03/17/2026
A $600 used Chevrolet Monte Carlo turned into a six figure nightmare for Jennifer Fitzgerald, the woman whose name was on the registration.
Fitzgerald said her then boyfriend, Brandon Preveau, bought the car in 2008 from her uncle and registered it under her name without telling her. After they broke up, she said she no longer had control of the vehicle, but the ticket notices kept flooding her mailbox because the city treated the registered owner as responsible.
In late 2009, Preveau allegedly left the Monte Carlo sitting in a Chicago O’Hare parking lot and walked away, and the car stayed there for years while citations piled up. The tickets covered everything from basic parking violations to issues linked to the car deteriorating in place, and the total eventually hit a record 678 citations, reported at more than $106,000. Fitzgerald said the situation cost her peace of mind and even led to her driver’s license being revoked.
Her lawsuit was dismissed in April 2013 on procedural grounds, but a settlement in August 2013 slashed the debt to $4,470, with Preveau paying $1,600 down and Fitzgerald paying monthly to close it out.
Footnotes:
https://ghandharanissan.com.pk/a-600-car-that-became-a-trap-from-love-to-choas/
