North Carolina VW Dealer Apologizes for Racist Stickers Created by Cleaning Crew

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

The way things are going, we could probably just have every story we cover be one about dealerships and bad behavior.

This time it's not financial scams or unsanitary behavior -- it's racism. And the dealership itself isn't actually at fault -- though arguably it missed the opportunity to squash the incident before customers found out.


Leith Volkswagen in Raleigh, North Carolina has offered an apology after oil-change reminder stickers were found with the N-word written on them. The dealership wasn't able to stop the racist stickers from being seen by customers -- at least 11 customers saw them after picking up their cars from service.

Here's the twist: Leith conducted an internal investigation and found that none of its employees were the guilty party. Instead, it fired a company that cleans the store, claiming the cleaning crew was messing with the label maker after hours.

Leith claims that only the cleaning crew had access to the store after hours on Friday, February 24. The cleaning company also did its own internal investigation and found that a teenager who was not employed by the cleaning crew had come to work with them and was the one who put the racist term into the label maker. That teen is now banned from store property.

[Image: azrin_aziri/Shutterstock.com]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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11 of 29 comments
  • Ravenuer Ravenuer on Mar 02, 2023

    Are we supposed to see the N word on the sticker? Because I can't.

    • Teddyc73 Teddyc73 on Mar 03, 2023

      Are you kidding? They are going to show that. The entire internet would melt down. For some reason that word pocesses the power to destroy galaxies if it is even whispered by a White person.

  • GrumpyOldMan GrumpyOldMan on Mar 02, 2023

    I think the picture of the sticker has been changed. Why would you use stickers with Km instead of miles in North Carolina?

    • See 1 previous
    • Ravenuer Ravenuer on Mar 03, 2023

      Teddy: I care. That was the point of my post, I couldn't see where the word was on the sticker, even if it was blocked. What's the point of including a pic of a stock sticker?


  • Bullnuke Bullnuke on Mar 02, 2023

    I'm not surprised at all. Many used car dealerships hire local meth-head tweakers to clean up cars on the lots - they're cheap and "good'nuff", willing to work just enough to pay for the next baggie - this was likely the source of this shop's "cleaners". Their work product is usually inspected by a quick glance into the vehicle to see if anything obvious was stolen during their activities. This wouldn't even be mentioned if times weren't so hyper - vigilant for the things, such as this one, to generate "clicks".

  • Jeanbaptiste Jeanbaptiste on Mar 02, 2023

    icon Here's a picture of the sticker with the dangerous word covered up.

    • See 3 previous
    • Slavuta Slavuta on Mar 02, 2023

      Cardi B

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