overall positive experience. We have adjusted a lot of our internal processes while participating in this program. What a learning opportunity.”

They also reported that their participation in Restoring Trust had positively influenced how their business is perceived by their customers, peers, and partners—a ripple effect we love to see.

This project wasn’t easy. The journey was long. And some of the obstacles were beyond frustrating, especially when Alic Motors, the original dealership that sold Maria the defective car, continued to evade accountability. But moments like this one, when we see a family restored and a vehicle back where it belongs, remind us why we do this work.

Restoring Trust isn’t just about fixing what’s broken. It’s about helping people recover from devastating losses—emotional, financial, and often times both. It’s about holding bad actors accountable and spotlighting the good ones. It’s about proving that community matters, and that ethical businesses still exist—and make a real difference.

We’ll be releasing the final wrap-up video soon so you can see the handoff day and hear from Maria and Levon in their own words. We can’t wait to share that moment with you.

In the meantime, you can watch the Idaho News 6 story on this project here. 

Thank you for following along this journey. Let this be a reminder that even when the road gets bumpy, the destination is still worth the drive.

Yours in trust,

Meghan Conradt, Director of Foundation

When the road gets bumpy: the long journey to get Maria moving again

April - July 2025

It’s been a while since our last update on The Rover Project, and that’s not because we forgot about it—it’s because this one has been complicated. But if there’s one thing this journey has taught us, it’s that when we believe a consumer has been wronged, we don’t give up. We’ve stayed the course, working hand in hand with Long Arm Mechanics to figure out how to help Maria and her family get back on the road.

When we left off, Maria was stuck paying monthly on her first-ever purchased car—a 2017 Range Rover she drove for only nine days before it broke down—while the dealership that sold it to her, Alic Motors, had strung her along for months with empty promises of repairs. That’s when BBB Foundation and Long Arm Mechanics stepped in to see if we could turn things around.

We had an idea: what if we confronted Alic Motors directly and gave them the opportunity to do the right thing? BBB visited them in person to share what had happened to Maria and let them know that we had gotten involved. Once they realized we were advocating for Maria, they turned us away. However, shortly after, they responded to Maria’s messages and agreed to pay for the head gasket repair to Long Arm Mechanics—but only if BBB agreed not to publish any negative press about the situation.

It wasn’t the exact response we’d hoped for, but we were cautiously optimistic. Long Arm Mechanics—a BBB Torch Award winner and true champion of ethical business—got in touch with Alic Motors directly. In both email and recorded calls, Alic Motors confirmed that they would cover the cost of the head gasket repairs.

So Long Arm got to work.

They disassembled the vehicle, ordered parts, and scheduled their team to make the repairs. It finally felt like things were turning a corner. The repairs were nearly complete, and all that was left were a few final tests before Maria could pick up her vehicle.

But those tests kept revealing new issues. After further inspection, Levon at Long Arm delivered the unfortunate news: the engine had sustained catastrophic damage due to overheating caused by the head gasket failure. In short, the vehicle needed a full engine rebuild—more than doubling the original repair estimate.

Long Arm contacted Alic Motors with this update, but we weren’t surprised when they declined to contribute anything beyond the original head gasket repair, despite the damage stemming directly from that failure. This left Maria facing thousands more dollars in unexpected repairs.

We weren’t sure what to do next, but we weren’t done working the problem.

We reached out to Maria’s credit union, which is BBB Accredited and was also the lender for Maria’s vehicle loan through Alic Motors. We felt it was important that they knew one of their funding recipients had put a customer in this position. They communicated with Maria about her options and ultimately, Maria elected to take out a separate loan to cover the remaining costs of the full engine replacement—under the condition that Alic Motors would still cover the original head gasket repair.

But consistent with their prior pattern of behavior, Alic Motors disappeared again when it was time to make the payment. They stopped answering calls and emails and at one point told Maria they’d “drop off a check” to Long Arm—something Levon still hasn’t received to this day.

It’s deeply disappointing, but not necessarily surprising. Levon is pursuing alternative action to recover the promised funds from Alic Motors, but in the meantime, his team made a decision: they would keep moving forward.

Today, Long Arm is completing a full engine replacement for Maria—an incredibly labor-intensive and costly job. But it’s also a mission-driven one. Their focus, and ours, has always been the same: get Maria and her family back on the road, in the car they’ve been paying for but unable to use for more than a year.

We’re planning to meet Maria at the end of August for the vehicle hand-off at Long Arm—an overdue moment of celebration, closure, and restored trust. I can’t wait to share photos and video from that day with you!

This journey has been long, frustrating, and full of detours. But through teamwork, tenacity, and the support of ethical businesses like Long Arm Mechanics, we’re getting there.

Stay tuned—I’m confident the best update is still to come.

Yours in trust,

Meghan Conradt, Director of Foundation

Restoring more than cars: a Torch Awards winner takes the wheel

March 2025

After speaking with Maria and hearing her compelling story, I was disheartened by how she had been taken advantage of by the dealership where she purchased her vehicle. While she did sign an “as-is” agreement—which made the sale technically legal—I couldn’t get past the fact that the dealership promised to repair the vehicle and then kept it for six months without completing any work.

Worse still, they repeatedly told Maria that her vehicle would be ready “by the end of the week” or “tomorrow,” stringing her along with empty promises. The text messages between her and the dealer go on for pages—variations of the same message: We’re working on it. It’s almost done. Eventually, when Maria insisted on taking the car to a different mechanic for a diagnostic and proper repairs, the dealership told her they had towed it to the shop. But her vehicle app told a different story—it showed that the car had been driven there, despite being declared unsafe to drive. That action alone risked further damage.

