WARNING – the following suspects operate Gold Coast Auto Body, INC. (located at 900 West Division Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60642):
Lorenzo Martino, President
1846 N. 77th Court
Elmwood Park, Illinois, 60707
Dominic Martino, Secretary
845 Prospect Avenue
Elmhurst, Illinois, 60126
Mario Martino
1807 N. 78th Avenue
Elmwood Park, Illinois, 60707
KTF Media Group has verified that Gold Coast Auto Body unlawfully accepted and deposited a large insurance check paid to them and one of their insured clients for an extremely expensive repair job. By doing this they deprived their client of due process by cashing the large check without the valid signature of their client/co-payee. This illegal dodge cheated the client of the opportunity to inspect her vehicle to determine if the work done was done correctly! Gold Coast Auto Body simply took the insurance money without properly repairing the automobile. The insurance claim was in excess of 30-thousand dollars. Soon after the client regained possession of her vehicle, a series of troubling issues related to the recent repair work had been detected, resulting in additional repairs through a different shop not covered by her insurance. The swindled client had to pay for the proper repairs personally. Those additional repairs totaled over 10-thousand dollars.
Public take notice of the following:
If you are a client of Mercedes Benz of Chicago, chances are you have been referred to Gold Coast Auto Body for your auto body repair work.
If you or anyone you know had auto body repair work done in the last 5-years through Gold Coast Auto Body in Chicago, Illinois, and have not been presented with a check from your insurance company for your signature (failure to do so is illegal), please submit a complaint to the Illinois Attorney General Consumer Fraud Department.
You may mail your complaint to:
Illinois Attorney General
ATTN: Consumer Fraud Dept – 12th Floor
100 West Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Alternatively, you may fax your complaint to the Attorney General at (312) 814-3806.
If you have any questions that you feel KTF Media Group can help you with, you are welcome to visit our contact page and submit questions or comments or contact me directly at snolen@ktfmediagroup.com. Thank you.
20 Comments
I know this family! They are originally from Galewood – Chicago. Their sister Carmella was one of Nick Miceli’s girls! According to my memory of these people, I am not surprised by the allegations above.
Dear author,
Concerning these KTF Media Group Public Service Announcements, is it your goal for readers to contact the exposed parties in an effort to get them to change their ways or to own up to their transgressions in some way? Or, is the purpose of these announcements simply to advise the public?
Thank you kindly.
Dear South Africa,
On behalf of KTF Media Group, I wish to verify that our primary goal in issuing public service announcements is to warn the public. Thank you.
I had nothing but problems with Gold Coast! They did not let me sign the insurance check. I will report them!!
Why are they named Gold Coast, they are not even close to the Gold Coast. hahaha
Dear Dude,
You are right; they are located in Goose Island. The Gold Coast goes from 1200 North to 1600 North and from 300 East to 200 West.
Gold Coast Auto Body is 900 West – again, in Goose Island. lol
Dear Susan or Joe,
Interesting article, but what about the depository? Would you say that they are equally responsible for commiting the act or call it an oversight for accepting the deposit?
joe fosco is a great help to the public, he cares about the people and the church. he helped my grand mother when she was treated very poorly at the elmcrest nursing home back in 2003 and we cant thank him enough for all his help. joe for president 2012
What ever happened with this story below
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/car.donations.O.2.322933.html
Dear Rosey,
I am glad you asked about it. Dave Savini did a great job exposing the subjects. Do you have new/different information about the family that has not been told thru the media? If so, email it to me directly, jfosco@ktfmediagroup.com. Thanks.
Thanks for this great blog.
In my opinion, the Martino Family, including Carmela (the womanizing Nick Miceli’s old girl), are conniving shysters. I recommend that anyone in need of auto repair to carefully consider his or her decision to visit Gold Coast Auto Body. Come on – the name ‘Gold Coast’ is a fraud – its located in Goose Island. lol
I remember Nick Miceli! Carmela Martino was one of the dozens of girls that he had. I though he might of died of AIDS by now. However, I heard he is parking cars somewhere.
People enough of Nick Miceli’s sex life! I will not allow any more comments that deviate from the true message of this thread.
We should be discussing why Fletcher Jones / Mercedes Benz of Chicago refer business to people like the Martino’s. And why insurance companies wind up paying them more for repairs than what the value of the vehicle is. Body Shop rip-offs need to be exposed. Let us hear your story.
On behalf of KTF Media Group, thank you for your readership.
What about Carmella? Is she a scam artist too? Is she still with Nick?
Dear Sayre Park,
Please read my previous comment!
I have used Gold Coast twice for insurance repairs. Both times, they have done an excellent job and have been on the up-and-up.
these guys are great and yes they take the insurance payment direct.
Dear Mike,
Happy to hear those knuckleheads are conducting business better these days. Too bad it took ANP’s article to get them to shape up (in my opinion). I believe ANP will continue to keep an eye on the Martino family operation to make sure things continue to run smoothly. Consider yourself very fortunate.
Really you have one example of this situation an you write an artical so nasty? If a company does the work and does an excellent job!! They deserve to get paid, typically the check is made out to the company And the owner of the company and in some cases the bank. Having worked in the financial industry for 30 plus years the repair shop is the first right of way for the check. The body shop won’t release the car until they get paid, the bank won’t sign off until the work is done and the owner just wants their car back. I have had work done there and the entire team is awesome!!! The company is run like a well oiled machine!!
,
They do fantastic custom work and are worth every penny. Sounds to me like the person was trying to scam the shop.