While working as the service director at a large Pontiac dealership in Tampa, Fla., we saw a significant amount of transient business. So one day when a gentleman from California presented his Fiero for maintenance, no one batted an eyelash.

However, it wasn’t long before things started to get fishy. The customer didn’t want to wait while we worked on the Fiero and requested we take him to the local car rental office. We obliged his request, but soon got a call from the rental manager informing us the credit card the customer used was declined because it was a stolen card.

Although the rental manager wasn’t going to make an issue of it for a one-day rental, he wanted us to be aware so we didn’t get taken in the same manner. He gave me the credit card number and identifying information, and I thanked him for the heads-up. We did a little investigation and checked the glove box of the Fiero for a registration slip and found that the name he gave us did not match the tag and title info.

Suspecting further problems, we called the police, and I gave them a summary and all the information we had gathered. They said they would call me back shortly. A few hours passed and the customer returned for “his” vehicle. The repairs weren’t quite done, so we offered him a seat in the waiting room.

I immediately called the police for an update. The officer said they were still waiting on information from California, so I explained it was not going to be possible to delay the man much longer. He wanted to know if I could keep him there long enough for a detective to come and speak to him, so I told him we would keep the car up on the lift until the officer arrived.

The detective soon pulled in and I pointed out the customer to him. He entered the lounge, and they began to talk. Within a few seconds, chaos broke out; customers were fleeing the waiting room and two guys were on the floor wrestling. The customer had tried to grab the officer’s gun, and fortunately, the detective won the struggle, restrained and handcuffed him.

It turned out both the vehicle and the credit card were stolen. The man we thought was an ordinary customer had been on a crime spree from California to Florida and was considered “armed and dangerous.” End result, we never received payment for the job, but the entertainment factor made up for it.