These kinds of tactics can be hallmarks of less than trustworthy businesses—something we unfortunately see too often at Better Business Bureau. BBB holds businesses to 8 Standards for Trust, one of which is Honor Promises—to follow through on both written and verbal commitments. This situation was a blatant violation of that standard, and it only deepened my resolve to find a way to help Maria.

In late 2024, BBB Foundation formed an official partnership with Long Arm Mechanics and their Green Light Outreach (GLO) Program, which donates time and parts to help people in need regain access to safe, reliable transportation. I was already familiar with Long Arm Mechanics—they won the BBB Torch Award for Ethics in 2023 and have remained active judges and supporters of our programs. When I learned about GLO during the development of our Restoring Trust program, I immediately saw the synergy between our missions. Given the number of automotive complaints we receive at BBB, I knew we could work together to make a difference.

I reached out to Levon, the owner of Long Arm Mechanics, and shared Maria’s story. He was just as troubled by her experience and quickly expressed his interest in helping. The first step was to get Maria’s vehicle to his shop so his team could run a diagnostic. Once they did, Levon confirmed the original assessment: Maria’s car needed head gasket repairs, with an estimated bill over $11,000—and only $1,500 would be covered by warranty. With Maria and her family already paying monthly on a vehicle they can’t even drive, this was a heavy financial burden.

As Levon and I discussed options, we kept circling back to the same conclusion: the dealership—the one that sold Maria a defective vehicle and promised to repair it—should step up and honor their word. But how could we approach them in a way that gave them an opportunity to become part of the solution rather than remain part of the problem?

I brought this question to my colleagues, and together we began brainstorming a new approach—something innovative that BBB has never tried before. It was time to get creative.

Do you know of businesses with programs like GLO, or ones that lend their time and services to help people in need? I’d love to hear about other leaders and companies who are using their skills and platforms to give back. Let’s celebrate and amplify them together.

Reach me at [email protected]

Yours in trust,

Meghan Conradt, Director of Foundation

Maria's first ever car was a dream come true - until it wasn't

February 2025

My name is Meghan Conradt and I'm the Director of Foundation for Better Business Bureau. I couldn't be more excited to share this journey with you as I've worked over the past couple years to rejuvenate and reinvent our BBB Foundation, the charitable entity of Better Business Bureau. When our Board and Executive Team decided to revive our charitable arm and asked me to lead the charge, I came to the table with a background in Marketing, six years of BBB experience, and unbridled enthusiasm for the chance to effect change in our community.

Through this role as a nonprofit leader, I've been privileged to sit at the helm of developing a new program that allows us to provide tangible help to consumers who come to us for assistance. Here's how it started: because I've also lead the BBB Torch and Spark Awards programs for years, I knew there's a wealth of Accredited Businesses in our community that are dedicated to giving back and helping people around them. On the other hand, I also knew BBB receives lots of reports from consumers who are targeted by scams or have poor experiences with businesses - sometimes resulting in money loss or even worse (keep reading). I had a lightbulb moment one day: what if we could find a way to connect these two groups and work to solve some of the issues we're seeing with fraud in our community? Why not help consumers who need to recover find resources and solutions in our Accredited Businesses who are already engaging in outreach work? Thus, the BBB Foundation Restoring Trust program was born with a purpose to help people recover from fraud by connecting with BBB's network of outstanding Accredited Businesses that want to give back.

I came across Maria’s BBB complaint against a used car dealer, whom she purchased a vehicle from, only for it to break down nine days later. After obtaining an initial diagnostic, it was determined that the head gaskets needed replaced – a hefty repair with an estimate of $11,000. Maria notified the dealer that sold her the car of this issue, to which they asked her to bring the vehicle back to them and they would take care of it for her. The dealer ultimately kept Maria’s car for six months, while continually promising her they were “almost done” with its repairs. Maria saw the vehicle in their lot, seemingly unmoved during this time, and also has an app on her phone that notifies her when the car has activity on it, like car doors or the hood opening – which never happened while it was at the dealer supposedly getting repaired. Maria removed her car from the dealer and brought it back home, unsure of where to turn to next.

In talking with Maria more, she shared with me her story and what this car means to her. She is a first-generation Mexican American, had been a teen mom, and has two young children whom she and her husband have worked hard to support. After completing her master’s degree, Maria wanted to treat herself to something she’d never had before: a vehicle of her own. She had used hand-me-down cars up until this point, but none that she picked out herself and obtained on her own. Now that she achieved her education goal, she decided to purchase a 2017 Range Rover and was excited to drive the car of her dreams for taking her kids to their sports games and commuting to work.

Now, Maria pays the monthly finance balance on a car she hasn’t been able to drive since July 2024 and her husband had to trade in his two-seater truck to get a vehicle to fit their whole family, which added another monthly car payment to their bills. Without the means to pay for this hefty repair bill, they borrow cars from family and friends, ask for rides, and hail Ubers when they don’t have other options to go where they need. A hardworking family like this should be able to have the peace of mind of safe, reliable transportation for themselves and their children. And be able to use the car they already spent a considerable amount on for more than nine days. 

Not long before Maria submitted her complaint, BBB Foundation had partnered with a local mechanic who was already running a charitable program to help people in the community who need car repairs. I knew this situation definitely warranted a conversation to see how we could join forces to help someone who was taken advantage of by a less than trustworthy business.

Have you or someone you know had an experience with an automotive company that disrupted your livelihood and access to transportation? We know this happens more than we think, and we want to help more people in situations like this. You can always visit our Restoring Trust webpage here to apply for help.

Yours in trust,

Meghan Conradt, Director of BBB Foundation