Skip to main contentOn Sept. 18, Scott Thomason threw a party to celebrate the rehabilitation of his image. The sneak-preview screening of his "Greatest Auto Dealer Commercial of All Time" culminated seven months of ads re-introducing Portland's best-known pitchman and the Northwest's largest auto dealer to his market.
Thomason's bespectacled mug abruptly disappeared from his print and television advertising last year after a cluster-bomb of bad publicity occasioned by legal action related to his sales and employment practices (see "Car King," WW, Feb. 9, 2000).
But after more than a year of rebuilding his public persona, Thomason once again finds himself in an unwelcome spotlight. He was cited for a felony hit-and-run violation, the result of an alleged accident last Thursday in which five witnesses claim to have seen him plow into the back of a stationary Jeep and drive away.
According to Alex Hamalian, a Portland lawyer who has handled numerous hit-and-run cases, the extent of Thomason's troubles will depend on the severity of the injuries suffered by the Jeep's driver, David A. Elliott, and how quickly Thomason's attorney, Stephen Houze, can settle eventual charges.
If Elliott can prove injury, Hamalian says, Thomason may face charges of a Class C felony; if the injury is not serious, the charges of property hit-and-run, a misdemeanor, are likely to be reduced to careless driving.
Either way, the publicity is unlikely to please top brass at the Asbury Automotive Group, which purchased a majority interest in Thomason's company in 1998. Since going public in March, Asbury has seen its stock price plunge nearly 40 percent.
WWeek 2015